Gary Bates has enjoyed 30 years working in the catering and hospitality industry, from starting out as a chef in a family-run restaurant to overseeing the growth of one of the North West’s premier event catering specialists. His career path, primarily working as a chef at leading restaurants and hotels, has been greatly influential. “I started out working in a restaurant that was all about quality; making everything from scratch using fresh ingredients. I had a good grounding from the very beginning,” he says. He was particularly inspired by the working ethos in his subsequent role as chef at the Sharrow Bay in Ullswater, which is regarded at the first ever country house hotel and where he first worked with award-winning chef and business partner Paul Heathcote. Gary went on to work at various leading catering establishments before joining forces with Paul Heathcote in 1997 to launch Heathcotes Outside. “Paul saw a gap in the market and the initial intention was to cater for private clients. It was a low key start. We operated out of one of Paul’s restaurants, where I was head chef, with a brick of a mobile phone, an answer phone and adverts in the local press. It was tough juggling the restaurant with the new business venture but bookings starting coming in very quickly,” recalls Gary.

The humble beginnings and hard slog soon paid dividends when the duo were approached by Bryan Gray, Chair of Preston North End Football Club, to turnaround the Club’s catering and hospitality. “Over a matter of weeks we moved our operation to the Club, where we’ve been ever since, catering for private events and looking after match day hospitality. It was a major turning point and got us into sporting stadia,” says Gary. Heathcotes has since established contracts with Warrington Wolves RLFC, Chester Racecourse, Bangor-on-Dee Racecourse and Liverpool FC. In 2007 Heathcotes was awarded a £20 million, five-year contract to provide the in-house food and beverage service at the Arena and Convention Centre Liverpool. “We knew we could make in-roads in stadia catering by making significant changes and heightening quality,” says Gary. “I think the secret to our success is that we’ve built a brand synonymous with quality. Paul built a lot of credibility in the North West with his restaurants and we’ve transferred this to the masses.”

Heathcotes has evolved into a fully fledged event management company that caters for a range of remits, from organising trade missions for Marketing Manchester to celebrity dinners for over 1,000 guests. “We’ve always wanted to see our client’s events through from start to finish; arranging everything from entertainment to the AV. Event management is something we’ve always done but now more than ever it’s essential to offer a full service that’s value for money.” Heathcotes has dealt with the affects of the credit crunch by extending its flexibility and paying close attention to costs, as Gary reveals: “We’ve got cleverer and more creative with cutting costs without compromising quality. It’s up to us to deliver in line with the client’s budget. If that means accepting less of a margin, so be it. It makes for good business; you need to be good if not better than others in the marketplace.”

Heathcotes is looking to further expand with new stadium contracts and aims to grow its market share in the North West from around 30 per cent to 45 per cent; it is also eyeing up a possible launch into Scotland. “This year will be one of consolidation that will see us out of the credit crunch. When the economy picks up we will be in a strong position to grow.”