Commercial kitchen and restaurant design company, Catering Design Group (CDG), is reporting strong financial results for year ending 31st December 2018.
The Daventry-based company’s results show that annual turnover for 2018 was up 62% on the previous year – and was almost 20% ahead of its budgeted turnover figure for the year.
Despite a challenging and highly competitive marketplace, CDG gained 82 contracts last year across the hospitality, retail, leisure and education sectors.
67% of the gains were repeat business or referrals.
Phil Howard, managing director of CDG, said: “It is great to see this measured growth after a period of consolidation and strategic planning. We are now reaping the benefits of careful planning and a strong team whose creativity and passion for front and back of house commercial design continues to drive our performance and reputation.
“There is no doubt that our focus on building long and lasting relationships with our clients is a key element of our success. We are fortunate to work with some great clients who appreciate our tailored approach. It’s a great vote of confidence and boost for the entire team when clients come back to us again and again.”
Business gains throughout 2018 included an ambitious design project with Elior UK at the University of Sunderland to transform five individual catering and meeting spaces across two campuses. CDG also gained many high profile independent schools refurbishment contracts including Bedford Modern, an independent day school in Bedford and Eltham College in Mottingham, South East London. The company’s portfolio of clients within the garden centre and retirement living sectors also continues to grow.
Phil Howard said: “We have had a great start to 2019, with the strongest first quarter in our history to date. We are now looking ahead with confidence, buoyed by the fact that we have a fantastic team with the diverse skills and expertise to cover all aspects of restaurant interior design, commercial kitchen planning, technical specification and fit-out.
“It’s about having the industry knowledge, an understanding of design, eating out trends and how a commercial kitchen works best for chefs and their brigades. But also, it’s about really listening to our clients to understand the brief and what they are trying to achieve from an aesthetic and operational viewpoint.”
CDG has also successfully retained the ISO9001:2015 International Quality Management System (QMS) certification. The company was first awarded this in February 2010. This latest certification is based on a number of quality management principles including continual improvement to ensure that customers get consistent, good quality products and services.
Phil Howard said: “ It’s a huge ‘thumbs-up’ for the team; everyone has an active role in developing our systems and a real commitment to delivering a high quality service to our clients.
“It sends a clear message that we are a customer-focussed company with an ethos of continual improvement and that we have efficient business processes and practices in place to support our clients now and into the future.”
Photo Caption – Phil Howard, managing director, Catering Design Group, is pictured here (centre) with Steve Hutchings, director, and Helen Davis, commercial director of CDG.
