How It All Began
December 2008
Jan (Bretherton) and myself (Mark Webb) were working for an event catering company based in Leominster by the name of Consuming Passion. The director was a man called Steve Bailey. His credentials were impeccable. Having held a very senior position for the prestigious London Event Caterer Alison Price (her client list is a roll call of household names; George Michael, Sir Elton John among many others), she had also worked at such venues as; Blenheim Palace, The British Museum and Cliveden.
So, having decided to relocate with his family to Herefordshire he set up Consuming Passion, a very elegant catering business bringing London sparkle to the rural quietude of Herefordshire. What could possibly go wrong? At this time Jan was Steve’s very capable righthand. I was heading up a subsidiary operation that ran a delicatessen in Leominster. In December 2008 Jan and I were given the devastating news that Consuming Passion was to be wound up as a viable business. (Obviously this news cast a very long shadow over our Yuletide season.)
In the New Year of 2009 Jan and I decided that we should give setting up our own event catering business a go (not least learning valuable insights from financial errors made at the former company). Jan and I already had a long history of working together, we had initially met some eight years previously as retail managers in the wine trade, at Oddbins, a high street wine merchant, that, those of a certain age will be remember. With these eight years of (largely!) co-operative working experience under our collective belt we thought it was worth a shot.
Saturday 9th May 2009
The date of our first, very humble event at Lemore Manor, near Eardisley, Herefordshire. An extremely nervous couple of newly installed business partners led a very successful event for fifty guests. The tension was somewhat amplified as our former boss was in attendance! So now coming up to 17 years later. We are still doing our AtoZest thing, we enjoy what we do, although sometimes it does seem like the mixed blessing of a labour of love. We are very proud of what we have achieved. From catering for Formula one teams to dinners for 300+ guests in the stunning Hereford Cathedral (imagine the risk assessment reports needed to take several gas ovens into a structure dating back to the 11th century!!) We are also very proud of the relationships we have built up over the years with our amazing customer network and key staff (most of which have been with us for many years) You know who you all are, with thanks and gratitude. Jan and I could not have done this without every single one of you.
