Gingham Caterers open new coffee house on Bradley Business Park

A CATERING company celebrating 25 years in business has added a new ingredient.

Gingham Caterers has built up a successful business providing buffets and sit-down meals for weddings, birthday parties, business meetings and other corporate events.

Now joint directors Natalie Robertshaw and her mother Lorna Bonds have opened GC’s Coffee House at Bradley Business Park, Bradley, to provide a “shopfront” for the business and a welcoming environment for workers at firms based on the office park as well as passing customers..

Gingham Caterers was launched by Lorna in 1985 as The Box of Delights, a sandwich shop at Lockwood Road, Lockwood.

Later, the company set up its outside catering business and in time moved out of Lockwood to Fartown to concentrate entirely on outside catering.

Natalie, who has also been involved in the business since its launch, said: “My mum got so many enquiries about outside catering, she moved and didn’t have a shopfront.

“But more recently, we have been looking for premises to open a coffee house to raise the profile of the business and provide somewhere for people to sit and enjoy our home-made and home-baked food.”

The Coffee House offers sandwiches, savouries and salads to eat in or take out – as well as all-day breakfasts and afternoon tea.

The company has nine staff, including casuals, who are decked out in the company colours of yellow and black. Members of the family also rally round to help at busy times, said Natalie.

“Weddings are one of our specialities,” she added. “There is an eight-week period during the summer when we are usually fully booked. We are also currently taking bookings for Christmas, when we expect to be very busy.”

The catering arm also covers funerals, christenings, corporate events and sportsmen’s dinners. Several organisations use the outside catering service regularly, including Kirklees Council.

Natalie said the business had so far weathered the recession and – having invested in the coffee house at Bradley – was looking to increase its customer base in the coming months.