Hickory set to double turnover to £4.5m

With a raft of senior appointments, a surge in new business and plans to expand its portfolio of venues, one of Scotland's largest independent catering, events and venue operators is set to almost double its turnover to £4.5m this year.

Edinburgh-headquartered Hickory has expanded its team to manage the return of events and the significant increase in demand in the wake of pandemic restrictions being eased, as well as new contracts.

The expansion of the team has included the appointment of Brian Canale as culinary director, Gillian Fraser as head of event planning and design, Eric Drought as head of operations, Andy McKenzie as logistics planning manager, Fiona Pengelly as MICE sales manager, and Alison Sproull as executive assistant.

Hickory delivers events at a portfolio of venues across Scotland, including the Assembly Rooms, Dovecot Studios, Newhall Estate, Neidpath Castle and the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. It also operates the Cairns Farm Estate in the Pentland Hills and Eskmills Venue on the outskirts of Edinburgh.

The business has also expanded its festival-style offering supporting large-scale events, including the provision of catering and styling for the Borders Book Festival, bars for the Scottish Open Golf Tournament at the Renaissance Club and Fringe by the Sea in North Berwick.

Stephanie Stubbs, Hickory managing director, said: "We have dedicated recent months to recovering, rebuilding and assembling a highly skilled and experienced leadership team across every function and department of the business. We are now in a period of significant growth as corporate events return – for example, our enquires have almost trebled since January.

"Our focus is on delivering quality, creative and innovative events for our clients and we have established a passionate, experienced and dedicated team to achieve that."