Searcys serves up £150m quartet of new contract business

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Event catering and champagne bar business Searcys, which underwent a management buyout last year, yesterday (12 September) announced four new contracts worth £150m. The new deals will be up and running in 2012, guests at a reception in the London Gherkin (a Searcys venue) attended by new World 400m Champion Dai Greene were told.

This month Searcys adds the 5,000-member Army and Navy Club in Pall Mall to its roster and a champagne bar in the Westfield shopping centre (13 September).

A five-year contract at Blenheim Palace, Southend Airport and the Royal College of General Practitioners go live in the New Year.

Searcys Chief Executive Doug Tetley (pictured with Dai Greene) told CN the Blenheim Palace contract was for five years and that Searcys would take over from 1 January 2012 for all day visitor catering, as well as conference and banqueting, including the sales operation.

The RCGP moves to a new home in Euston Square in summer 2012 and new investment, Tetley said,would offer the 40,000 member GPs “world-class facilities”.

Searcys was founded in 1847 by the Duke of Northumberland’s pastry chef to provide outsourced catering for large private houses in London and the Home Counties.

In the 70s the company started to open a series of bars and small restaurants in London and was appointed catering partner at the Barbican in 1990. Since the MBO from the Alternative Hotel Group in 2010 the company has grown to 16 venue catering contracts.

Tetley said that smaller venues sometimes found it hard “difficult to compete” at the top end of the event catering market. “They don’t always have access to a Black Book of contacts,” he told CN adding that introducing Searcys existing corporate clients to the new venues in the portfolio was an important part of the sales strategy.

Sales and Marketing Director Chris Maddison added that private hire business during the Olympic Games could impact Searcys’ sales by £4m.
 
Do you have news for CN? Email: pcolston@mashmedia.net

13 Sept 11

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