Granada Food Services has continued on the acquisition trail with the purchase this week of Reading-based Capitol Catering. The firm holds more than 65 contracts in the South-east and has an annual turnover of £10m.
Capitol was founded in 1990 by Ian Tritton and Gordon Haggarty, who will continue to run the business. It will remain an independently managed company under the Granada umbrella "for the foreseeable future".
Most of the 400-plus staff will transfer to the new owners, but "a handful" of accounting jobs will go.
The buy takes Granada's food service business to an annual turnover of some £688m, employing 36,000 people across 3,500 sites. This includes the joint venture with Post Office caterer Quadrant, signed last week.