SME News - Managing Director of the Year Awards 2024/ 16 Behind Midshire Signature Services stands Sue Bradwell, a beacon of optimism, positivity, and purpose. Under her leadership, the company has doubled in size over the last five years and become a staple of the catering industry across the Northwest, reaching the Midlands and Wales as it’s expanded. With Sue’s expertise and steadfast decision-making at the helm, the company sees steady growth and no signs of slowing. Midshire Signature Services provides catering and support services to the workplace, education, and extra care sectors. Comprising 350 staff members and 70 locations, it’s maintained a firm foothold in its region, operating mostly out of client premises. Despite its size, Sue keeps the company running smoothly, according to the values that have served it well, which are the very same she lives by herself. Above all else, Sue’s passion for food guides the business to growth and success. She seeks the same passion in every employee, believing in freshly prepared, healthy meals made up of well-sourced ingredients. This passion has been a current running through her years of service to the industry. Having worked within catering since leaving college, Sue quickly rose through various managerial roles, arriving at operations director level by the age of 30, and she feels fortunate to have worked for managers and organisations who recognised her incredible competency, dedication, and that signature passion. Simply put, Sue is a veteran of the industry. Having worked as a chef manager and operations manager before reaching higher rungs, she understands the intricate web of roles and personalities that form a wellrun catering business. After working as a regional director for a large FM company, she decided that she needed to find a smaller business environment, ending up in Midshire Signature Services. Having bought the company in 2019, she’s presided over a period of steady growth along with her husband, a director in the company. It was the logical step for Sue to take on the position of managing director, and it’s one she has grown into naturally over the course of her time leading Midshire Signature Services. Throughout her time as managing director, catering has endured a harsh run of challenges, such as the pandemic and inflation driving up the price of produce. In particular, Sue laments the lack of adequate funding for both contracted and council-led school meal programmes, which has proven a shock to the market. Despite these challenges, Sue’s leadership has withstood every test. She sees problems as opportunities, tackling them head-on, acting decisively, and always remaining personally involved in running the business. A portion of her efforts to keep Midshire Signature Services current and ahead of the market is organising continuous training and development opportunities. Coupling first-class training with regular meetings to ensure that staff are supported and aligned with company goals, Sue maintains a welleducated, satisfied staff base and remains ever grateful for their efforts. The business runs on a foundation of strong collaboration at every level. It is proud to always remain responsive to the communications and needs of its team and clients. Sue believes that part of remaining adaptive involves taking client feedback, keeping an open conversation, and always listening to stakeholder’ value-adding suggestions. Throughout her day-to-day as managing director, Sue’s door remains open to staff, whom she takes a personal role in hiring. It’s important to Sue that her key staff are commercially minded, and she always seeks employees who are a great fit for the team and maintain high standards of integrity and resilience. When looking for new members, she wants to know how they handle pressure, and when the chips are down, what they will bring to a stressful environment. “We know we are only as good as our people; that’s why our staff have a passion for food and service that runs through our entire DNA.” For the success of Midshire Signature Services, Sue is immensely proud of her team, all of whom are a pleasure to lead. She also gives nothing but thanks to her husband and co-owner, her influencers along the way, and those who saw her potential as she rose through the ranks of the catering world. As a successful industry professional, Sue has distilled practical advice in response to adversity, keeping an eye on what works whether the times are easy or tough. She advises fellow business owners, first and foremost, to be consistent in everything they do, be it management style, decisionmaking, or simply how they approach concerns. She values absorbing wisdom wherever possible, treating every experience as one for learning. Sue’s management philosophy is all about knowing one’s strengths and weaknesses, and those of their staff, so they can build a team spanning all personalities and skillsets. Bridging the gaps between its team members ensures that Midshire Signature Services is poised to take every day as it comes. She emphasises the need to rely on others and that some challenges are too great without the right support network. As Midshire Signature Services continues to grow, it will coordinate more training and development, and the business will continue eagerly adopting new technologies to ease the burdens of administration and keep communication consistent and effective. Sue intends to build upon its existing client base Best Independent Specialist Catering Contractor 2024 (Cheshire): Sue Bradwell Midshire Signature Services Ltd
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