Growth on the menu as event caterers target £350,000 turnover

Alternative event caterers Bear’s Pantry is marking five years of success by continuing to take a big bite out of the hospitality sector.

The business, which expects to hit a turnover of £350,000 this year, was launched from founder Sam Pullan’s home kitchen in the summer of 2014.

From its base at Sunnybank Mills in Farsley, Bear’s Pantry has this year opened Bear’s Den, a restaurant and bar at Sunbridge Wells in Bradford.

It has also launched a mobile beer and cocktails service, Craftbar, providing speciality beers and cocktails.

The business now has a core group of seven staff, as well as a team of regular event staff on the books.

Pullan said: “I’ve always been interested in and surrounded by great home cooked food, ever since I started cooking with my mum in the kitchen as a youngster.

“Even though catering wasn’t my chosen calling, Bear’s Pantry is the realisation of all that interest and passion for food.”

Pullan is a former business consultant who worked in the marketing industry for over 15 years.

In his role as boss of Bear’s Pantry Sam he in charge of dishing up feasts at weddings, corporate functions and other events across the region. Corporate clients include Gucci, The Body Shop, Coach and Grey Goose.

Last month the business delivered an event for one of the world’s largest agricultural machine manufacturers. German-based company Amazone, which has chosen to set up its first UK-base in Doncaster, selected Bear’s Pantry to handle its UK launch.

The function saw Bear’s Pantry and Craftbar cater for 600 farmers in a field serving up authentic tastes of Germany with a Yorkshire twist.

Bear’s Pantry has carved out a niche in the event catering space and specialises in catering at unusual venues. These have ranged from castles and disused mills and barns to woodland, cowsheds and even exposed mountainsides.

Pullan said he was a keen supporter of locally sourced produce, so he still makes a weekly trip to St James’s wholesale markets in Bradford to pick up the freshest most unusual ingredients he can find.

He added that by the end of this summer, Bear’s Pantry will have catered for well over 100 weddings, all requiring a bespoke theme. The company is already working with clients on planning Christmas functions.

Pullan said: “We are evolving into much more than a catering business and increasingly clients are asking us to take more control of their event from inception to delivery.

“I can’t wait to see what the next five years brings. Further investment and expansion with more staff, larger premises, more new ventures and diversification into the wider events arena plus a real renaissance in the style of food that customers demand for their events.”