Celebrating 20 fundamentally foodie years

The F word

We started bartlett mitchell, 20 years ago, because we wanted to talk about food – not finance! We knew that we would never have that option in a large contract caterer organisation.  Our only option was to start our own company!

We also wanted to make a difference. Not only to our customers and clients, but also for our only true asset – our teams. We have worked with some amazing people in our careers and we felt that we would like to do more for them. We wanted to create a sense of belonging for our team and a workplace they could enjoy.

Celebrating 20 years

I can honestly say (and I know I speak for Ian Mitchell too) that all the hard work, effort and ups and downs was worth it. We held a 20 years celebration party for all our #bmfamily💜💚  team members a few weeks ago.  It was totally brilliant.

Lots of our team came to enjoy great food and wine, but also to make a point of congratulating us. The nicest part was when they said how much they enjoy working with us and what the #bmfamily💜💚 meant to them. Their words were the best present.

The power of a strong culture

We have built our team to be over 1000. Some have left, quite a few have returned, and we are grateful to every single person who has contributed to shape our company and its values. It’s important to remember that as a business leader our vision guides the culture, but it’s the team who create it.

What is so evident, and it’s important to remind ourselves, is everyone plays an important and unique part. We couldn’t do it without the individuals who make up the team and it’s our team who deliver what we promise. Working as a team brings enjoyment, fun and sense of belonging. We respect everyone regardless of their position, and treat them as individuals.  If you are going to spend a third of your day at work then it’s  important you enjoy it and a big part of that’s is liking the people you work with.

bartlett mitchell is built on its people and there have been changes, but that’s good too as it brings freshness, new ideas and new thinking. This creates great growth for teams and for individuals the opportunity to put their own stamp on things. We work in a  demanding sector so it’s vital that we evolve.

Positive impact on the industry

We were touched by the kind words and congratulations from our team. Our biggest hope is that we have delivered our promise to create ‘a better place to work’. It’s not perfect, there are ups and downs (like life in general), but we hope people remember bartlett mitchell as a nice place to work.  And in the future they take this experience into new roles and companies and show how it should be done and not accept second best. Life is too short to do a job you don’t enjoy.

And we’re looking forward to the next big ‘0’ celebration in the future. I’m delighted we are both having as much fun as we did when we started. It’s even better now, we have a much better team of people running the business day to day than when Ian and I did it ourselves! Fundamentally, we have the same values today as we did when we sat around my kitchen table 20 years ago; and that’s what it’s all about.