EP Magazine

Putting a face to a name

Tim Hammond, chief executive, Elior UK, has sought to define his business through customer service. How will this drive forward the company’s plans for a return to growth? Heather Gibson reports

There are many observers who still recall the formation of Elior’s initial UK brand, Avenance, in 2000, which brought together High Table, Nelson Hind, Catering & Allied and Brian Smith Catering. At the time the wisdom of this decision was questioned by some, as many had never heard of the name Avenance compared with the established names they had acquired. It is argued that the business has struggled to put a clear hook behind their brand ever since.

This argument is not new to Tim and he fully recognises the core challenge. Equally his vision is not driven by becoming the number three or four player in the market, preferring to deliver top line growth and unite the company under one brand. Tim’s first action on taking up the chief executive role in January was to undertake market research to understand more about the company’s perception.

“It was clear that Elior had no definable image as to what we stood for, with one or two exceptions such as Azure, despite a lot of strength in our contracts and strategic partnerships. However, the research also showed that people had a reasonably warm feeling about us and we were recognised to be good at customer service. So we decided to focus on one name and to reposition Elior around service, by which I mean not only the interpersonal engagement with the customer but also the interpretation of food.

“We didn’t think we were behind anyone in terms of customer service, but were we ahead of the game? No, but there was clearly an opportunity to do so. People like working with Elior and tend to remain loyal to us, so we had a great base upon which to build an environment to develop our team in order to care for customers better. In this way we can become known for delivery, not just promising this.”

A major strategic review was undertaken with the senior team leading to five strategic priorities of change. In addition to the development of people and the delivery of customer and client service, a priority is to become ‘famous’ for service, referring to the company’s investment in greater marketing and branding initiatives. Finally, winning new business and making the organisation fit for growth complete the company’s strategy.

Elior has made considerable investment in many of these pillars for change, including a six-figure contract with a third-party research company to measure customer service satisfaction across all 600 sites.

“In this industry there is actually very little measurement. The process gives us an early warning if there are any issues,” Tim observes. “I want to create a high-street restaurant approach in our contracts – to be a big guy behaving like a little guy. The quality of site manager is absolutely critical and empowerment is important. However, we also keep the area managers span of control fairly narrow so they can offer more support.”

One of the interesting developments in Elior’s evolution has been the senior team Tim has put in place around himself. Notably, he appointed Tim Bowley in September as managing director to oversee the operations in the company’s B&I, Defence, Vending, Heritage and FM businesses. Formerly managing director of Whitbread’s Beefeater Restaurants, there is clear synergy of vision with Tim’s main deliverable of service. This structure frees Tim up in a positive sense to nurture the broader vision, and to spend time monitoring Elior’s progress.

“There is real functional expertise, including Tim, who has a strong high street background and is particularly passionate about customer service and providing good leadership. I’m absolutely thrilled with the team; we have a nice diversity including two women, Catherine Roe and Dawn Gallimore.”

With regards to Tim himself, he comes across as a thinker, someone who enjoys learning new things and who has a genuine interest in meeting others. One of his great joys of the past year has been the engagement with clients. He describes himself as a ‘business junkie’ who, with experience of working across many sectors, likes simply to learn about organisations.

Tim began his career in 1988 as a consultant with McKinsey & Company where his sector focus changed every three months. He then joined the Unilever Group in 1992 where he held a number of positions before being appointed chairman of Lever Egypt in 1996. In 2001, he moved to the Whitbread group where he took on the role of managing director of TGI Friday’s. Between 2006 and the date of his joining Elior UK, Tim held the post of managing director at Barchester Healthcare, one of the UK’s leading providers of nursing and residential home care.

“I loved working in healthcare and restaurants and for the past 10 years, since leaving Unilever, I’ve worked with large, customer-facing organisations. My starting point is always with the customer and the extra spice in companies like Elior is that you are trying to deliver customer service through large numbers of people. It’s difficult.

“I’m fascinated by different organisations and genuinely enjoy conversations with clients to understand more about their business. It’s the difference in this sector of hospitality but actually the care homes sector, where I was with Barchester, has a similar dimension as you are often dealing with the NHS or government bodies as part of your business model.”

Tim is focused on achieving a return to growth with a fairly broad sector focus. B&I is fundamental, with strong growth in care homes and stadia, and opportunities in defence and universities.

“There is broadly the same ethos and skill set relevant in each of these areas,” according to Tim, and it’s for this reason that he is not actively seeking FM business without catering. He adds, Fixing mechanical and electrical issues require a technical expertise whereas catering has the customer dimension. It’s something we have debated extensively as about five to 10 percent of our business is non catering, mostly in defence and the City.”

Thus, broadening services to support contract retention is part of the company’s vision, such as reception or security or cleaning. Tim notes, “The most important thing in my brief is to grow the top line, even more so than improving profit margin. Of course, we have to be efficient and I say openly that there are things we just have to do, including managing costs. However, Elior is not about being the lowest cost provider. In fact we have added in new costs to create the kind of business that stands out for customer service.”

The company has begun to see its profile change, not only in terms of contract wins but its message to market. The company’s new website is much more attuned to Tim’s vision, and contract wins have included a £13 million deal at Salford City Stadium in October.

“I would like to become far and away the best caterer for providing great customer experiences. New business will come as this reputation builds and I would hope to lose very little of our current business, meaning that the top line will be flying.”

With many commentators waiting for further moves from Elior in 2012, will this be the time for the business to fulfil Tim Hammond its potential?