hospitalitytoday.com | 5
L-R: Alastair Stewart OBE, Tim Jones, chairman CH&Co Group, and Bill Toner, group CEO
Alastair Stewart took the stage and told the audience how he had interviewed Robyn Jones, “a groundbreaker” - she had started her career with Grand Met, and in 1991 with her husband Tim had set up Charlton House catering services, which was later to win a Royal Warrant.
Last week, Robyn passed away after a long illness. She had told Stewart that “to succeed in this business you need a good business brain, flair - and a good set of knives”. Today Alastair Stewart was to interview Tim and Bill, the new group’s Chairman and CEO - and he started by putting that quote from Robyn to her husband Tim - who spoke about Robyn’s eye for attention to detail.
Toner said “Robyn was always a formidable competitor over the years. She laid down the ground rules, the master plan for this merger - and that was how it eventually turned out.”
Stewart asked Jones about what the banks looked for during the merger talks. “The banks wanted to be assured that our reputation would continue” said Jones. Toner added that the banks wanted the two teams to come together.
Jones said that it had been “a long process to get ourselves comfortable” with the merger. “You have to look at the next step for the business – and you have to provide new opportunities for the team”. Progression for managers was one benefit of becoming
bigger, as was the effectiveness of the various systems a business needs to be efficient.
Stewart asked how the brands’ DNA was going to be defended? Jones replied that “brand is supreme, it is there for a purpose. Each brand was created for a reason - and those reasons still stand. We’ve got strong brands, and strong people.” Toner added that it was “business as usual - we have four MDs running four divisions”. Jones said that “the key thing for us is delivering on our promises to customers - what we said we would do, for the price we said.”
Toner, asked about his previous career, said he had always been a corporate man, and was now “glad to get away from all the corporate bullshit” and be independent. Jones said “Robyn and I learnt the ability to delegate early on. You need people who have independent thought”. Good managers could disagree with you, and put their own point of view.
Asked about the aims of the new group, Toner said the plan was to get to £300 million in 3-5 years, by organic growth and perhaps a couple of acquisitions. When Stewart asked about competitors, citing WSH, Toner replied that WSH was one model for a group: “there are other models out there - you can’t get overshadowed by it.”
Reflecting on the catering industry, Jones said that the middle ground could be “a bit lonely”. There was room for good small specialists, and the largest companies had good ‘systems’ (a favourite word) - but it could be difficult for those of mid-size.
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