Robyn Jones: How I took the canteen business upmarket

When Robyn Jones, founder of catering firm CH&Co, was made redundant 20 years ago, she turned her bad luck into a fortune. Here's how she did it.

When catering graduate Robyn Jones was made redundant in 1991, she was "devastated". She had joined the catering arm of construction firm Higgs and Hill in 1989, aged 28. But her move coincided with the start of the recession. Two years later, the catering unit was shut down as the firm moved to cut costs. She arranged several interviews for new jobs, but the role she wanted "to head up a catering firm" wasn't on offer. That's when she decided to go it alone.

She sat down with her husband, Tim, and drew up a business plan. The idea was to target blue-chip firms and offer to run their staff canteens. She used her redundancy cheque to buy a car and computer and set up an office in their spare bedroom. Meanwhile, her husband's wage was enough to pay the mortgage on their house while the new business, which she called Charlton House, got going. She began cold-calling firms, but it took her weeks even to get an appointment. "I had no track record and no referrals, the only thing I could sell myself on was my experience."

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James McKeigue

James graduated from Keele University with a BA (Hons) in English literature and history, and has a certificate in journalism from the NCTJ. James has worked as a freelance journalist in various Latin American countries.He also had a spell at ITV, as welll as wring for Television Business International and covering the European equity markets for the Forbes.com London bureau. James has travelled extensively in emerging markets, reporting for international energy magazines such as Oil and Gas Investor, and institutional publications such as the Commonwealth Business Environment Report. He is currently the managing editor of LatAm INVESTOR, the UK's only Latin American finance magazine.