Don Davenport joins the board at Harrison

Former Compass Group UK chief executive Don Davenport has joined contract caterer Harrison as a non-executive director, Caterer has learnt.

The deal, which was sealed late last year, will see Davenport work for two days a month alongside managing director Geoffrey Harrison, whom he has known for about 30 years.

Davenport retired from Compass in July 2005 and Harrison hopes his experience running a large-scale operation will help the company as it expands. "We plan to double turnover in the next five years and the trick is to hang on to contracts as you get bigger," he said. "Don is amazingly customer-focused and will help us do that."

Harrison said he doubted whether 64-year old Davenport, who was unavailable for comment, would take up any other role in the contract catering sector.

In the year to March 2006, Harrisons turned over £35m and had 110 clients on its books.

Harrison Catering Services: Keeping it all in the family >>

By Tom Bill

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