Hospitality specialist Vacherin reports its 15th year of growth

London-based independently-owned contract caterer, Vacherin, has reported its annual turnover has risen for the 15th consecutive year. Figures published this week for the year ending 31 August 2017 show turnover at £19.7m, a rise of almost 15%. It is managing director Phil Roker's first full year in his position and the company has said the implementation of his associated new structure has maintained the company's growth momentum. The year has been notable for Vacherin, with the company gaining eight new contracts, including London Stock Exchange Group, Miller Insurance Services LLP, PSP Investments, Advent International, The Crown Estate, Regent’s University London and two co-working sites for London’s leading flexible office provider Workspace. It has also recently won two further contracts to support law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen and global media organisation Hamilton. These new contracts have a total annual turnover value in excess of £5m and as many of these contracts were mobilised towards the end of the financial year, the firm anticipates that next year’s turnover will increase by a further 20%. In line with this growth, Vacherin has strengthened its senior management team in all areas with six appointments across operations, HR, accounts and business development. Clive Hetherington, owner and finance director, said: “We are absolutely delighted with these results. Our policy has always been to employ in advance the resources required to manage increased business levels. As a result of this investment in resource our overhead costs increased as a percentage of turnover but other key performance measures such as contract and staff retention, turnover and cash generation remain very strong and overall the financial health of the business is very robust.” Chairman and co-owner Mark Philpott, added, “Our business philosophy is the same as when Clive and I launched the business 15 years ago. We aspire to surpass client expectations and aim to be viewed as an extension of our client’s existing teams. This strategy continues to prove successful by our business success. Our employees are the lifeblood of Vacherin and we have been refreshing our learning and development strategies to ensure our workforce remains engaged and happy, as well as maintaining our excellent low levels of staff turnover.”