FABULOUS FOOD FOR PEOPLE WITH PANACHE.

CLIENT PROFILE.A high street fashion leader with 250 stores across the UK, River Island’s flagship head office in Hanger Lane, West London is the base to 750 employees.

CHALLENGE.River Island is one of the high street’s most recognisable fashion retailers with stores throughout the UK and a head office in London. The River Island brand is youthful, outgoing and above all confident — demonstrated by the fact that Rihanna will be designing her first collection for the retailer in 2013. River Island challenges itself to always pull out the wow factor in whatever it does — so when it decided to retender its foodservice contract in 2008 it was looking for something special, particularly in its head office restaurant.

According to Facilities Operations Manager, Jamie Davis, River Island wanted bold, exciting food to create a buzz and gain a reputation. “We wanted our restaurant to be known for its food — it was important to us that it became a big talking point.”

Over the last three years we’ve managed to demonstrate that good catering is immensely valuable to our business. It keeps people on site, it keeps them eating healthy food, and it keeps them motivated. We want that to continue.

RESULT.ACROSS-THE-BOARD EXCELLENCE

The River Island restaurant is all about providing amazing food to match the high standards of innovation the company sets itself in all areas. The new energy sparked by the Centre for Excellence programme at River Island has added fresh layers to already high standards. The challenge is to keep pushing the boundaries of brilliance, and keep surprising and delighting a workforce that has high expectations.

CASE STUDY

They came up with a detailed plan that convinced us that they’d thought of everything.

SOLUTION.INVESTMENT IN PLANNING“Eurest spent valuable time planning for us — from where we were to where we wanted to be,” says Jamie. “They came up with a detailed action plan that convinced us that they’d thought of everything.”

The confidence River Island placed in Eurest was vigorously put to the test during that first year. Rolling out the contract threw up a number of challenges, the main one being that the building was undergoing a major refurbishment. “For the first year we had to run the catering operation out of a mobile cabin,” says Jamie. “With our goals of a new kitchen, a new restaurant and a new offer, we had to employ a ‘suck it and see’ mentality.”

CREATING THE MAGICWhen it came to the food offer, the River Island team talked to employees before designing the restaurant, to gain a sense of what was important to them so they could achieve something innovative, exciting and different. Employees were predominantly female, in their mid-20s, working for the buying teams; a smaller number of workers were from support teams and tended to be older, less fashion-conscious and, perhaps, less preoccupied with innovation. The food offer had to have universal appeal, compete with pack lunches and make the restaurant the lunchtime destination of choice.

The workers asked for branded coffee — so in went Costa — and they wanted a high street restaurant style brand such as Wagamama — so in went a Japanese-style noodle bar with live cooking stations. Customers choose their fresh vegetables and sauce from a range such as sweet chilli or black bean which the chef then cooks in front of them. Themed food days are a regular event and a real talking point; some are timed around the cultural calendar, like Chinese New Year, others are tied to sporting events or to seasons, such as barbecues, London 2012 or the World Cup.

RAISING THE BARRiver Island embarked on Eurest’s Centre for Excellence programme in late 2011, involving an audit of performance and delivery, focusing particularly on teamwork. After a few months the benefits began to shine through and the team found new ways of working together, resulting in a more efficient yet highly-creative workplace — and food that consistently exceeds expectations.

“There was pride, commitment, and a sense of achievement,” says Jamie.

RESULT.ACROSS-THE-BOARD EXCELLENCEThe River Island restaurant is all about providing amazing food to match the high standards of innovation the company sets itself in all areas. The new energy sparked by the Centre for Excellence programme at River Island has added fresh layers to already high standards. The challenge is to keep pushing the boundaries of brilliance, and keep surprising and delighting a workforce that has high expectations. Jamie says: “We use the same staff questionnaire as we did at the beginning so that we can make direct quantitative comparisons. Performance is staying high, but that doesn’t mean it has to stand still.”

Hospitality is a platform for stretching those standards. Twice a year River Island store managers are invited to head office for the annual range review. It’s an opportunity for reward and celebration, and the Eurest team rises to the challenge with a sumptuous formal lunch and themed dinner. “Our head chef Ben Ford always creates something spectacular, from ice sculptures to a Pimms bicycle — the food is outstanding. He always makes a big splash,” says Jamie.

Cost is, of course, important too with an imperative to balance competitive prices to users against holding down subsidy levels — a balance achieved by Eurest for River Island through a tight focus on maintaining gold standards of efficiency. But River Island also measure benefits in terms of retention and motivation.

“Over the last three years we’ve managed to demonstrate that good catering is immensely valuable to our business. It keeps people on site, it keeps them eating healthy food, and it keeps them motivated. We want that to continue.”

WHAT MATTERS TO YOU

UNDERSTANDING YOU

GREAT PEOPLE

GREAT FOOD

GREAT SERVICE