Jamie Oliver’s catering business Fabulous Feasts has acquired event caterer Mecco, who are in charge of the catering at Lord’s Cricket Ground, for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition follows Fabulous Feasts contract win at the ground.
Following months of talks between managing director and co-owner of Fabulous Feasts Nigel Harris, and Mecco directors Mark Ellis and Jeremy Wood, the two caterers will now join forces and Ellis and Wood will join the board of Jamie Oliver’s Fabulous Feasts as minority shareholders with a financial interest in the combined business.
Speaking to Caterer and HotelKeeper, Wood said “The combined business will turnover about £15m this year, while Mecco’s annual turnover was around £4m. We were tiny minnows but we do big things. We were at the Olympics last year at the Horseguards Parade in Greenwich Park working with Prestige, for example.”
The two businesses worked together at Lord’s last weekend during the first test match between England and New Zealand. They delivered a new food concept involving chef-prepared retail offers in a new, purpose-built food village, hospitality catering in the Nursery Pavilion and over 1,000 picnic hampers.
Mecco has operated at Queen’s Club, the BBC Proms in the Park, Farnborough Air Show, Wimbledon with Mike Burton Group, and the Ryder Cup. It also works with a company called Planet Events at a site on the Embankment, which hosts charity and Christmas parties.