For Kate, keeping her father’s legacy strong is an integral part of the business: “there are two things I find rewarding, the first is making sure the customers are happy. Most of our customers have been with us for forty years – we don’t proactively advertise the business, it’s all by word of mouth. The second thing is watching people develop through the company”. Kate nods to the gentleman next to her, “Adam started here just after he had finished his A-Levels at eighteen and now he is Operations Director; seeing him develop through the company has been incredibly rewarding.”
Sessions of Worcestershire’s main concern has always been to mould their business model around the customer. Kate explains: “we give them choice – each customer is different, and I think because we have a catering butchery on site and a team that are experienced, the customer can have exactly what they require.” The business highly values a relationship built on transparency and trust between the customer and themselves and Kate elaborates: “we are obviously accredited, but also because of the volume we do we are an FSA approved plant. We can offer full traceability on all our products and we have done for years, which for us is important.”
They are also working hard to reduce food miles and support local supply, Kate reveals. “We always use a trusted source of suppliers, that’s something that we’ve done for years. We try and source locally where possible. It’s just easier, we can get daily deliveries in quickly, the meat’s fresher, and the more local they are, the better quality service we seem to get.” She continues: “it’s important for us to keep everything local to support local businesses and keep jobs local because then everyone thrives. Often, larger national chains don’t give the same customer service as small businesses, so I think the more we support people that are local to us, the more everyone benefits.” Kate advises chefs to never hesitate to contact their team: “we’ve got an experienced team on the phones, we’ve always got a director on site that can help, a fantastic butchery manager and we have so much experience here, just talk to us!”