A strong performance - that was the general verdict from the 300 diners at London's Dorchester Hotel who watched Compass Group UK managing director Ian El-Mokadem grappling with Alastair Stewart's questions at today's Arena lunch.
Elmo, as he's known in business circles, had a few factors against him - not least the fact that most of the audience owned up to having worked for Compass at some time, so of course knew exactly how they would run the catering giant.
But despite that, El-Mokadem put in a confident performance after almost a year in the job.
Much of his time had been spent putting the right head office team in place on the basis of his belief that you must "get the people right and everything else follows". Sorting out internal competition had also been a priority. "I came into a position where three lines of business reported to me" he explained, "sometimes competing for business against each other - and nobody else!"
But he said some of the nastier legacy issues such as the UN fraud lawsuits and Jamie Oliver's meteoric impact on education training had started to decline in importance by the time he arrived.
He had some interesting comments about satisfying consumers of food service as well as the company's direct customers. And he stressed the need to be aware of all the other food options open to them. "We have to think, who is the competition out there - is it BaxterStorey or is it Pret a Manger? Or their favourite restaurant? All of the above".
The financial press has had fun speculating about a private equity bid for Compass but El-Mokadem was having none of it. "That is not something I've spent any time thinking about since I joined".
One of the issues he faced, he told guests, was deciding whether he should take Compass further down the support services road, where it would be a small player among the facility management giants, or stay a large fish in the hospitality pond. "I'm not sure I know the answer yet," he admitted.
As for the supply chain, Elmo descibed a purchasing strategy that is based largely upon relationships with preferred strategic partners, but which also allows scope for working with local and specialist suppliers. Asked whether these smaller suppliers should feel free to contact him directly to get a date in the diary, he was quick to offer the name of his purchasing director.
Said Elmo: "He'll be very glad I mentioned him - you can all write to him!"
Comments (1)
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Posted by Penny Stock Prophet | March 11, 2010 12:52 PM
Posted on March 11, 2010 12:52