ALISON Robinson was approached several times with offers of financial backing to start her own catering business, but she turned them all down. She decided that if she was going to set up a business, she wanted it to be her own company.

"I'm not good at working for other people," says Robinson. "You're never 100% committed if you're doing things the way someone else wants them done." Her mind made up, she left her position as commercial director with Charlton House Catering Services in January 1997 to set up Artizian Catering Services with a personal investment of £15,000 (plus £15,000 from her brother-in-law) and hasn't looked back.

Jayne Billam came on board as joint managing director 14 months ago with an investment of £10,000 and was immediately offered a 10% shareholding in the company (now increased to 20%). "It's important for people to have a share in the organisation," says Robinson, who invested a further £15,000 herself in the second year. "Why put energy in if the company isn't yours?"

Blue chip market

Billam and Robinson met while working for Sutcliffe and had talked about setting up in business together but Billam became pregnant - her child is now two years old - so Robinson decided to set up alone.

She decided to focus her attention on the blue chip market to the exclusion of all others, although it has meant turning down a lot of business. "I decided only to take on contracts that will add value to the business," she says. "Anything else would dilute it and wouldn't do anything for the portfolio."

Current contracts (there are nine in total) are in London, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire (see right). Turnover has increased from £456,000 in the first year to £1.5m.

The most recent gain is Morley Fund Management in the City. The cost-plus contract was awarded in August and is due to begin on 25 October. Artizian will provide catering for 330 staff on site in 11 private dining rooms and via an e-mail sandwich hotline, and has already been asked to cater for a 250-cover launch reception for the company on 28 October.

The first Artizian contract to get up and running, however, was at Alfred Dunhill, the men's luxury goods retailer in Knightsbridge, which invited Robinson to bid for the cost- plus contract in March 1997. It involves providing a 45-seat upmarket café/deli bar on the lower ground floor and executive dining for 12 covers three times a week for Cartier on the sixth floor, as well as ad hoc hospitality such as coffees, teas and conferences.

There is a lunch take-up of 180 among the 250 employees on site and many use luncheon vouchers in the café, where average spend is £3.20. The menu offers one hot meal a day as well as jacket potatoes, salads, sandwiches and New Covent Garden soup.

Artizian staff at Alfred Dunhill currently total five - four full- and one part-time - although this is being reviewed given the rapid growth of the directors' dining business. Robinson's plans for the site include providing a hostess service from a newly built kitchenette adjacent to the dining rooms.

The Alfred Dunhill contract is under the direction of chef-manager Sue Accorsi, formerly of Leith's. In the year Accorsi has been there, sales have increased by 35%, which has led to her being promoted to the company's new contract with the British Bankers Association in the City.

"Another advantage of focusing on the blue chip portfolio is that we can grow people who can easily be transferred to another contract," says Robinson.

Staff costs at Alfred Dunhill amount to £58,000. "We pay about 12% higher than the average but it pays off because we get higher-calibre people," says Robinson. "We take the approach of increasing sales to offset labour costs, whereas many operators cut costs by limiting the staff and the menu."

Labour costs are significantly higher - £120,000 - at the HFC Bank head office in Winkfield, near Windsor, where twice as many staff are required to cater for the 450 employees on site. This was actually the first contract that Artizian won, but it was the second site to open, in April 1997. The building is on the site of a former circus and, appropriately, the contract's general assistant, Val Ellis, used to be a trapeze artist.

The contract is based on guaranteed labour costs and comprises a restaurant serving 200-225 covers at lunch, a shop that sells about 110 sandwiches a day and boardroom catering which varies from 15 to 25 covers and usually takes the form of a buffet. The 10 staff are led by catering manager Estelle Skeates. Within the first year, sales increased by 27% and as the site has grown in recent months from the initial 350 employees, sales growth has increased to 50%.

Another advantage of Artizian's higher wages is loyalty and commitment among staff. Two of the longest-serving members are area manager Sally Jackson-Grimes and executive chef Simon Genduso. Jackson-Grimes joined as a temporary catering manager when Robinson first set up the business. Genduso joined a few months later and was originally interviewed for a head chef position.

"But I decided he would make an excellent executive chef," says Robinson. "He used to work for Mark Gregory at One Aldwych and is very passionate about food." Genduso covers holidays and sick leave as well as setting the standards in new contracts. At present he is based at the most recently opened contract at the British Bankers Association conference centre in Old Broad Street.

On top of building good employer/employee relationships, Robinson also works to build close relationships with clients.In return, referral comments to prospective clients have included "honest" and "motivated".

Robinson's aim is to reach 10 contracts by the end of the year and the outcome of a recent tender for a £500,000 contract in Chertsey is eagerly awaited. Ten companies tendered for the contract and Artizian has made it to the final two. The site will have 900 employees within two years and would be the biggest contract Artizian has taken on.

Robinson is keeping her fingers crossed and says: "Because we are a small company, it is difficult to get big contracts but this one would take us into a different echelon and would be a good referral site."