Cover story Big fish


Three years after its sale to CH&Co, Vacherin’s managing director tells Rosalind Mullen how it is retaining its boutique, independent caterer ethos while being part of a bigger player


T


here seemed no better place to meet Vacherin’s managing director Phil Roker than design agency Imagination’s stylish


premises in London’s Bloomsbury. It was here in April 2003 that Vacherin’s founders Mark Philpott and Clive Hetherington launched one of their first B&I contracts as a boutique independent caterer and, significantly, it’s a contract the business still holds 20 years later. It’s significant because it is an example of


the London-based caterer’s successful strat- egy of tailoring its London-based hospitality, catering and reception services to the client’s business and always rolling with the times. “When we pick up a contract, we tell the client:


‘what we are telling you now is right for now, but it won’t be right in a few years’ time’. We listen, we deliver and we change,” explains Roker. Business is also about relationships, he


adds: “We kept the Imagination contract because we have a relationship with the client. At the final stages of tender, I always tell clients: ‘any of us could do the job, but it is who you want to work with that matters’.” Good staff retention helps (see panel).


At Imagination, operations director Tom Rule has been with the team for 10 years and the head chef since before the contract started. “Everything focuses on people and


24 | The Caterer | 28 April 2023


From left: Phil Roker, Tom Rule, Paula O’Neill, Chris Purser


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