Activities

Charlton House is a Reading-based contract caterer that specialises in staff restaurants. It claims to be the largest independently-owned contract caterer to have grown solely through organic growth, not acquisitions. In 2004, it held a 1% share of the £4b UK contract catering market.

Current clients include the American Embassy, the Civil Aviation Authority, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Sony, BUPA and Network Rail.

Charlton House has also moved into the restaurant management business and owns a majority stake in an Oxfordshire country hotel and restaurant.

Timeline

• July 1991: Robyn Jones sets up Charlton House during the height of recession in a back room in her home with the aid of her £2,500 redundancy package and a £50-a-week Government Enterprise Allowance.
• 1992: Jones wins her first contract in January, six months after starting up, with Guide Dogs for the Blind in Reading – a contract she still holds today. In April, Charlton House moves to a small serviced office nearby. The group ends the year (to September) with three contracts, 16 staff and an annual turnover of £340,000.
• 1994: The biggest milestone in the company’s history is reached when it wins a £400,000-a-year turnover contract at Sony's corporate headquarters in Weybridge, Surrey. By the end of the year – which sees the group outgrow its offices three times – Charlton House has 62 staff and a turnover of £1.2m.
• 1995: Charlton House moves to its current base in Henley, Oxfordshire.
• 2002: The group takes on twice Michelin-starred chef David Cavalier as a full-time food innovations director.
• January 2003: Charlton House moves into the commercial catering sector when it takes over the management of the Michelin Bib Gourmand-rated Leaping Hare, a 46-seat restaurant at Wyken Hall near Bury St Edmonds in Suffolk.
• August 2003: The group buys an 80% stake in the 12-bedroom White Hart country house hotel in Nettlebed, Oxfordshire, which was opened by chef-patron Chris Barber in January 2002. It comprises the Nettlebed restaurant and the White Hart bistro serving classic pub food.

Operating data

Turnover for the year to 30 September 2005: £44.6m (up 15% on the previous year)
Forecast turnover for 2006: £53m
Number of contracts: 130
Number of employees: 1,250

Strategy

"The independent contract caterer is planning to increase its annual turnover from its current annualised turnover figure of £44m for 2005 to £80m by 2010. Charlton House employs 1,200 people nationwide but that figure is expected to rise to 2,600 over the next five years in line with growth.

"We will continue our strategy of keeping to our target net profit margin of 2%, which is considerably lower than our major competitors, in order to keep quality the key focus of the business."

Source: Charlton House Five Year Plan, February 2005

Chief executive

Robyn Jones

Key directors

Joint managing director: Caroline Fry
Joint managing director: Alison Tyler
Chairman and finance director: Tim Jones
Operations directors: Paul Jackson, Paul Honey, Paul Hurrem
Food innovations director: David Cavalier

Contact

The Clock Tower
Wyfold Farm
Wyfold
Reading
RG4 9HU

Tel: 01491 683400
Fax: 01491 683401

E-mail:
Website: http://www.charltonhouse.co.uk

Commentary

Charlton House has boosted turnover by an average 40% each year since it won its first major contract (with Sony) in 1994 and 30% of this growth has come from contract extensions. It was named the 67th fastest-growing medium-sized business in the 2004 Deloitte Indy 100 listing.

Although Charlton House has grown through organic growth rather than acquisitions, it has bought a majority stake in a country house hotel in Oxfordshire. This purchase formed part of a move into a new market – that of management services – that kicked off in 2003 when the group took over the management of a Michelin-rated restaurant in Suffolk.

It has taken the unusual step of hiring a high-profile chef on a full-time rather than a consultancy basis to inspire and develop its chefs and has found that David Cavalier’s name and reputation has helped the group to win and retain contracts. Cavalier gained Michelin stars at both the Cavaliers and the High Holborn restaurants in London and subsequently worked at Conrad Gallagher’s Michelin-star Peacock Alley restaurant in Dublin.

In early 2005, Charlton House unveiled a new five-year plan to nearly double its turnover from £44m to £80m by 2010. The group surpassed its previous five-year targets in turnover, profitability and contracts within just three years.