IndiCater support ground-breaking mentoring scheme
FSM Magazine Article
May 2011
A ground-breaking mentoring scheme by Oxford Brookes University aims to encourage more students to develop long-term careers in the industry”, reports Jane Renton in FSM for Contract Caterers June 2011.
IndiCater are proud to support the scheme, providing the web based hub for over 200 and mentees and mentors to communicate and share information with one another.
Lou Willcock awarded Shine 'Mentor of the Year'
IndiCater Special Report
April 2011
Last night at a fantastic ceremony at The Savoy hotel in London, our very own Lou Willcock, co-founder and director of IndiCater received the Shine 'Mentor of the Year' award. We are all very proud of Lou, and know how passionately Lou feels about mentoring and how much she has done for mentoring over the years.
Lou is also named on the list of Top 100 Most Influential Women in Hospitality, Leisure, Travel and Tourism.
Speaking of her achievement Lou said:
" I was absolutely thrilled to be awarded the Mentor of the Year award at last nights sparkly Women 1st & Shine Awards held at The Savoy in London. The citation that Gaby Roslin read out when I was presented with the mentors award left me speechless and I cannot tell you how moved I was just to have been nominated for something, especially this. Thanks so much for everyone’s support (and nominations!), it is truly appreciated."
Lou was also shortlisted for Outstanding Entrepreneur, co-founding Customised Contract Catering with Mike Day in the 1990’s, the company employed around 300 staff and ran 60+ contracts before being acquired by Granada Foodservices. Lou and Mike then went on to co-found IndiCater Ltd, one of the leading back of house hospitality software specialists in the UK.
We are all incredibly proud of Lou and offer our congratulations to the other winners too.
The Winners:
Outstanding Entrepreneur Award Winner: Jillian MacLean, managing director, Drake & Morgan
Rising Star Award Winner: Xoe Donovan, general manager, The Longford House Beefeater and Cannock South Premier Inn
Mentor of the Year Award Winner: Lou Willcock, founding director, IndiCater
Woman of the Year Award Winner: Victoria Sanders, managing director, Teletext Holidays
Lifetime Achievement Award Winner: Robyn Jones OBE, chief executive, CH&Co
Small Business Award Winner: ABode Hotels
Large Business Award Winner: Sodexo UK & Ireland
Not so Secret Service - Lou Willcock meets Michel Roux's 'Service' Trainees
February 2011
It was both a privilege and a treat to be a guest at last week’s private screening of the final episode of Michel Roux’s Service. Rubbing shoulders with some of the great names in hospitality, such as Roy Ackerman and Fred Sirieix, engendered a feeling in the room of being part of something very special.
Throughout the eight-part series on BBC2, it was interesting to see just how deeply the service message touches ALL areas of the hospitality industry. Excellence in service is not just about 5 star hotels and Michelin star restaurants - it’s everywhere, whether you operate in a fast-food environment, event catering, a local cafe, or indeed a hospitality software business such as ours. Wherever there are customers to interact with and satisfy, there will be service expectations to meet and excel. I spent the evening alongside representatives from Lexington and CH&Co, two contract caterers who have certainly understood how to put into effective practice the values of service excellence, and they have both grown rapidly as a result. It pays to understand just what an important message this is.
I’m not sure if it was intentional, but the evening itself felt like a call to action from the Academy of Food & Wine Service (which initiated the Service series). The trainees had done their bit - they had undergone weeks of training, often in somewhat unrealistic circumstances (would you really run the front of house of a busy restaurant after just one morning of induction?) - and here they were, waiting to show the world the outcome of their endeavours. Three scholarships were awarded, but in reality all seven trainees were winners, each of them bursting with anticipation and excitement about the next part of their journey. I chatted to Brook, Ashley, Tom and most of the trainees from the series, all of them with sparkles in their eyes as they discussed their futures and where they might end up.
At IndiCater we get it. We get the message that there is talent out there, but it needs nurturing if we are going to attract, train and then maintain the highest levels of service standards that our industry demands. IndiCater is doing its best to help, working closely with Oxford Brookes University on its hospitality student mentoring programme and providing the IT structure needed for the 250+ students and mentors to communicate with one another across the programme.
Through initiatives like Michel Roux’s Service series, and the Oxford Brookes University mentoring programme, the future is looking promising. But everyone in the industry needs to embrace the message. Mary Portas, in her current TV series Secret Shopper (Channel 4) - which focuses on the high street - used LEON’S as an example to the retail sector of how customer service should be. With this kind of recognition, let’s keep the momentum going across all sectors of the hospitality industry. Fred Sirieix started the evening off by showing guests and trainees a video of how to start a movement. Take a look at it now, and let’s keep the hospitality service movement going.
Tim West from Lexington talks about IndiCater
February 2011
If you are thinking about back of house hospitality management software then check out what positive things Lexington have to say about us.
IndiCater help Mentoring programme makes it mark
January 2011
Dr Judie Gannon is the programme co-ordinator for the Bacchus Mentoring programme in the Department of Hospitality, Leisure and Tourism at Oxford Brookes University. IndiCater have been supporting this programme and in particular Lou Willcock, one of the founders and a Director of IndiCater has been very involved in the Bacchus Alumni Committee, along with Tim West of Lexington and Peter Chapman of The Chefs Net.
In a recent article Judie explains how it all started, and reveals how the much-lauded programme helps final year undergraduates ease into their future careers. She says "I’m delighted that the Bacchus Mentoring Scheme in 2010 has grown to include ninety-six mentors. The Lancaster London was the perfect setting for the 2010 launch and provided wonderful surroundings for bringing mentors, all senior figures from the international hospitality and tourism industry, and their mentees together for the first time."
IndiCater and Bennett Hay prepare for take off.....
January 2011
What does a new company need from the start? Efficient back office systems. And integrated hotel services start-up Bennett Hay has just that in the form of IndiCater’s web based software.
Robin Hay, Director at Bennett Hay explained, “We know from experience that if the back office systems aren’t there from the start, the task of sorting this out gets increasingly onerous as the company grows. IndiCater has a track record of working with fledgling companies and helping them put in place efficient operating systems that facilitate faster growth from the word go, and that made a lot of sense to us.
“We know there’s a lot of scope in the hotel services/soft FM sector for a boutique operator, in the same way there are a number of boutique operators specifically within the contract catering sector. Currently within managed services, most companies have no choice but to go with one of the larger operators but that’s not always the best fit for them, so the Bennett Hay offer is targeting this market segment. The deal we’ve signed with IndiCater helps us ensure that from an operational perspective, we’re using technology to maximise efficiency, be responsive, and run the business with minimal central overheads from day one.”
Initially Bennett Hay will use IndiCater’s financial reporting, communications and intranet, and employment/HR modules.
Mike Day, Chief Executive of IndiCater commented, “Our web-based systems cut out the need for major IT investment and offer clients great flexibility; especially important to start-up companies like Bennett Hay. We’ve worked with a number of fledgling companies, some even from their inception, and the feedback we’ve received is that our systems have been an instrumental factor in helping them achieve their growth – in fact, we can say that over the past 10 years that IndiCater has been in existence, we’ve grown alongside many of these companies, adjusting and developing our packages to meet both they and their clients ever-changing needs.”
Robin Hay and Anthony Bennett both have an exemplary background in hotels, contract catering and facilities management working with some of the largest FM companies. They have worked together for the last 15 years where they have built a reputation for building successful, high quality client centric businesses. After holding senior Director roles at Compass Group they both moved to MITIE Group where they established a national catering and soft services business growing it to a turnover of £50 million in the UK. They have now turned their attention to creating a niche boutique FM business, namely Bennett Hay, which brings together hotel style support services within the workplace.
A letter to Caterer and Hotelkeeper Magazine from Charles Mobbs - Chairman of Indicater.
December 2010
"The BBC carried a story this week "Cloud computing could give EU a 763 billion euro boost". Personally, I have no idea how such a number gets calculated, but hopefully it was done on some remote server by a company offering "Software as a Service" (SaaS), which is the modern way of computing. For the layman, cloud computing and SaaS are one and the same, but much less of a recent innovation than the story implies – certainly in the hospitality sector.
IndiCater has been offering (and only offering!) SaaS for over a decade now, and the impact it has on our hospitality clients - contract caterers, retail operators, hotel groups, theme parks etc - is significant, as they can adopt and use software modules which they want when they need them. SaaS is scalable, you only pay for what you select, you don’t need internal IT resource, specialist equipment or expensive personnel, and IT investment becomes a continuing operating expenditure that rises and falls with demand. Very handy in today’s world!
Moving to the Cloud is indeed a cultural shift for some organisations, but credit where credit is due please - the hospitality industry is a trail blazer in business and technology terms after all."
IndiCater wins major deal in healthcare and education sectors.
November 2010
IndiCater has secured a major deal with G4S, which specialises in facilities management in government, healthcare and education sectors.
IndiCater's software packages are forming the backbone of G4S's management control and administration systems at four sites initially – Northwick Park Hospital in North London and three North Wiltshire Schools.
Charles Mobbs, chairman of IndiCater said: "We're very excited by these developments. There is huge scope to grow the business with this important client. "The beauty of our system is that with minimal adjustments and set up time, we can deliver a bespoke solution to every outlet for a very low cost and with our systems being web-based, there is no need for costly new hardware expenditure."
Lucy Gemmell: Telling the story of Rhubarb, expanding the business in troubled times.
Entrepreneurs Forum Special Report
October 2010
Once again IndiCater was proud to sponsor the October Entrepreneurs forum with speaker Lucy Gemmell.
In a very open and humble manner, Lucy Gemmell spoke to a captivated audience yesterday morning on the trials and tribulations of expanding a business known for its creativity and personal touch into new markets and sectors. Having recently won the catering contract at the Royal Albert Hall and being a veteran advisor of 7 Summer and Winter Olympics, Lucy is uniquely placed to discuss the highs and lows of running a small company.
"You have to be prepared to change to be successful"
Entrepreneurs Forum Special Report.
June 2010
IndiCater were delighted to sponsor the latest in a series of Entrepreneurs Forums held in partnership with EP magazine in London this month.
Attended by many of the leading entrepreneurs from the hospitality industry, the forum heard from Des Gunewardena, chairman and chief executive of D&D London who has been involved with two of the great entrepreneurs of our time - Gerald Ronson and Sir Terence Conran.
In a fascinating discussion, Des shares his views on gut versus corporate planning; joint ventures; overseas growth and other topics with an entrepreneurial focus.
A ground-breaking mentoring scheme by Oxford Brookes University aims to encourage more students to develop long-term careers in the industry”, reports Jane Renton in FSM for Contract Caterers June 2011. 
Last night at a fantastic ceremony at The Savoy hotel in London, our very own Lou Willcock, co-founder and director of IndiCater received the Shine 'Mentor of the Year' award. We are all very proud of Lou, and know how passionately Lou feels about mentoring and how much she has done for mentoring over the years. 
It was both a privilege and a treat to be a guest at last week’s private screening of the final episode of Michel Roux’s Service. Rubbing shoulders with some of the great names in hospitality, such as Roy Ackerman and Fred Sirieix, engendered a feeling in the room of being part of something very special.
