Cardiff-based catering startup PIKKLE is set to bring its disruptive, locally-rooted business model to the Port of Dover, having been named the sole catering provider for the British Ports Association (BPA) Annual Conference in 2026. This appointment signals a major expansion for the company, which is challenging the traditional “one-size-fits-all” approach to large-scale event hospitality by utilizing data-driven regional partnerships.
Founded in 2023 by Hamish Watkins and Louis Phillips, PIKKLE has quickly gained industry recognition for its unconventional model. By analyzing event objectives and audience demographics, the company moves away from standardized menus, instead curating bespoke offerings that highlight independent producers specific to the event’s host location. This strategy earned them the title of Catering Supplier of the Year at the 2025 International Confex Event Supplier Awards.
## Revolutionizing Large-Scale Event Logistics with Tech-Led Curation
PIKKLE’s growth trajectory highlights a shift in the events industry toward hyper-local, authentic experiences. In an era where corporate events are often criticized for their carbon footprints and generic “conference food,” PIKKLE uses a meticulous research phase to identify the best regional suppliers.
For the upcoming 2026 conference—which is expanding to 450 delegates—the team is partnering with local Kent-based businesses. The menu will feature everything from pastries by Gilda Bakery to coffee from Whitstable’s Lost Sheep Coffee and wines from Biddenden Vineyards. This process creates a “digital twin” of the event’s location through its food scene, ensuring the catering is not just a secondary service, but an integral part of the event’s identity and sustainability goals.
The company functions as a single, tech-savvy point of contact for event organizers. By consolidating multiple independent food vendors under one professional management umbrella, they solve the operational complexity that usually prevents conferences from using smaller, local suppliers.
## Scaling Growth Beyond Welsh Borders
The repeat appointment by the BPA—following a successful collaboration in Portsmouth in 2024—serves as a case study for the scalability of PIKKLE’s model. While the company started in South Wales, it has successfully leveraged its operational flexibility to secure contracts across London, the South West, and southern England.
“Conference catering can too often become something to tick off the list, but we think that’s a missed opportunity,” said co-founder Hamish Watkins. “Large, multi-day conferences are exactly where our model comes into its own. They require serious planning, consistency, and the capability to deliver at scale, but that doesn’t mean the food should feel generic.”
This expansion reflects a broader trend in the hospitality sector: the transition from monolithic catering conglomerates to agile, service-oriented providers that leverage data to deliver highly tailored experiences. With over 400 events under their belt in just one year, including high-profile brand activations for clients like Sephora, PIKKLE is proving that a boutique, localized approach is viable for large-scale corporate environments.
## Collaboration and the Future of Corporate Events
The partnership with the communications agency Freshwater highlights the importance of synergy in modern event planning. Aled Edwards, director at Freshwater, noted that the decision to rehire PIKKLE was rooted in the company’s ability to act as a “genuine extension of the event team.”
As PIKKLE looks toward 2026, the company continues to refine its operational infrastructure. By maintaining a 90% client retention rate, they are effectively setting a new standard for how event management agencies perceive catering. For the tech-forward event industry, the focus is increasingly on reliability mixed with local storytelling—a combination that PIKKLE has successfully codified into a scalable business model. As they prepare for the largest BPA conference to date, the startup is positioning itself as the primary challenger to legacy catering firms, proving that local impact can indeed be scaled to a national level.
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