Contract Catering news update
Harbour & Jones grabs double
Harbour & Jones (H&J) has won the deal to feed staff at London advertising agency Engine Group. The contract caterer, which scooped a deal at advertising agency JWT in December, will provide services for Engine's 700 staff at its new headquarters in Portland Street, providing a café, wine bar and hospitality service. The cost-plus contract, opened over the May bank holiday, was previously run by Elior's Avenance and is worth about £375,000 a year on a rolling basis.
The caterer has also pipped rivals to the deal to cater at the Institute of Physics at Portland Place, London (pictured). H&J will take over the predominantly conference and banqueting contract from the in-house team on 1 August. The cost-plus contract is for three years and will add £875,000 in annual turnover.
Thomas Franks hits 30 deals
Thomas Franks, the caterer set up by former Avenance directors Tom Barrett and Frank Bothwell in 2004, has reached a milestone with the signing of its 30th contract. The company, which markets itself as part of the new breed of caterers which don't take supplier discounts, has taken over from Sodexo at sugar manufacturer Tate & Lyle in London's Docklands on a one-year rolling contract.
The contract caterer recently won a three-year deal at Sibford School in Oxfordshire, previously run by Elior's Avenance, and a one-year deal at logistics firm Wincanton.
Edelmann joins Digby Trout
Digby Trout Restaurants, the public catering arm of contract caterer Elior, has appointed Anton Edelmann as consultant chef and original founder Digby Trout in a consultancy role. Edelmann, who left his role as principal chef at Sodexo's Directors Table arm last summer, and Trout, who founded the company in 1987, will work alongside Catherine Roe, managing director of Elior's concessions division, of which Digby Trout is part.
Digby Trout Restaurants, which became part of Elior in 2005, provides catering at Hampton Court Palace, Edinburgh Castle and the Tower of London.
BaxterStorey lands Virgin deal
BaxterStorey has taken two contracts from rival Compass Group, including the staff feeding contract at Virgin Atlantic Airways. The caterer will provide staff feeding and hospitality services at Virgin Atlantic's head office and training base in Crawley, West Sussex, and its hangar at Heathrow Airport. The three-year deal, previously run by Compass's Restaurant Associates, includes running retail outlets for Virgin employees, selling a range of nonfood items.
BaxterStorey has also taken over the catering at engineering services company Halcrow in a three-year deal previously run by the Eurest division of Compass at its site in Swindon, Wiltshire.
The company is also believed to have won the catering contract at IT hardware and software supplier Sun Microsystems, which was previously run by Charlton House.
