Vanilla Catering & Events provides exceptional, innovative food supported by superb, friendly and professional service for every occasion.
Sally, The MD, is the human dynamo that keeps the company powered up. With great attention to detail, a flair for organising, and a passion for working with people, she is always striving to exceed clients’ expectations. Initially trained with Trust House Forte, she has long experience in the hospitality business having spent 20 years with various London based establishments. Besides working in restaurants, she later managed conferences, catering, events, and facilities and is a member of the British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM). Before joining Vanilla as a Director, she sailed from Australia to the UK and can truthfully claim to have baked fresh bread daily whilst crossing the Indian Ocean.
Martin is a qualified accountant by trade and likes to keep a sharp eye on the company finances. Besides the vital role of ensuring the financial health of the company, he excels at working with clients to make their function a roaring success. With a distinguished corporate career behind him he brings big company best practices to a small company setting, ensuring exceptional levels of customer service and performance. With his days now filled organising functions, he plays most of his golf in his dreams.
Helen, one of the founding directors, is the daughter of a traditional green grocer and knows a thing or two about fresh veg! This inspired her philosophy of using fresh, quality produce that lies at the heart of the Vanilla ethos. After university she catered for crews on racing yachts around the world. Now, with a background in retail management, she brings her love of food and top-notch customer service standards to Vanilla, ensuring clients have the best possible experience.
Kit, otherwise known as Dr J, is the fixer and sorter of the group. Never known to rush around, he brings a calming influence to the team. Kit brings his CAD skills to each event, carefully devising the best fit in any venue for you and your guests. His geologist background took him to the most remote areas of the world and he is the only one of us who can say they have set up a field kitchen in the wilderness with an unwashed field assistant and a Polar Bear for (unwanted) company!
Vanilla has a wide portfolio of repeat customers. We design our menus to specifically suit each client and event to ensure that the entire customer experience, from initial meeting to the main event, is friendly and relaxed yet efficient and professional. We’re very happy to provide you with customer reference contacts if required.
, and want to make sure that our principles of integrity and respect are acted upon throughout the company.
We are passionate about ensuring that you get the event that you want whether it’s your wedding, a formal corporate function or a relaxed yacht charter.
Vanilla isn’t simply a catering company, we offer a full events management service too. We’ll organise your event for you from set-up, through staffing and service to takedown and cleaning. This means you can sit back, relax and enjoy the event with your guests.
Based in Southampton, Hampshire, Vanilla caters and organises events from West Sussex to Dorset, Surrey to Winchester. So whether you’re having a wedding in Guildford or you’re holding a business function in Bournemouth, Vanilla Catering & Events will be delighted to help.
Well we are well into 2018 now and what a fantastic year we have ahead of us, with the Xmas tunes still jingling in our heads we...
