Catering is one of the most crucial components of any event and with discerning international guests who are aware of current trends and often attend a different event every other night of the week, it’s important to keep menus fresh, novel, interesting and delicious. Alexander & Björck is a luxury catering and events company based in London that works all over Europe on behalf of prestigious clients who include the late HM Queen, Bulgari, Bill Clinton, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Rolls Royce – the immaculate and creative execution of their events is legendary… menus, cocktails, staff, styling – all consistently impeccable! Here we meet Lena Björck, the Swedish founder and Managing Director of the company:
NS: “Lena, in a city that has many catering companies competing at the luxury end you’ve managed to carve a fantastic niche for Alexander & Björck; what was it that initially inspired you to take the first steps to owning your own business – and what’s your USP?”
LB: “A desire to offer high quality service! A general lack of enthusiasm for customer service in London is what drove me to start up my own catering company 30 years ago; I’d arrived from Sweden and was working as a supervisor in a 5 star hotel; I felt that the customer service was not ‘up to scratch’ in the UK and that people weren’t really interested in serving guests and I wanted to change this. Now, fast-forward 30 years and I am still going above and beyond to satisfy customers and their event needs; good service goes a long way…”
NS: “Did you have any experience in advance of setting up your own company?”
LB: “None whatsoever! I started from nothing and have grown Alexander & Björck from nothing up to one of the most exclusive catering and events companies…”
NS: “What would your service to a typical event comprise of?”
LB: “So, each of the events we execute is very different; we start from the very beginning and we are there through every step of the client’s event journey – not just the catering aspect. We source the venue, come up with creative concepts, right through to event set-up and execution. By then, we’ve built a great relationship with our clients and we therefore fully understand their event objectives. We see events as an extension of the clients own ‘brand’, rather than a chance for us to shout about ourselves. When it comes to our events we look after every detail, including the gastronomy and menu – which we then deliver as ‘Michelin quality’ to both large scale events and intimate occasions…”
90% of the time our business is repeat business, or referrals from existing/previous clients; word of mouth goes a long way in this industry – we make a point of under promising and over delivering! We’re are also building a strong social media presence, so that we target a wider audience…”
Lena Bjorck, Alexander & Björck
We’re aware that sustainability is on everyone’s agenda, and Alexander & Bjorck is proud to be big supporters of that and are doing more than our bit to ensure it’s a strong ethos for the business…”
Lena Bjorck, Alexander & Björck
NS: “What would you say are the current trends in catering and events in general?”
LB: “We’re seeing many requests for ‘small plates’; more options but smaller dishes. Clients do want to see gastronomy at its finest, so there’s a demand both for high quality ingredients and dishes that look incredible too. We understand clients and guests are now very knowledgeable about food, and we’re aware of how important it is when it comes to the success of the event – which is why we always make it a key ‘talking point’ when designing the menus with our clients and chefs. We’re also aware that sustainability is on everyone’s agenda, and we’re are proud to be big supporters of that and we’re doing ‘more than our bit’ to ensure it’s a strong ethos for the business and that ties in to our ‘zero-waste’ cocktails and dishes…”
Summer 2023 is set to be an exciting time – we’ve got lots of opportunities on the horizon!”
Lena Bjorck, Alexander & Björck
Alexander & Bjorck is unlimited – we can cater for an intimate gastronomic tasting experience for 10 people and receptions for 3,000 guests all the way through to gala dinners for 1,000 – plus everything in between…”
Lena Bjorck, Alexander & Björck
NS: “Do you have a preferred list of suppliers that you work with regularly?”
LB: “We work with some of the best in the business – a range of florists, production companies, photographers, entertainment; we have a coveted little ‘black book’ that we work from when it comes to choosing the best to partner with to help create our events…”
NS: “And lastly, how do you relax when you’re not hard at work?”
LB: “That’s when I can be found in the great outdoors, probably somewhere near water as one of my hobbies includes offshore rowing… and visiting anywhere there’s sunshine!”
WEBSITE: http://www.alexanderandbjorck.com
