Café Services Corporate Dining Company Celebrates 20 Years of Outstanding Food Service

When Café Services founder Brian Stone signed on his first customer in July 1993, he was no stranger to food service.

A culinary school graduate, Brian began working in restaurants at age 14 and spent 20 years climbing the organizational ladder at several food service management companies before starting Café Services. During those years, Brian’s vision for a new, more personalized approach to food service began to take shape.

He says, “I saw that when you treat people right, they exceed expectations and take better care of customers. When you treat customers right, the word gets around, and business grows.”

Twenty years later, Brian’s vision thrives at Café Services—a leading corporate dining company serving Massachusetts, greater New England and in recent years, the mid-Atlantic. With 600 associates and annualized sales of over $33 million, Café Services is the largest food service provider to k-12 schools in New Hampshire and Vermont, and manages almost 300 food service operations. That includes 40 corporate dining accounts throughout New England and the mid-Atlantic.

The company’s tremendous growth is cause for celebration as the company marks its 20th anniversary in food service. Here’s a look at how far Café Services has come:

July 1993—

• Café Services incorporated

Summer 1993—

• Café Services signs contract with first customer, a New Hampshire summer camp

Fall 1993—

• Café Services signs contract with first school district customer

1994— Led by J. Brian Stone, President & CEO and William VanZandt, Vice President of School and Seasonal Operations, Café Services:

• Begins providing service in Maine and Massachusetts, in addition to New Hampshire and Vermont
• Adds seven summer camps and 2 additional school districts to customer roster

1995—

• Café Services enters corporate dining business; signs contracts with 3 corporate dining locations
• Janice LaCava, Café Services Vice President & Controller, joins Café Services

1993 to 2004—

• Café Services enjoys robust, annualized growth rate of 20%

2005 to Present—

• Café Services continues to grow steadily at an annualized rate of 12%-15%

2009—

• Café Services starts serving corporate dining customers in Connecticut

2011—

• Café Services starts serving corporate dining customers in Delaware

2012—

• Café Services starts serving corporate dining customers in Rhode Island

2013—

• Brian Stone’s founding vision continues to drive the Café Services mission to deliver great food and extraordinary service. A welcome presence in close to 300 food service operations in New England and the mid-Atlantic, Café Services is poised for continued growth and success.

I’ve been born and bred corporate dining and corporate catering from the very beginning of my career in the Silicon Valley and now, since 2001 in the Boston Metro Area. While working my way up through the ranks, all the experience has led up to my current position as the Corporate Executive Chef for Café Services, based out of Manchester, NH. I have the privilege to be able to utilize creativity, research and technology to dream up our company’s new culinary programs and custom menus for corporate cafeteria clients and bring them to life. Café Services supplies the resources to ensure success of our ever-evolving companywide culinary initiatives and I’m very grateful for the opportunity. Seeing the success of new programs in the field is my motivation. It’s a win win.