Ian Mitchell co-founder of Bartlett Mitchell has passed away

Born in July 1949 in West Bromwich, Birmingham, Mitchell grew up surrounded by hospitality as his grandparents owned a hotel in North Wales, where the family spent holidays.

At the age of 19, he left Haileybury College to do his National Diploma in Catering and Hotel Keeping at what was then Oxford Polytechnic (now Oxford Brookes University). Despite making his name in contract catering, he didn’t enter the sector until later in life and in fact started out in hotels.

After graduating, Mitchell became a Management Trainee at the Savoy Hotel Company, spending time in New York and Paris, including two years at Hôtel de Crillon.

Returning to UK, he joined Claridge’s hotel and spent the next decade in five-star hotel management including roles as Assistant Manager at the Capital and overseeing the opening of the InterContinental at Hyde Park Corner. He also worked for three years as Banqueting Manager at London’s Café Royal.

Mitchell moved into contract catering in 1985 when he started work at the Institute of London Underwriters with Gardner Merchant, at that time the company’s most prestigious City of London site.

In 1987, he moved to Sutcliffe Catering when he became an Area Manager overseeing its West London contracts. He eventually moved to Heathrow as General Manager of its British Airways operations – where his Deputy was Wendy Bartlett. Together, they took the contract into single sourcing for Sutcliffe from competitors Compass and Gardner Merchant.

Following a spell as Operations Director of Sutcliffe’s airport division, Mitchell (and Bartlett) both moved over to Compass, following their mentors Don Davenport and Mike Oldfield. Mitchell became MD of the city unit and, after a stint with BT, Bartlett became his Operations Director – which was around the time they first discussed the idea of starting their own business.

Mitchell stayed with Compass for five years until 1999. In 2000, he and Bartlett launched their own independent catering company, Bartlett Mitchell, focused on food and people.

They each put £20,000 into the company, setting aside £20,000 aside to live on, and didn’t pay themselves for the first two years while they got the business off the ground. They won their first contract on Christmas Eve in 2001.

For the last 24 years, Mitchell and Bartlett have led the company to become one of the leading independent caterers in the UK. The business has since grown to more than 100 sites, exceeding 1,000 employees.

Mitchell stepped back into a more ambassadorial role in 2018 – referring to himself simply as ‘founder’ while everyone else in the business affectionately called him ‘Mr Chairman’. He remained active in the business, regularly visiting sites and touching base with clients, customers and team members.

A keen West Brom supporter – his grandfather was the team’s doctor – Mitchell loved wine and regularly wrote wine blogs for the BM website. He married his wife Angela in 2009.  A keen animal lover, he was a puppy trainer for guide dogs for the blind.