Case study
Venue manager and sole cater at Apothecaries’ Hall
In 2024, Apothecaries’ Hall partnered with Dinner Ladies, a dynamic London-based catering company known for their bold, Asian-inspired menus and commitment to sustainability. This collaboration marked Dinner Ladies' first exclusive venue contract. The Dinner Ladies management team was most excited about introducing fresh, unique flavours into formal dining, aligning with the evolving events market. Nick Royle, Clerk to the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries, noted that Dinner Ladies' energy and excitement bring a refreshing change to City dining experiences.
Dinner Ladies took on this tender understanding and appreciation of the Hall's unrivalled history: it is the oldest Livery Hall in London, and every member of our team has appreciated our responsibility to celebrate this history with authenticity and care.
Our approach
Our team in place is focused on proactively reaching out to businesses, and delivering excellent customer service - with a team in place of event managers and sales managers looking after our clients. The first step in our tender was training and bringing in our team onsite. From the planning process to the event execution, our Sales and Events manager Sarah has received consistent feedback on her care and efforts with every client, and the work she has done to make sure the event is a stress-free experience for the organiser - our clients feedback consistently reflects a positive experience in the Event Planning process. Clients on the positive demeanour, attentiveness, and report feeling like their event is in good hands from the planning process.
From the enquiry stage, every client receives a customised package to reflect their event needs, and a detailed proposal and package to review. After contracting, our attention to detail remains. Clients are invited to regular site visits, reviews of their events, and our given ample documents to help with the planning process. We have created table plan templates, dietary forms, and final details documents which clients are encouraged to use to make sure that their event details are captured and easing the stress of the planning process.
And Dinner Ladies is involved in all aspects of the event - our Creative Team has been utilised in bringing in floral arrangements, designing custom table plans and menus, and contracting suppliers. We love to see how the venue can absolutely transform through our creative team's incredible work, demonstrating how the Hall truly can be a versatile venue.
Launching the venue
Dinner Ladies has been instrumental in highlighting the Apothecaries’ Hall versatility. Our Launch Party to celebrate Dinner Ladies’ first tender venue is a testament to the modern and innovative style that Dinner Ladies’ brings to the historic venue - we offered an Oyster Bar and Whiskey Station paired with our bright and flavourful canapés served on modern trays with that Dinner Ladies signature flair. The evening brought members of other livery halls and companies, corporate buyers, and agency insiders to the hall for the first time - the client was extremely impressed from this first event - celebrating the efforts of the team and the launch of our Tender.
We also held a Chinese New Year Celebration - reflecting on Dinner Ladies’ history and heritage, and showing off our incredible creative teams capabilities. There were fortune cookie-inspired desserts, Sichuan Old Fashioneds, and paper lanterns throughout the building, creating an elegant and playful dinner.
After our Launch Party in the New Year, we took to social media and launched our first Apothecaries’ Newsletter - sharing our incredible work and the suppliers who helped make the event happen. This newsletter has continued to go out on a monthly basis - reaching out to Society members, corporate buyers, and those who have previously enquired about the Hall.
Our success
That proactive outreach has seen some pretty immediate rewards - this Summer - we are on track to nearly double our monthly sales target for June and July - hosting Apothecaries’ largest event in June (a 260 person whole-hall drinks reception). And we are delighted to have brought in new clients - from local law firms across the street, to incredible organisations like Cure Parkinson’s Charity. We are on track to outperform the Hall’s previous summer months in our first tender year, a testament to our team's proactive and genuine approach to sales. Dinner Ladies’ itself has offered a unique selling point to the venue - Sotheby’s Institute of Art reflected on the venue selection process, highlighting how influential Dinner Ladies was to this decision.
Our events for the Society itself are a consistently memorable experience - our executive chef Emily handcrafts bespoke menus for every event the Society hosts for its members. Every event at the Hall is a completely bespoke experience for members of the Society. Recently, our Executive Chef Emily has curated menus for Livery Clients and Corporate Clients alike. The Worshipful Company of Poulters received curated menus for Turkey in the summer, and to celebrate the Welsh heritage of a client, Dinner Ladies customised a Whiskey Granita with Welsh whiskey to be served as a palette cleanser between courses.
Apothecaries’ Hall is not just a venue – it is a true embodiment of London’s enduring heritage and vibrant hospitality. Its’ partnership with Dinner Ladies is an emblem of how this Hall is introducing modern and bold flavours and events to its evolving history.
“The launch party event was truly brilliant. Huge thanks to Sarah and the whole team for making it happen - the atmosphere was fantastic. The guest list was superb, Sarah did an amazing job of getting the right people into the room to make sure that all the wonderful efforts of the kitchen and ops team were appreciated by those who will hopefully now go on to book. There were Livery companies who had never before booked at Apothecaries Hall, new corporates, wedding planners & event organisers - exactly who we wanted through the door. Please do pass on to everyone involved how pleased we were with the event.”
“We’re working with Sarah at Dinner Ladies and have had such a fantastic experience so far. Part of the reason we were drawn to working with the venue was because of the connection with Dinner Ladies. We love that they are such a female focused organization working with these wonderful old institutions in an innovative and inclusive way”.
APOTHECARIES’ HALL CLIENT