PIKKLE Wins 2026 British Ports Conference Catering Contract
Cardiff-based catering company PIKKLE has secured a major contract as the sole caterer for the British Ports Association Annual Conference in October 2026. This appointment follows their successful delivery of the 2024 event in Portsmouth. The repeat appointment builds on PIKKLE’s delivery of the association’s 2024 conference, marking a significant milestone as they expand their large-scale conference and events work across the UK.
The conference, taking place at Cruise Terminal One in Dover, will host 450 delegates, up from 350 last year. PIKKLE will collaborate with Freshwater, the organizing agency, to showcase Dover and Kent’s local food scene. This year’s event, scheduled for 21 and 22 October 2026, will feature a broader program of networking and social activities spanning three days, emphasizing sustainability and local impact.
Local Suppliers Take Center Stage
Four regional suppliers have been chosen for the event. These include Gilda Bakery near Canterbury for breakfast pastries, Lost Sheep Coffee from Whitstable, Cow Shed on the Hoof serving American-style barbecue for lunch, and Biddenden Vineyards supplying Kent wine. Each supplier was selected for their unique contributions to Kent’s culinary environment, ensuring the menu reflects the region’s distinct flavors and traditions.
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Founded in early 2023 by Hamish Watkins and Louis Phillips, PIKKLE focuses on ‘unconventional catering,’ challenging how large conferences think about catering by moving away from standardised food offers towards menus that reflect the location, audience, and purpose of an event. Their approach involves researching the local food scene and partnering with independent producers. This method ensures that each event is not only a culinary experience but also a celebration of the host area’s cultural and culinary identity.
Proven Track Record in Large-Scale Events
At the 2024 conference in Portsmouth, PIKKLE served over 300 delegates, delivering nearly 800 dishes, pastries, and desserts, and around 1,500 coffees. Their work earned them the Catering Supplier of the Year award at the International Confex Event Supplier Awards 2025. Judges praised PIKKLE’s “very colourful and refreshing DNA…[which] helps [them] stand out from the crowd” and “impressive 90% client retention rate, flexibility and choice [and] solid local presence.” This event marked PIKKLE’s first major venture outside Cardiff, demonstrating their ability to scale their model while maintaining a strong local focus.
Hamish Watkins, co-founder of PIKKLE, said: “We’re really proud to be returning to the BPA conference after what we achieved together in Portsmouth. Conference catering can too often become something to tick off the list, but we think that’s a missed opportunity. 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 or disconnected from where the event is taking place.
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Freshwater and the BPA put a lot of trust in us in 2024 and the fact they’ve asked us back for Dover means a great deal. We work closely with event teams from the early planning stages, giving them one catering partner taking responsibility for the detail while we bring in some of the best independent food businesses from the host area. BPA 2024 showed that our model can travel, and our ambition now is to work with more event teams and agencies to bring that approach to major conferences and events across the UK.”
Expanding Beyond Conferences
In October 2025, PIKKLE catered the VIP launch of Sephora’s first Welsh store in Cardiff, creating a drinks and canapé service that celebrated the city’s food scene through independent food traders. Over the last 12 months, PIKKLE has catered more than 400 events, primarily across South Wales but also in Bristol, the South West, London, and other parts of southern England. These range from networking events and business lunches to workplace celebrations, brand activations, and larger corporate functions.
