My first three months at Cater Care

3 months have already passed since I joined Cater Cater as Director of Corporate Development. It feels like it’s gone very quickly and proves the old adage that time really does fly when you’re having fun. In my case, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed getting to know all my new colleagues and learning about a multi-faceted portfolio of businesses that I think is brimming with potential. 

Cater Care is:

• Australia’s leading contract caterer to the Aged Care market; 
• one of the leading caterers to boarding schools and universities;
• the largest Australian owned operator providing full service facility management to mining villages in remote Australia; and
• one of the leading operators of food and beverage concession retail outlets in airports and hospitals in metropolitan and regional Australia. 

I was hired to lead the Group’s annual strategic planning process and find businesses to acquire that would either strengthen its existing portfolio or add new capability, including potentially entering international markets.  Having had time to dig deep and really get to know the businesses, I am confident that with Cater Care’s strengths across all aspects of:

• food service, including customised menu design, food preparation, presentation, nutrition and safety; 
• full service facilities management, including catering, cleaning, laundry, site maintenance and accommodation management; and
• food and beverage retail, 

that there will be plenty of bolt-on, product adjacency, customer adjacency and potentially new platform acquisition opportunities available for us to consider.

In my view the following 8 key attributes of the Group position it for strong future growth:  

1. Cater Care’s culture and ISO accredited systems and processes, developed and refined over more than 20 years,  combine to uniquely differentiate it as the market’s unrivaled provider of personalised customer service
2. Cater Care’s leadership in Aged Care, underpinned by specialist skills required to service that market- including with textured modified food and resident care- leverages it to the growth of the Australian aged care population, which is expected to double over the next few decades;
3. Cater Care’s reputation for service and trustworthiness in remote Australia have generated a portfolio of high quality iron ore, coal, gold, oil and gas and other commodity producers as clients, that can be expected to grow with the long term growth of the world economy;
4. Cater Care’s recent rebrand of its Education offering to gather. positions it to increase its share of the Education market; 
5. Cater Care’s Retail business is poised to benefit from a rebound in domestic and international air travel to pre-pandemic levels; 
6. The Group’s significant purchasing power is expected to support the growth of a larger Supply Chain business; 
7. The Group is highly cash generative, which will enable it to invest in future organic and inorganic growth opportunities; and
8. The depth of business and industry knowledge in the Group from the Non-Executive Board, to the Operating Board, to the Department Heads, right down to the Managers of Cater Care’s 230+ sites around Australia is exceptional. Thus, Cater Care’s management and operations teams possess all the necessary skills and experience to achieve its growth potential.

In my view, the Group’s nurturing work environment and altruistic values will support its long term success, with the following making a huge impression on me:

• The company’s culture of Care, Pride and Community is infectious. Everyone I’ve met is passionate about going above and beyond for customers to exceed their service expectations, takes immense pride in everything they do; and genuinely wants to improve the quality of life of client communities as diverse as aged care homes, boarding schools, universities, airports, hospitals and mining villages in remote regions of Australia. 
• Management and staff are fully committed to cultivating strong relationships with indigenous Australians, including a Reconciliation Action Plan that the Group is resourced to achieve. Furthermore, they have a corporate social responsibility program called ‘Caring in the Community’ which drives meaningful change, specifically in supporting the 2 nominated charities in Foodbank and Lifeline.
• There are no egos at Cater Care. Everyone is well mannered, respectful, generous with their time and proactive in providing guidance and mentorship whenever required. My new colleagues truly live Cater Care’s cultural values which has underpinned long tenure and a dedication to its success across all departments.

I am genuinely excited about Cater Care’s future and the value I can add in helping it achieve its full potential. I am already well advanced preparing a strategic plan framework for the Group and can’t wait to work with the Cater Care team over the next few months to complete it. In addition, I have already started putting my mind to the types of businesses we might look to acquire and am looking forward to catching up with my mergers and acquisitions and leisure and hospitality networks to begin creating what I expect will be many opportunities.