Continued adherence to its practice of only delivering the highest quality service and most expertly skilled teams has shown another year of great return for the UK’s leading independent food service management and hospitality specialist, Westbury Street Holdings, owner of best in class hospitality and catering operations; BaxterStorey, Caterlink, Holroyd Howe and benugo, and Portico front of house management services as it reports a 19% trading uplift for 2010, driving its revenues to over £362m.
Westbury Street Holdings’ trading brands are led by business and industry caterer, BaxterStorey (England and Wales), which accounts for 66% of total revenues (total £240m). The remaining 34% of income is comprised from operations which include Caterlink, the state education catering specialist and Holroyd Howe which caters for the independent education market; BaxterStorey Ireland; BaxterStorey Scotland, Portico the corporate reception management service and Benugo, the deli to restaurant operator (total £122m).
While BaxterStorey’s year on year growth of 15% continues to outstrip the market, 2010 also witnessed a strong year for other areas of trading especially in the company’s business units Caterlink (29% year on year growth) and benugo (38% year on year growth).
Caterlink has enjoyed a particularly positive year with 29% growth in revenue demonstrating that it is absolutely possible for the state sector to work in partnership with the private sector to offer a high quality fresh food service at best value.
In the last twelve months, Caterlink has been re-awarded the contract to provide school meals at over 100 primary and secondary schools in the London boroughs of Islington and Camden, after an innovative joint tender by the purchasing authorities. The deal ensures the continuation of the locally-sourced freshly prepared school meals service with 17,000 meals served daily, whilst delivering significant savings as the public sector continues to tighten its belt.
As well as adding a number of individual schools to its client base, it has also won significant contracts with the boroughs of Windsor and Maidenhead. Caterlink’s passion for delivering high quality school meals was further recognised at the 2010 EDUcatering Awards for Excellence, where the company was presented with the award for Contract Caterer of the Year.
2010 saw another exceptionally strong year for the high street New York-style deli and public events caterer benugo. Through the course of the year, turnover increased from £26m to £36m as the company extended its reach across leading pubic venues including Edinburgh Castle and the Historic Scotland group of castles.
These latest results for benugo are further proof that Westbury Street Holdings decision to extend its operations outside of its core markets in 2007 in to more retail lead sectors was a wise strategic step for the business.
Alastair Storey, Chairman and Chief Executive of Westbury Street Holdings, said: “2010 presented us with a host of fantastic opportunities across all of our businesses which we and our teams have worked really hard to meet despite the obvious economic challenges that surround us all. We have always known that focussing on sustainable practice and delivering leading edge careers would deliver the best possible solution for the market place and we are thrilled to that this continues to be evidenced in our results.
Storey continued: “Our passion for fantastic food and service continues to set up us apart from the competition. In 2010 we increased our investment in training. Our Chef Academy saw more than 47 chefs graduate with our Barista Academy celebrating 1,050 graduates. Sustainability and food provenance remain high on our agenda and in 2010 we became the first contract caterer to commit to only using free range RSPCA Freedom Farm Assured eggs sourced from a single family owned farm in the UK.”
About Westbury Street Holdings
Westbury Street Holdings owns a niche portfolio of best in class hospitality and catering operations. The company’s specialist catering operations, BaxterStorey, BaxterStorey Ireland and BaxterStorey Scotland deliver catering services for business and industry clients, state education catering is provided by Caterlink, Holroyd Howe Independent serves the independent school market and Benugo is a New York style deli with retail outlets and concessions in leading leisure venues. Between them, the businesses employ over 9,000 people across 800 sites and own an 8% share of a £4.1bn market.