KEEPING UP WITH MRS JONES - DEC 07

Robyn Jones, co-founder and chief executive of independent contract catering firm, Charlton House, has been named one of the ten most influential business leaders within the hospitality sector during 2007 – and the only female to appear on the listing.

En Passant, a hospitality publication, surveyed the views of 150 senior players from the UK and international hospitality industry to find out who had made the most impact on the sector throughout the year.

Robyn Jones, a mother of two, established Charlton House at the height of a recession in 1991 with her husband, Tim Jones. The business survived initially on a government enterprise allowance of just £50 per week. Charlton House now has an annual turnover of £67 million and employs 1,750 people nationwide. Clients include Her Majesty’s Treasury and the corporate head quarters of BUPA, Sony (United Kingdom) Ltd and the RIBA (the Royal Institute of British Architects).

Charlton House is recognised as a cutting edge company, setting new standards of catering within the workplace.
2007 was a landmark year for the company, which saw the launch of a new public catering division, Charlton House Restaurants. In May 2007, Charlton House acquired Chester Boyd, one of the most highly regarded event caterers in the City.

“It has certainly been an eventful year!” said Robyn Jones. “We were placed at number four in a survey of Britain’s top 50 companies within the hospitality sector last month, and in October we appeared in The Times/Aurora Top 50 Places Where Women Want To Work. We are ending the year on a high, that’s for sure.”

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