Lindley Group feasting on new £43m contracts
News
Catering company Lindley Group has secured deals worth more than £43 million in the last two months.
It comes after the Penkhull-based business was acquired in April by Centerplate, a North American hospitality specialist which works with top sports stadia, entertainment venues and convention centres in the U.S. and Canada.
The most recent contracts agreed by Lindley range from providing the catering at a museum to developing a football club’s stadium.
President Adam Elliott said the backing of Centerplate has meant it can invest in long-term partnerships with its clients and target new markets.
Jointly, the new company expects to provide food, drink and merchandise services to more than 115 million guests annually, at many of the world’s most iconic sporting facilities, convention centres, and tourist attractions.
Since June, contracts won by the Lindley Group have included:
- A seven-year, £5 million-plus catering arrangement at The RAF Museum in Colindale in North London;
- A new £13 million, 10-year deal at Swindon Town FC’s County Ground, which will see Lindley’s current public matchday catering remit extended to all aspects of matchday and non-matchday catering, as well as event management at the 15,728-capacity stadium;
- £18 million deal with Watford FC, extending the caterer’s original five-year contract at Vicarage Road to a 10-year partnership agreement which will see Lindley providing catering, hospitality, sales, marketing and event management services through to 2023-24;
- Six-and-a-half year £7.8 million deal by the professional Super League rugby club Warrington Wolves.
Mr Elliott said his goal was to make the Lindley Group a £100 million turnover company and he was adamant the business would always keep a base in Stoke-on-Trent.
He said: “Joining forces with Centerplate makes us one of the largest global hospitality providers around today and it gives us a fantastic future.
“Over the last two-and-a-half years we’ve gone through massive expansion and moved into some different areas of business and the Centerplate merger was a lovely synergy.”
He added: “My office will always be in Stoke-on-Trent. We are in the process of moving to a new premises because we have outgrown our current site and are gearing up to bigger expansion.
“We can look at the possibility of acquiring other businesses and can now drive at bigger contracts and target markets that under the old Lindley, we might not have been able to go for.”
Lindley’s deal with Watford FC is one such contract which reflects the growth of the business. It includes an agreement that Lindley will develop the south west corner facilities at the club’s stadium.
The £1 million work will create two flexible hospitality areas at Vicarage Road by the middle of next season.
Jonathan Davies, group sales and marketing director, said: “While Vicarage Road has some good public concourse facilities we felt that the hospitality areas needed to be developed if they are to realise their full potential.”
Article reprinted from The Staffordshire Sentinel, July 31 2013.