Catering Scotland

Contract caterers Host Management and Catermasters have announced they are to merge to create the HCM Group.

The new company – which will have a turnover in excess of £60m, more than 240 operations and a combined team of more than 1,500 employees – will be headed up by Bill Toner as chief executive, with Nigel Johnson taking the role of deputy CEO.

Established by Nigel Johnson (pictured far left, with Host Management’s Bill Toner and Madeleine Musselwhite, and Catermasters’ co-founder Richard Moody)  in 1989, Catermasters operates across 120 sites with a team in excess of 550.

Host Management, which launched in 2004, also has 120 operations across the UK and Ireland, and a team of almost 1,000.

Operating in multiple sectors, including business-and-industry, conference facilities, leisure, independent schools, further and higher education, and the healthcare sector, the new HCM Group has, according to Toner,  created a ‘new, more rounded organisation with specialists in multiple sectors of hospitality.’

He added: ‘This is a very exciting move for both Host and Catermasters, and strategically and operationally, this merger is an excellent fit.

‘We are similar in size and we share the same culture and business ethos. This merger will help us grow much more quickly and we’re all excited by the future possibilities in our chosen segments.’