High end catering firm Company of Cooks, has secured a new catering deal at the National Portrait Gallery, a contract previously held by Searcys.
Running for five years, the new £20m contract is set to start on 18 September and has an option to extend by mutual agreement. Company of Cooks will be then be in charge of all food and drink offers at the gallery on Trafalgar Square. This includes the running of the Portrait Café and the Portrait restaurant, both of which now undergo a refurbishment in 12-15 months time. The caterer then plans to open a third food outlet at the site which will meet the growing visitor numbers at the gallery which is currently seeing 2 million visitors every year.
Company of Cooks will also look to develop its relationship with BP, which began last year when it looked after the oil company’s Olympic hospitality at the Royal Opera House. BP is the sponsor of the BP Portrait Award in partnership with the gallery.
Previous caterer Searcys has held the contract for the past 14 years and had seen great success at the gallery in the last 12 months. This proved to be the best year in terms of catering income for both parties. It achieved a 13% increase in like for like sales despite a small reduction in visitor figures for its regular exhibitions.