Working with clients to create brands & power amazing concepts together
Led by former BBC MasterChef Judge
John Benson-Smith
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Hotels
F&B in Hotels is so so vitally important to the Customer. It is about creating mood, light, music, buzz, atmosphere and trend with smiles and great food.
Our clients and experience have all been in a huge variety and range of Four and Five star Hotels. These included:
- Concept creation in Aberdeenshire
- Hotel group in Scotland, Perthshire
- Boutique Hotel Perth
- Bartle Hall Country House in Lancashire
- St Michaels Hotel in Falmouth Cornwall
- Victoria and Albert Hotel Manchester
- Hotel Indigo Manchester
- IHG Hotels
- Atrium Hotels,Greece
- Callow Hall Hotel
- ELH Hotel group in Lake District
- Hazlewood Castle Hotel, Tadcaster
- Forte Worldwide Hotel group
- Whitbread chain PI
- Brighton Hotels
- Black Swan Hotel, Helmsley
- London Five Star hotels
- Granada TV Theme parks and Hotels
- Variety of other Hotels
Instagrammable is the standard, but it is also about creating your own immersive venue of experiences and atmosphere
Over the last ten years we worked with the amazing award winning bespoke Lancashire Country House Hotel, Bartle Hall which sits in sixteen acres of landscape gardens and woodlands.
Our focus was to support the ownership with direction and commercial influence as well as focusing and improving the F&B menus to develop and create that exclusive Wow.
Bartle now offers many on trend features heavily influenced by its private ownership. Examples are its winter Alpine Bar featuring luxury hot chocolate with kicks. The All year round outdoor BBQ kitchen designed and enjoyed with its curative event stylists for exclusive weddings.
It features both the style of the main hall and also the Coaching barn and the Thicket lodge.
1000 year old challenge in the golden triangle of York, Leeds and Harrogate
Back in 1996 the conversion of a derelict one thousand year old Castle of great historical significance, was no easy project.
Hazlewood Castle set in 77 acres of land was transformed into an award-winning hotel, restaurant, café, conference, cookery school, event and wedding venue.
The Castle needed substantial repurposing and development. As a Grade 1 & 2 listed property it was of great interest to English Heritage, the Elizabethan Society and Georgian Society. We needed to install all mains services, road and communication networks within a plethora of restrictions and challenges. The sympathetic and mindful conversion from a monastery into a commercial privately-owned hotel, hugely successful cookery school, cafe and an award-winning fine dining restaurant and chapel, hosting conference and events and weddings which gained local and national recognition.
Formulating the commercial opportunities with the challenges of huge overheads which was biased towards food and beverage, and establishing the business from zero which needed a significant level of commercial sales to exist and clear understanding of the wide range of customer profiles to prosper.
As the operational principals we drove the business from zero to achieve significant levels of sales and reputation.
Restaurants
Faroe Islands is part of the Kingdom of Denmark comprising eighteen rocky, volcanic islands between Iceland and Norway in the Northern Atlantic Ocean
Totally backstory focused
We were working with amazing renown Nordic Photographer Arjan Wilmsen on a captivating project in Faroe. Our storytelling focused on the essence of a breathtaking archipelago of a hamlet Restaurant. The goal being to grab the soul of Faroese foods with its heritage, simplicity and traditions. Crucially telling the story of two characters, origin, charm, emotion and the stunning location. More to follow.
Restaurants
Middle Eastern taste of one of our Restaurant creations
Working for the high profile, Arabian Client Al Hajery to identify sustainable opportunities for an innovative Mediterranean style Restaurant concept. Initially within Kuwait then to roll out a limited number of restaurants eventually throughout the Middle East.
We commenced by researching and understanding the market, trends, competitors to build an authentic artisanal Mediterranean restaurant concept. Pulling together essential values and a cultural ethos and identity that were developed into suitable dishes that would translate to the Middle Eastern market.
We opened two sites for the client, one in Kuwaits exclusive high-profile Phase 4 Avenues Mall and the second restaurant in Murouj. Kuwait's premier lifestyle destination. In addition we designed and advised on a central production unit for the company.
The success of the two openings in Kuwait led us to being commissioned to work for the Client’s other F&B businesses in Kuwait with an overarching role in strategy.
This included :
- Adjusting the offering for the local clientele and customer demographics, working up locations / sites / sizing / return on investment
- P&L forecast and budgets, operational modelling,
- Food methodology, designing product, service, it’s design approach into workflows, logistics and ergonomics.
- Including search, selection and recruitment,
- Internal details such as menu design, NPD and costings,
- Project management, working with interior designers, brand design agency, kitchen design layouts,
- Plotting spaces, specification of equipment, also tendering (challenging circumstances and individuals)
- Working with contractors on site, deliveries, fit out, installation, handover,
- Pre-opening, staff role play and training,
- Promotional marketing and working with the team operationally from pre-opening through day to day trading and into profit.
The expansion continued and we opened two additional restaurants in U Walk, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to success.
www.gastronomica-me.com
We were delighted to recently work with the team at Gastronomica Middle East. A leading , award winning Restaurant operator in GCC region including Dubai, KSA, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait offering the total dining concepts and experience.
Shortlisted in GCC for Restaurant & bar design awards 2023, Proudly certified as a great place to work.
One of 50 best Restaurants by S.Pellegrino & Acqua Panns.
Award winning innovation in Manchester
We were involved with Manchester City Football Club and it's chosen caterer F3 (jointly owned by USA giants Legends and also Absolute taste) with regards to the design, fit out and mobilisation of the award winning stunning Asahi Super Dry Tunnel Club Premier.This was one of a multitude of Restaurant hospitality concepts created at the Etihad. The Tunnel Club is the most immersive Restaurant experience in the world of football, bringing you closer to the action than ever before.
Stadia
Champions League & Premiership Award Winning F&B Stadia
The Commonwealth Stadium was finally handed over to the English owners of Manchester City Football Club after the Games. We were involved for nearly twenty years through three ownerships and eight football managers and two contract caterers.
John Benson-Smith together with Manchester City Football Club were very ambitious towards F&B and Hospitality with their new Stadium. We were engaged prior to the then new Stadium opening to drive the radical alterations internally and externally that needed to be made.
We created, proposed and guided the F&B and Catering offer for all areas including Hospitality, Concessions and all of the associated features including the first team. Our original ground breaking pioneering work in UK Stadia set the best in class standard and pace which other Clubs and Contract caterers both in UK and Europe then mimicked and copied over many many years.
Over twenty years our remit covered as below and NB we finally hung up our boots at City in January 2023
:
- All Catering inc concessions
- Areas of design and fit out
- Every concept, and brand
- External Catering inc City Square
- All zones, area Restaurants and outlets
- Every Catering area including the new CFA Mini Stadium
- All staff feeding including Team, Academy, Women's, Directors, and Youth
- Occasional input into New York City FC
Our involvement also then covered the following Clubs -
Crystal Palace FC - Fulham FC - Watford FC - FC Bayern - Real Madrid - Hull City FC - Tottenham Hotspurs FC - Manchester City Football Club - Scottish Football Association - plus various others including UEFA Healthy eating
New Pier at Fulham FC
Our F&B Catering involvement was over eight years and two ownerships at Craven Cottage London with Fulham FC. It captured many renditions &designs of this startling new stadium stand and its very unique 365 day use.
Fulham has a unique approach to its legendary customer care often referred to as 'Fulhamish' and it's River Thames location brings back so many memories of working with this amazing client.
New Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
Our year - long, detailed involvement encompassed supporting, evaluating and driving an estimated £50m Catering tender contract for the Tottenham Hotspur FC at the newly built Spurs White Hart Lane stadium.
This new award winning stadium is London's largest, which also hosts NFL.
Arts
Food, drink and great service within the Arts
At F&B Business our mission is to help businesses achieve sustainable growth, success and renown by providing them with expert business and management consulting services, whatever their food offering and facility.
Often Catering can be the byproduct and not the main attraction or events making the challenge of yielding profit , controlling costs, queues, staffing, flexing with price point and offering, more of a challenge. The needs of different groups and clientele are paramount and need research and understanding.
Theatres
We have worked for clients within the Arts including:
- West Yorkshire Playhouse
- Festival Theatre Edinburgh
- Birmingham Hippodrome
- Bradford Alhambra Theatre
- Octagon Theatre Bolton
- Grand Theatre Blackpool
- The Green Room Manchester.
The Arts council
We also conducted a 360 degree review of F&B Catering outlets for the Arts Council which included forensically investigating:
- Gallery Oldham
- Victoria Theatre Halifax
- Touchstones Rochdale
- Manchester Art Gallery
- Urbis Manchester.