Simona Oproiu of Graysons on tendering contracts after an anomalous two years

It also landed a three-year, multimillion-pound contract with the University of Greenwich to deliver student and staff dining at the Greenwich and Medway campuses, operate a public high street café and oversee all internal hospitality and events.

Graysons, founded in 2008 by ex-Compass Group chairman Sir Francis Mackay, focuses on business and industry contracts as well as conference and event venue catering in and around London. It landed its first contract 14 years ago at LGC, a provider of chemical and forensic analysis, DNA testing and consultancy services, and has since grown to 50 sites.

Business development director Simona Oproiu joined the company in 2013 from Genuine Dining Co, shortly after Graysons sold its education catering arm to Brookwood Partnership.

"It's just been tremendously busy, it's been amazing," says Oproiu. She reels off an even more extensive list of contracts the business has won over the past two years, including health and security services firm International SOS; private investment fund KKR, which recently moved to a new office in Mayfair; Silverstone Interactive Museum; and City Hall's new base in the Docklands Crystal Building.

"Sales are really on par to what they reported to us back in 2019, before Covid," she says.

She has seen the foodservice operator grow from revenues of £19m to a forecast £45m by the end of this year, with practically a 100% client retention rate over the last six years. This full score, she clarifies, has only been hindered by businesses that closed their sites permanently, for example Mitsubishi, which pulled out of the UK market last year.

"The ones that have tendered, we've retained for six years running now. So QVC is one of our contracts that tenders every two years. BMW retenders every three years and we've retained it every time," Oproiu points out.

So what is the secret behind Graysons' successful tender submissions, given how the last two years have been so anomalous in terms of data? "We're not able to guarantee fixed costs with all this uncertainty and not knowing what's happening and how many people are working on-site, off-site and so on, so we have bid quite flexibly and clients understand that," explains Oproiu.

The secret for me has been to work really, really closely with potential clients and finding out as much as I can about what their strategy is

"Obviously previous data is always helpful, especially when it comes to how many people are on-site and what the sales were and so on. But we don't often base it on what the previous sales were. We look at how many people are on-site, what our offer is, what we envisage the sales to be based on our marketing calendar and all the innovation we bring. We then pitch on what we see the sales to be. I can't say it's been a walk in the park. It's been challenging, but not as difficult as you would think in terms of eating habits.

"The secret for me has been to work really, really closely with potential clients and finding out as much as I can about what their strategy is and where they want their business to be. That way I know how to put that into our proposal."

Green agenda

She acknowledges that the client and customer demands remain volatile: "We keep having to reinvent ourselves. Of course, cost will always remain a priority, and a lot of the clients have had to cut costs."

Graysons has itself invested in its technology, for example pre-pay options, to accommodate this. Predictably, Oproiu says corporate and social responsibility (CSR) has also been an important selling factor for many clients, particularly around wellbeing and sustainability.

The business has been building on its eco-credentials for years, including the promotion of Emma Perry to head of CSR, who is devising a schedule to get the business to net zero. Some key carbon-focused activity from across the business has included carbon-neutral menus for events and its restaurants, highlighting ‘low-impact' dishes on menus, and offering carbon calculation for events with the option to offset.

The group is trialling Green Kode to measure its food waste at the Francis Crick Institute, with plans to roll this out at further sites. It also recycles its cooking oil into biofuel and is using its own compost for its herb and wildflower planters, which are then used in the kitchens. And beehives are being installed on the roof of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists' new Union Street home.

The company prioritises local, seasonal and biodiverse produce and has been collaborating with Slow Food UK on the Ark of Taste, an international ‘at risk' register of rare and heritage ingredients. Graysons has nominated products to the Ark, including apple varieties Blenheim orange and Laxtons Superb, as well as Berkswell and Stichelton cheeses. The company supports the endurance of these ingredients by using them on its menus throughout the portfolio.

Graysons is also collaborating with Slow Food UK on its transformation of the Hanbury Hall Café in Spitalfields, which is set to operate as a coffee shop during the day as well as a bakery and ‘fermentary', and a natural wine bar and restaurant in the evening. The menus will showcase produce from Graysons' community garden project next door to Hackney City Farm, being created in partnership with Slow Food UK. The garden will also serve as a sustainability education space for local schools and host workshops. The business announced the appointment of Chantelle Nicholson as a chef consultant in 2018, and although the plant-based café concept that was planned never made it to fruition, Nicholson continues to support company chefs in the development of plant-based menus.

Health and wellness

In terms of wellness, Graysons works with the Food for the Brain Foundation and Nutritics, which produces nutritional and allergen information on all dishes.

Graysons has also made the wellbeing of its own staff a focus, with initiatives like paid volunteering days; training and development courses; a cycle to work scheme; Bupa medical cover for managers; an employee assistance programme; a wellbeing platform offering yoga and mindfulness courses; as well as discounts across its public venues, discounted gym memberships with Get Active, and discounted car and home insurance (as well as with clients BMW and Mini).

"But I think generally speaking, it's making sure that we communicate with everyone regularly," adds Oproiu. "Everyone's voice is heard. We operate quite a flat management structure. There are a lot of reports for the managers on-site, but they're always only one person away from Laurent [Lucas-Dufour, group operations director] and Tim O'Neill, our managing director. Both are so close to our sites, they know everyone by name, and we often do employee surveys. Staff have a career within Graysons and they have opportunities."

The business is set to open a wine bar in Smithfield in a property that belongs to the Haberdashers' Company, which Graysons already works with. The venue is undergoing refurbishment and will be publicly accessible.

"We were in talks to sort of punch a hole through the wall and make it accessible to their members as well, but at the moment it's a high street wine bar," says Oproiu. "That area is amazing and so upcoming, involving new developments and the Museum of London moving there. It's going to be great."

Would Graysons ever consider expanding further geographically away from its London heartland, or expand its focus to other sectors? "The focus is always London and around London," says Oproiu. "We have gone to various areas where our clients have asked us to. We go past Birmingham with BMW Group, the British Library [Reading Rooms] in Yorkshire... The strategy is to work around those areas where we've got the support."

Still, there is plenty to keep her busy and Oproiu is working on five tenders concurrently that Graysons has been shortlisted for, has submitted two further pre-qualification questionnaires, and is "on the final stages" with "a couple of other contracts".

She emphasises that, despite the hit to both business and industry and events over the last two years, Graysons remains focused on both sectors: "Before Plan B, although B&I was slow to come back, because people were still able to work from home two or three days a week, events venues were coming up really strongly," she says.

"A couple of our venues, like Haberdashers' Hall, for example, were as busy as we were pre-Covid. And we know that when Plan B came in, people didn't want to be seen as putting their guests at risk. So things slowed again. But when the restrictions lifted, we saw such a massive appetite for people going out and wanting to attend events. And so the focus remains on both those markets. We know once things come back to normal there'll be lots of opportunities for business growth there. Both for us and the clients."

Graysons

Managing director Tim O'Neill

Employees Around 492 permanent staff

Sites 50

Revenue Currently around £20m, forecast to be £45m by the end of 2022

Contracts and venues Francis Crick Institute, British Library, Christ Church Spitalfields, QVC, Painters' Hall, Farmers & Fletchers, Bankside Terrace, 10 Union Street, Haberdashers' Hall, Wakehurst