Elior to rebrand UK business under one name

Elior's chief executive Tim Hammond (pictured) has announced plans to rebrand the UK arm of the business under one name.

He told an audience of contract catering peers and suppliers of his plans to ditch brand names such as Avenance and Digby Trout in favour of the Elior name at last week's Face-to-Face networking event organised by Arena at the Dorchester hotel on London's Park Lane.

Guests were treated to a sit-down meal and ITV's news anchor Alastair Stewart interviewing Tim Hammond, who took over at the helm of French contract caterer Elior's UK operation in January.

Speaking to Caterer and Hotelkeeper after the event, Hammond explained the motivation behind the move.

He said: "If you're trying to get a message across to the market - and our message is our emphasis on customer service - then obviously you're better off associating that with one name rather than four or five names."

All but one of the brands will be trading under the name Elior by the end of the year. The exception is the caterer's stadia business Azure, which Hammond said would take longer to rebrand.

"We will keep the Azure name alive for a couple of years because the whole of the stadia business knows the Azure name up and down the country," he explained. "We need to take a little bit more time to achieve that particular transition."

Exact details of whether the different divisions of the business will be rebranded as simply Elior or by sector (eg, Elior Education, Elior Healthcare) are yet to be confirmed.

Other talking points included Hammond's vision for the business as well as his take on the industry as a relative newcomer to the contract catering sector.

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By Janie Stamford

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