Kitchen Rat would like to wish contract caterer Charlton House a happy 15th birthday, although belatedly. The company celebrated its 15th anniversary in July, but it was a rather self-congratulatory press release that caught KR's eye and prompted this entry.
Founders Robyn Jones, 44, and her husband Tim, whose age isn't given, have to be applauded for starting up the business from scratch and growing it to a £50m enterprise. However, the tale of the company's early days becomes more elaborate every year.
According to the coying release, Robyn worked from her spare bedroom, armed only with a telephone directory, a telephone, a wallpaper pasting table as a desk and banana boxes as filing cabinets and with the financial backing of a £50 weekly Government enterprise allowance. So, 15 years later the pair have developed the business into the largest contract caterer in the UK to have grown without acquisition - a point the press release rams home in the final paragraph.
In reference to the Joneses, the release states: "They have never once sought finance, and all of their business growth has ocurred organically, through recommendation and extension to existing business."
Robyn has repeatedly said that Charlton House is not for sale, but now that she's scooped her first Catey for Foodservice Caterer of the Year in July - after 10 years of trying - perhaps now the pair can hoist the for sale sign above the company.
While the press release may be a note to solicit birthday congratulations, it could also be viewed as a carefully disguised release asking for anyone interested to make an approach to buy the business.
For interested suitors, the press release states that the company is wholly-owned by Robyn and Tim, has never once sought finance and has a £55m turnover that is projected to reach £80m by 2009. In the meantime, take a look at the happy couple at home.
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