Delivering Success
Caterforce Conference 2024
The Caterforce conference is held every two years and this year it was held on Thursday 7th November at Wembley Stadium.
The nine members of the buying group came together to connect with a wide range of suppliers from across the country; we got to catch up with friends, new and old, to learn about the future direction of the buying group and its members and how suppliers can support our future growth.
Firstly, the team were excited to be at such a fantastic venue so there were a few photos taken to commemorate the moment!
Meet the team
Before the conference kicked off, there was a chance for suppliers to catch up with the teams from all the Caterforce members.
This was a great opportunity to have an informal chat with new and familiar faces.
Delivering Success
First to take the floor was Matt Williams, Caterforce Chairman, who set the stage with his speech by talking about how group success relies upon member success. All the members are family businesses and we’re committed for the long haul.
Gary Mullineux, MD of Caterforce, gave an insight into the group’s positive performance.
Further presentations included talks about our future growth strategies including plans for digital growth, about how suppliers could use a broad range of online tools and marketing services to help grow their brands to ensure increased sales and success.
AI has been a controversial subject at times in the press, however a panel from across the group spoke of how it can help us deliver a better service and get more suppliers’ products to market. This was an interesting and fascinating subject looking into future-problem solving.
Throughout the afternoon, videos were shown and some of our team made their Wembley screen premieres!
Our MD, Graham Jenkins spoke about our growth and investment and how as a family business, we’re here to stay.
Michael Brown, Purchasing Director, explained how our membership and close relationship with Caterforce helps us thrive and become a success.
Our marketing manager, Karen Graham, talked about digital marketing opportunties for suppliers and how they can see a growth in sales post-campaign.
Hrishikesh Desai, Chef Patron at Farlam Hall, is a loyal customer of ours and he praised us for our service and how he enjoys working with an independent family business whose business goals align with his; great quality all the time!
We would like to express our greatest respect and thanks to Hrishikesh Desai, Farlam Hall and Phil from Leeming House Hotel for agreeing to be part of our conference filming!
Keynote Speaker – Kevin Keegan
To end the conference we were excited to welcome Kevin Keegan to the stage. Kevin was certainly entertaining and talked about how he delivered success throughout his footballing career.
The team were also overjoyed to meet him for a photo opp and a short chat afterwards!
The fascinating and insightful event was then followed by a fabulous dinner and supplier awards event.
The whole day was then rounded off with an hilarious peformance from TV comedian, Rob Beckett.
Finally, here are just a few more images from the whole event.
