Concession caterer Couture has taken over the catering at Pinewood Studios, the home of the James Bond franchise, after Kudos Hospitality terminated its contract four months early.
Couture, which has been awarded a five-year deal, plans to refurbish all the catering facilities on the site, which houses 4,000 people and a cluster of media businesses, over the next six to eight weeks.
Marc Warde, who founded Couture’s parent company White Circle Organisation in 2006, said he was “really excited” about the project, which with annual turnover estimated at £2.5m in the first year, is the caterer’s largest to date.
“The catering facilities here at Pinewood are about to go through a massive evolution,” he told Caterersearch.
Refurbishment will see the fine-dinning restaurant located in Pinewood’s Heatherden Hall relocated internally, with plans to open it up to the public via a members’ dinning club.
The onsite coffee shop, staff restaurant and pub (located within Heatherden), will be refurbished, and Couture have introduced an old Route Master bus as a mobile café. Couture executive head chef Jonathan Day will be based at the site.
Kudos, which had provided catering at the studios for four-and-a-half years, ended the contract four months early last week.
“The Kudos Hospitality business model works to deliver corporate business on behalf of its clients,” it said, in a statement. “At Pinewood we were mainly serving the tenants and studios and therefore not being used to our full potential.”
A Pinewood spokeswoman said the studio was "delighted" to confirm that Kudos was no longer their caterer, and added: "It is unfortunate that (Kudos) was unable to reach its full potential".
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By Chris Druce
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