If I Knew Then: Neil Lodge

• How did you arrive at Fosters? 

My journey has been one from cod to caviar! One of my early jobs was managing a Harry Ramsden’s fish and chip restaurant – which turned over £2 million. At the age of 23, I employed over 130 people who were aged from 16 to 60.  So it was a bit of baptism of fire! Harry Ramsdens was then bought by Compass – a major player in the food service industry. I worked my way up the company and eventually decided I’d like to work for an organisation that equally valued provenance and profit.   Fosters specialise in providing large volumes of exceptionally, high quality food – much of which is locally sourced.  So when the Chief Executive role came up in 2007 I leapt at the chance. And that is how I ended up working with rather a lot of caviar!

• If you knew then what you know now, what mistakes might you have avoided? 

I might have done more interesting and perhaps relevant A levels – I had to retake them as I spent much of my time working in a local restaurant which I loved – and gave me first hand experience of the hospitality industry.

• What advice would you have given yourself when starting out? 

The catering industry is an industry where you can assume positions of responsibility very early in your career and you have to be brave and bold to take on those challenges but it will stand you in good stead. I did exactly that and it made me a much more developed Manager earlier in my career had those opportunities not come along or I had not taken them.

• If you knew then what you know now, would you still be sitting there? 

Definitely. My degree in Hospitality Management at Leeds Metropolitan was one of the best decisions I ever made.  I probably would also be running my own business but Fosters has given me the autonomy to do this in all but name/ ownership.

• What do you know now that you didn’t know then? 

Not all growth is good growth and that sales are vanity and profits are sanity.

• What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received so far? 

Understand your core business and skill set and focus on that but ensure that you  have a distinct set of unique selling points to make you stand out from the crowd.

• What is your business highlight? 

Helping to turn Fosters around has been enormously satisfying. Fosters has largely been an outside catering business, but a brand extension decision led us into the restaurant trade and nearly over the edge.

Back in 2007 and 2008 Fosters’ two restaurants in Bristol and Portishead looked like good propositions. Jack’s in Bristol was well situated amongst the banking quarter and luxury flat development – and in Portishead there was a distinct lack of high-end restaurants even though it was one of UK’s fastest growing towns.

But when the banking crisis hit, the expected demand in Bristol dried up. This coincided with cash calls being made on the outside catering arm of the business.  In 2013, Fosters streamlined and focused once again on its core strength: high quality outside catering for large volumes of people. And we have just had one of our most successful years yet – with 20% year on year growth having outstripped our record year by 50%.

• What is your business low point? 

Not making the restaurants work and realising that we would need to get rid of them in order that the core business could flourish again which is exactly what has happened.

• What keeps you awake? 

Two young sons! But in relation to business I often lie awake trying to plan how I can take Fosters to its next level of development and what is needed to achieve that.

• What’s changed from when you started out? 

I’ve noticed that more and more clients really care about where their food has come from. They want locally sourced produce that tastes delicious and has an interesting story. We aim to source 80% of our produce within 10 – 15 miles radius of the event’s location. For example Fosters provide the food and drink for Plymouth University’s Graduation ceremony and had planned to offer scones and locally-sourced jam.  We put a message out on Twitter saying that we were in need of a jam producer close to Plymouth.  This is how we found Jenna Jam who worked from her kitchen and supplied all the jam for 30 000 people!

One size does not fit all! Venues and contracts like caterers who want to differentiate themselves and one way of doing this is having flexible, bespoke and locally-sourced menus especially if they have then been accredited by an organisation like the Soil Association. Fosters is the only events business with the Soil Association Food for Life accreditation in England.

• What’s still on your to-do list? 

To make Fosters more of a national operator but retaining all that makes Fosters what it is today – bespoke , flexible and `can do` and to continue to see the great team I have working for me develop as the business grows!

• What’s next for Fosters?

I want to double the size of Fosters over the next three to five years. My plan is to focus on four key areas: growing corporate clients, winning more stadia, increasing our heritage venues and expanding the outside catering arm.   It’s crucial we grow sensibly and build on our partnership-based model.  We are very clear about what we do well and what’s important to us so we’re looking to partner with businesses who will really benefit from our core competencies and share our values.  And this could include acquisition.