Absolute Taste, is a UK-based catering company with Head Quarters in Bicester. Gary Kennerley is its managing director.My Event World - Lyndy Redding
''Event Magazine''. Chantelle Thorley, 30 July 2010. It had £20m annual turnover in 2008. It has run projects with Gordon Ramsay Holdings (GRH),

McLaren Group The McLaren Group is a British holding company based in Woking, England, which is involved in Formula One and other motorsport and the manufacture of luxury cars. The group was founded by Ron Dennis shortly after his acquisition of the McLaren ...

, and fleets of private jets. It runs five cafés and restaurants and caters for private parties.Lyndy Redding teams up with Gordon Ramsay to buy Tante Marie cookery school
''Caterersearch.com''. Tom Vaughan. Thursday 31 July 2008. Absolute Taste's most notable venue is the

McLaren Technology Centre The McLaren Technology Centre is the headquarters of the McLaren Group and its subsidiaries, located on a 500,000 m2 (50-hectare) site in Woking, Surrey, England. The complex consists of two buildings: the original McLaren Technology Centre, ...

History

Absolute Taste was formed in 1997 by

Ron Dennis Ronald Dennis Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 1 June 1947) is a British people, British businessman and Official British Business Ambassador for the United Kingdom. He is best known for his former role as owner, CEO, chairman and founder ...

and Lyndy Redding. Redding had just graduated from

Tante Marie Tante Marie Culinary Academy is a cookery school in Woking, Surrey, England. It is the United Kingdom's oldest independent cookery school, established in 1954 by the cookery writer Iris Syrett. It was the first school in the UK to offer a Cordon ...

with a diploma and produced a 3-page business proposal to Dennis to start a catering company. Dennis owned a 55% interest. Initially centred on providing hospitality for the VIP guests of the

McLaren Racing McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...

around the world, and for employees at the McLaren headquarters, the company grew and developed a separate identity. Absolute Taste provided the catering for

David Beckham David Robert Joseph Beckham (; born 2 May 1975) is an English former professional footballer, the current president and co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City. Known for his range of passing, crossing ability and bending fr ...

and

Victoria Beckham Victoria Caroline Beckham (; born 17 April 1974) is an English fashion designer, singer, and television personality. She rose to prominence in the 1990s as a member of the girl group the Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Posh Spice. Wi ...

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

send-off party, based on

Gordon Ramsay Gordon James Ramsay (; born ) is a British chef, restaurateur, television personality and writer. His restaurant group, Gordon Ramsay Restaurants, was founded in 1997 and has been awarded 17 Michelin stars overall; it currently holds a tot ...

's menu. Absolute Taste catered

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist who served as the President of South Africa, first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1 ...

’s 90th Birthday party and

Chelsea FC Chelsea Football Club is an English professional football club based in Fulham, West London. Founded in 1905, they play their home games at Stamford Bridge. The club competes in the Premier League, the top division of English football. Th ...

footballer

John Terry John George Terry (born 7 December 1980) is an English professional football coach and former player who played as a centre-back. He was previously captain of Chelsea, the England national team and Aston Villa. He was most recently the a ...

's wedding. In 2003, Absolute Taste Inflight was formed. It is a 24-hour, 365-day operation catering for private jets. It began at the suggestion of some McLaren employees and was vetted for a year on a shareholder's own plane. Six vans now deliver pre-prepared gourmet meals to airports all over the South of England. The company's tenth anniversary happened in 2008, when it announced a partnership with Gordon Ramsay Holdings. "Gordon Ramsay by Absolute Taste" is an entirely bespoke service in which Absolute Taste works with Gordon and his team to produce food from his restaurants for outside events. Ramsay and Redding had met previously at Aubergine, Ramsay's restaurant, when a pastry chef had left the clear paper on Redding's chocolate fondant and Ramsay apologized to her. They met again at a McLaren F1 event when Ramsay was McLaren's guest. Absolute Taste was acquired by One Event Management in December 2016.

Cafés

Absolute Taste operates three cafés. The Design Café and Dome Café are situated in

Chelsea Harbour Chelsea Harbour is a contemporary mixed-use development in West London, situated in its Sands End area, along Chelsea Creek, the historic southeastern boundary of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham with the southwestern boundary of th ...

Design Centre. DetoxRetox at

Harvey Nichols Harvey Nichols is a British luxury department store chain founded in 1831, at its flagship store in Knightsbridge, London. It sells designer fashion collections for men and women, fashion accessories, beauty products, fine wines and luxury f ...

. There is also the Apron Café at

Farnborough Airport Farnborough Airport (previously called: TAG Farnborough Airport, RAE Farnborough, ICAO Code EGLF) is an operational business/executive general aviation airport in Farnborough, Rushmoor, Hampshire, England. The airport covers about 8% of Rush ...

. Absolute Taste now operates 13 restaurants, based mainly in the south of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

References

{{reflist

External links

Official website
Catering and food service companies of the United Kingdom