New contracts boost Holroyd Howe sales

Holroyd Howe, the Amersham-based independent contract caterer, says it is on course to achieve sales of £17.5m for the year to 30 September 2004, compared with £13.2m last year.During the past few months, the caterer has won new contracts with the Design Council, Berkshire College of Agriculture, engineering firm Smiths - and its first fully commercial contract at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. It currently has 55 contracts.

At the company's annual seminar, held at Butcher's Hall in London last week, joint managing director Rick Holroyd said he expected Holroyd Howe to hit the 100-contract mark within three years, with more business with blue chip companies, multi-site clients and independent schools.

Its training budget has increased from £55,000 last year to £70,000. A new CD and guidebook focusing on customer service has been issued to all sites, which are expected to conduct training courses every week. At the seminar, a team of actors from Erica Harley Associates played out a sketch to demonstrate the importance of customer service.

The numbers of suppliers to Holroyd Howe has increased from 180 to 200 in the past year, when the company spent £6.5m on ingredients.