Member Article

Leading college group partners with Nuneaton catering company

A Nuneaton catering company has partnered with one of the region’s leading college groups to support its re-launched conferencing and events venues.

WCG (formerly Warwickshire College Group) has appointed Anthony’s Bistro as the catering partner for its ‘Venues’ brand which operates its conferences and events across its colleges in Warwickshire and Worcestershire.

The college group has committed to using local suppliers to deliver ‘Venues’ and that all partners will be within a 30 miles of its colleges.

Anthony’s Bistro was set up in 2011 and started life as a coffee shop. After more than 10 years, the owners decided to close the coffee shop and redirect the business to specialise in external catering – with a focus on weddings and conferences.

It is staffed by local people and uses local suppliers for all of its produce where possible, including meat from popular Nuneaton butcher Frank Parker and vegetables from Leicester Market. The business has also recently started working with Gayton’s Bakery in Atherstone.

Jon Ellard, Director of Anthony’s Bistro, said: “Our external catering business is growing and we hope to be able to grow alongside WCG as it drives forward its new conference and events service – it is the perfect scenario for us.

“We decided to close the doors on our restaurant earlier this year and focus our expertise in delivering catering for wedding, conferences and other external events. “We’re proud of the work we do to engage with local suppliers and that is reflected in our meat, dairy, eggs and vegetables all being locally sourced.

“Our business is very busy at the weekends with a packed schedule of wedding catering, but this will be a fantastic addition to our midweek schedule and provide a real boost to our business.

“We’re looking forward to getting started and working with staff across the WCG colleges to deliver fantastic events.”

Sarah Butterfield, Director of Commercial Development at WCG, added: “We are committed to working with local partners and businesses in our conference and events work, so when the opportunity arose to partner with Anthony’s Bistro we knew it was the perfect fit.

“We were seeking a catering partner that was regional in location but also worked with suppliers in the locality of our colleges. Anthony’s Bistro does just that and we are looking forward to working with them as we continue to re-launch Venues.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Matt Joyce .