Yacht favourite
THINK royal tours, state banquets, a royal honeymoon - and conjure up the former Royal Yacht Britannia. She's one of the world's most evocative ships, a point not lost on new owner the Former Royal Yacht Britannia Trust, which runs the yacht, now berthed in Leith, as a tourist attraction.
Although the charitable trust, which was set up by Forth Ports plc to maintain the yacht, aims to raise about 55% of the funds through daytime tours, the rest will come from exploiting Britannia's cachet to generate "five-star" banqueting and party business in the evening.
To do this, Britannia's exclusivity has to be maintained. Yacht Events Ltd, the division of the trust that manages the hospitality and tourism business, has stipulated that only 100 functions should be held a year, with a limit of up to 90 guests for dinner in the state dining room and 250 for cocktail parties on the sun deck or in the drawing room. All are targeted at corporate guests.
It sounds restricting and the standards are exacting, but Elizabeth McAreavey, managing director of the caterer that won the contract, Le Bistro, denies that it will just be a prestige boost to her business. She expects Britannia to add a minimum of £500,000 a year to her company's annual turnover, which currently stands at £4m.
Special investments
So far, the caterer has invested £100,000. Some of that has gone on equipment such as specially commissioned Royal Doulton china and silver cutlery bearing the Britannia crest. But the bulk, £70,000, has been spent on modernising the kitchen.
McAreavey points out that the contract requires the catering to be different "and you can't differentiate yourself without taking on costs". She also admits that being a small, versatile company she has compromised - something she sees as a strength: "The multis are bottom-line focused," she says, "they grow by acquisition, eating up smaller companies that could offer this service, but cost-cutting and streamlining policies take away their unique selling point."
Senior sales and marketing manager Richard Bouglet agrees: "We have been able to compromise our bottom line and it has paid off," he says.
And while McAreavey plays down the importance of the prestige attached to the Britannia contract, Bouglet says: "It has already raised our profile. When we sell Le Bistro and mention Britannia it has a real impact because they know we have to be serious about standards of food and service."
Winning the deal
Edinburgh-based Le Bistro won the three-year rolling contract last August. Under the agreement, Le Bistro bills Yacht Events for each function, minus an undisclosed commission.
The caterer was favoured partly because although it also has a central production unit, it was prepared to cook on board and dedicate a chef and catering team, giving itself the separate name of Crown Hospitality. The team works closely with Yacht Events hospitality and events manager Angela Robertson, who handles the marketing.
Business is already brisk. Britannia, fresh from her £2.5m refurbishment by Forth Ports plc, lowered her gangplank at Leith on 19 October and, in the first month, attracted 33,000 tourists. On the events side, January is fully booked and the rest of the year has healthy provisional bookings.
An evening package generally includes fireworks, a tour, mementoes and a live band. In line with the policy of maintaining exclusivity, only one function is hosted on board at any time. Each party is charged £5,000 for the hire of the yacht, with hospitality on top of that. The price is generally a minimum of £65 per head for food plus wine, but the sky's the limit. To date, one banquet has seen a bill of £85 a head just for food, while another notched up £300 per head for food and wine.
In line with client expectations, chef Tony Singh, winner of the 1996 Highland Chef of the Year award, uses organic food and sources mainly from food specialists. The limited number of events mean that, despite being assisted only by a sous chef, Singh can make everything fresh, even the bread.
"We try to make it like a state banquet, with the emphasis on service and food," he says.
As 95% of the menus are tailor-made, Singh is involved in meetings with the customer from the start. He errs toward classic dishes. A menu might comprise rillettes of salmon; soup of wild mushrooms with truffle oil; breast of duck with braised savoy cabbage and poitrine; raisin cräme caramel with rum ice-cream; and coffee and petits fours.
The whole operation is labour-intensive. F&B operations manager Mark Randerson has one assistant and a pool of 250 casual waiting staff. The ratio of staff to guests at one to five is higher than other contracts and, as Randerson insists on butler service for the main course, they have to be highly trained. This puts pressure on recruitment as there are limited five-star venues to draw from in Edinburgh. Most casuals want extra work at what Randerson describes as "competitive rates". Wages for casuals comprise 11-12% of turnover, compared with 10% for full-time staff.
Besides well-trained staff, logistics are also an issue. The corridors between the kitchens and state rooms are confined, necessitating a carefully choreographed work-flow system using two entrances in and out of the galley. Breakages are a worry as the insurance was dropped for not being cost-efficient.
Another constraint is the fact that the last tourists don't leave until 5.30pm. As some receptions start at 6pm, time is tight to set up the tables. It's also a long night. Guests can leave as late as they want and Randerson won't allow his staff to clear up or reposition furniture for the next day's sightseers until they have all gone. "If you pay that much money, you don't want to have everything cleared away from under you," he says. n
