The two county business awards come just after GIG won the Queen’s Business Award for Enterprise in International Trade, the UK’s highest accolade for business success, in recognition of its international trade results which have seen the company become a truly global operation.
GIG founder and chief executive Tony Laurenson, who is also a business ambassador for Buckinghamshire, said: “We were overjoyed to win a coveted Queen’s Enterprise Award’ but for us as a local business it is also fantastic to be recognised at county level for the important contribution we make to providing jobs and supporting Buckinghamshire’s economy.”
Philippa Batting, managing director of BBF (Buckinghamshire Business First), which organised the awards event, said GIG was a ‘highly deserving and successful’ recipient which ‘had accepted some exceptional challenges, and won through’.
She added: “They were able to demonstrate to the judges that their workforce were totally committed, that their business and marketing plans were being executed with precision and that their success and profits are growing year-on-year as are the number of staff that they employ.”
Started in 1984 as Eat to the Beat – an artist, production and crew catering business specialising in backstage catering services – it works on international tours, major festivals such as Glastonbury and Reading, concert venues and TV and film locations.
It added a bespoke corporate and private party planning, catering and event design division (GIG…fyi) in 1988; a logistics and brand support division to promote predominantly food and drink products (…e2B…) in 1997; and a global sport and automotive event catering (GIG SPORT) in 2002. All divisions trade under the umbrella of Global Infusion Group which has its UK headquarters in Chesham, Bucks.
GIG has established international offices in California, US, Qatar, Middle East and Shanghai. It plans to open a branch in Brazil to service the South American market.
The group employs 170 full-time staff worldwide supported by up to 3,000 freelance professional specialists to support the hundreds of global events and functions it works at each year.