A year ago contract caterer Crown Group announced it was adopting a new name, Oriel Group, and rebranding two of its businesses to simplify things.
The plan was that following an announcement in June Oriel (one presumes not named after the American cookie) would come into force from July 2007.
At the time it also renamed two of its operating companies Crown Venue Catering and Crown Society Special Event Catering as Kudos Hospitality and Seasoned, respectively.
Oriel's sales and marketing director Jonathan Byrne told Caterer back in June last year that the rebrand would end the confusion surrounding Crown and "act as a springboard, moving us forward".
However it now seems the move might have turned into something more akin to a belly-flop.
In short Crown’s customers didn’t like the new name and had an attachment to Crown so although Kudos and Seasoned have stayed (along with the group’s other businesses including Missing Ingredients, London’s Flying Chef and two Michelin starred restaurant Midsummer House) Oriel was still-born and never came to pass.
Interestingly the U-turn wasn’t communicated with quite the enthusiasm or energy of the original Oriel announcement.
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