Massarella wins with Littlewoods
Sheffield-based Massarella Catering has won the contract to run 88 restaurants in Littlewoods stores across the UK. The contract starts at the end of August and is believed to be worth about £25m in annual turnover to the private, family-owned contract caterer.
The 1,400 Littlewoods restaurant staff, who currently work for Compass subsidiary Eurest, will transfer to Massarella, which itself has more than 2,000 employees.
Masserella, which operates predominantly in the retail sector, runs 120 restaurants, including 48 for the House of Fraser and 25 for TJ Hughes. It also operates a number of its own caf‚s in shopping malls under its Massarella and Caf‚ Moda brands, along with three Caf‚ Nova waitress-service restaurants.
London sets up Web link to local authorities
Small catering companies are being urged to register their details on a website to help them win contracts from local authorities in London.
The London Contracts and Supplies Group, a purchasing consortium representing London's 32 local authorities, said small firms wanting to do business with the public sector could enter their company details for free on its website, www.lcsg.org.uk, under the "supplier registration" section.
These details will then be held in a supplier information database called Select that can be searched by local authority members.
"Trying to do business with the public sector in London is a daunting prospect for the private sector," said LCSG chairman Chris Keady. "It is particularly difficult for SMEs [small and medium-sized enterprises] and BMEs [black and minority ethnic businesses], where the barriers to market entry are disproportionately greater than for large corporates."
Eaton signs Société Générale
London-based independent caterer Eaton Group has started a new three-year contract with investment bank Société Générale.
The contract, which started late last month and has a total turnover of £2.5m, will see Eaton providing hospitality and vending services, and a staff deli bar for the bank's 1,500 employees. Sodexho subsidiary Directors' Table previously held the contract.
The win brings Eaton's new annual business gained to more than £4m at the halfway point of its financial year.