Social Firms UK

Catering2Order in  the spotlight

John Charles, MD of Catering2Order, had a ministerial visit from Jonathan Shaw MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, on Tuesday (2 March). The Minister appeared to be very receptive to the issues discussed with John and our own Chief Exec, Sally Reynolds.

But not content with that, John was elected onto the Board of Social Enterprise London (SEL) at their AGM on the Wednesday night and at their hustings went on to tackle the third sector spokespeople of the three main political parties over government contracts.

Whitehouse Enterprises is an Ipswich based Social Firm designed and built by Suffolk County Council in 1980. The main business areas are:

* Creative Sign Solutions * Created For You Catering * outdoor furniture made from recycled plastic * light engineering * electrical assembly * contract packing * document scanning and collating.

Top Bites provides an efficient catering service including sandwich making and a buffet service. It also has a cafe providing hot and cold menus.

The Frogmeadow Community Café opened in early 2006 as part of the new Park Lane Multi-Use Centre, which is part of the wider regeneration of the Woodside area of Telford.

In a bright and modern setting, the café provides great food at reasonable prices from light lunches to homemade cakes, snacks and drinks. An important aspect of the café's remit is to promote healthy eating, and our menu is designed to give plenty of healthy options and we encourage patrons to ask our staff about how they can choose healthy meals.

The café also provides a catering service to anyone wanting to organise a function at the Park Lane Centre, with a selection of menus to suit all budgets.

Scotch Bonnet Catering creates authentic, high quality African and Caribbean food, while also providing real training and employment opportunities for people with mental health needs and learning difficulties. Scotch Bonnet currently provides 2 types of catering services: - Caribbean buffets for events across London - Individual frozen meals for the health and social care sector.

Scotch Bonnet Catering takes its name from the fiery pepper that is native to the Caribbean. The Scotch Bonnet is one of the hottest varieties of pepper but has a distinctive and fruity flavour which is used extensively in Caribbean cooking.

Rumbles Catering Project runs both an inhouse and external catering service. Rumbles' preferred method of contact is by telephone.

  The Oak Farm Tea Rooms opened in September 2006 in the village of Ditton Priors.  The interior is bright and traditional, with a seasonal farm-fresh menu of light lunches, homemade cakes and drinks. Outside, there is a patio area where vistors can enjoy the tranquil surroundings. The gardens, which include a herb garden and small orchard, are maintained by Green Horizons staff and volunteers.

Mow & Grow's services include:

• clearing and maintaining gardens 
• promoting interest and learning in gardening
• facilitating garden maintenance by creating low maintenance and drought gardens  
• enabling older people and people with disabilities to enjoy gardening by creating appropriate spaces 
• creating safe gardens for children
• promoting community projects and interest in and use of shared spaces, assisting community schemes by providing expertise, advice on grants, equipment and a team to work with local volunteers.

Mow & Grow is now expanding its range of services to include training and qualifications in the building trades – painting and decorating, plastering, floor and wall tiling, artexing and coving.  

  Kingsmeadow Catering is a Peebles-based catering company.