Planning your next event at Woolwich Works? Meet our excellent catering suppliers, and learn more about what they do and why they'd be perfect for you.

Hi Clement Worrall! Please introduce your organisation and what you do.

Clement Worrall have been involved with some of the most significant large-scale launches, campaigns, and events across London, the UK and globally. We work closely with our clients to create completely unique event catering on any scale and at any budget, no matter what the timeframe. We develop great working relationships, really getting to understand what our clients do and what they aim to achieve by hosting their events. This way we can ensure an amazing experience and deliver something precisely fitting their needs.

How long have you been catering events?

We were established in 2010 with our Directors and key management bringing a wealth of experience from many areas of high-end events and hospitality.

What are your favourite type of events to cater for?

Anywhere we can contribute to the creative of the event; when the hospitality, service, menu design and delivery is a significant part of the success of the event for the guests and integral to the overall experience as opposed to just a ‘food and drink’ offering.

What are your most popular menu requests?

We don’t have a ‘set’ menu as such and instead work with our clients to discover their preferences and what they want to achieve overall with the menu and the event. As a recent trend in events we have seen a move away from clients wanting the more ‘curated’ and high-concept food to a much more unfussy, ingredient-led approach – still super-high quality, sustainable food but far more deformalised and approachable for the guests.

What are your personal favourites on the menu?

Moving into summertime, anything that reflects the abundance of incredible British produce available to us. Dishes like Cornish crab, buttermilk, turnip and samphire; Hampshire Burrata, peas, broad beans and lovage or Almond choux with gooseberry and elderflower

What would be your favourite menu to provide for a VIP event?

Something fun, deformalised and surprising. One of the things we really like about Woolwich Works is the versatility of the venues available and the fact that different areas can be used together to make an amazing, interesting and varied space. We can really envision great experiential events taking place where guests are drawn through different areas from the Fireworks Factory and out into the Workers Yard with surprising, curated, ‘pop-ups’ happening along the way, where with clever menu design we can help add a lot to the creative and the overall guest experience.

What can you tell us about the produce you use?

We are lucky that we have been really client-led in the need to examine sustainability across the board as a company and especially so in the sourcing of produce. It was always something integral to our business but as CSR and Environmental policies have been such a focus for many of our clients over the past years, our requirement to look even more closely at sourcing, sustainability and menu design has made a huge impact on the way we work.

It is not only necessarily ‘local and seasonal’, although they count for a lot but also looking at producers from whom we can source world-class produce with forward-thinking policies – companies like Ahimsa who charge a premium for organic milk and cheese and the price guarantees ‘slaughter-free’ milk, and a ‘pension’ for the dairy cattle who live out the remainder of the non-working part of their lives in pasture; or Bermondsey Street Bees, who alongside producing exceptional honey are working with local communities to plant pollinator gardens across East London, encouraging urban wildlife and developing green areas.

It's not always easy, especially with large-scale events, but by talking to and working with our larger suppliers we feel we can make a significant impact on our environmental footprint and source incredible produce at the same time.

What are your recommendations for small-budget events?

100% be open and upfront about the budget available, some of the most rewarding and satisfying events are those where we work closely with our clients to deliver an exceptional experience for their guests within the framework of constraints, whether that is timeframe, logistics or budget. The most important thing is to work together to identify the most important factors and what you really want to achieve from your event, focus the budget in these areas and remove unnecessary or extraneous items - maintaining quality and outstanding delivery in key areas and not compromising across the board.

What are you looking forward to with catering events at Woolwich Works?

The quality of the sympathetic restoration of the newly opened venues at Woolwich Works is breath-taking, we are really looking forward to introducing clients to these outstanding spaces and working together to discover how best to use the differing areas and exploit its unique location; the proximity to the river and the Thames Clipper stop for one, and also its place in the local Woolwich community.