FIVE MINUTES WITH… ANNE KAVANAGH, DOLCE’S BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER

Anne brings a wealth of experience to her new role as Dolce’s Business Development Manager, having spent many years in both B&I and education catering. Her career has seen her lead large teams, deliver ground-breaking school initiatives, and mentor rising stars across the industry.

We sat down with Anne to hear more about why she loves the education sector, the career moments that shaped her, the charities close to her heart – and how she ended up running marathons after thinking she’d never own a pair of trainers.

Welcome to Dolce! You’ve been with us for nearly two months now. What has your career path been?

I’ve always worked in catering. I started out in motorway services for a few years and then, when I was 30, I moved into B&I catering. I became Director of Operations and spent nine years working out of London, looking after blue-chip clients and travelling all over the UK & Ireland.

I also completed my degree in Facilities Planning & Management during that time – so busy is an understatement!

While at ISS, I transferred over to the education division. A major council tender was coming out to manage the catering for 91 local schools, and it was a brilliant project to get my teeth into. It was such a refreshing change from B&I – I went from travelling the country and attending client lunches in London to meetings in schools within the region. It felt much more grounded.

We achieved some ground-breaking things during that period – including launching a holiday feeding club, providing meals to pupils during school holidays (long before celebrities put the issue on the national agenda).

I then joined education caterer Mellors as Director of Operations. While I was there, a Business Development Manager role opened. I covered parts of the workload while we looked for the right person, found I really enjoyed it, and eventually stepped into the role permanently, as this allowed me to work part-time – the next phase in my life plan!

An old contact later introduced me to Dolce. After meeting the team and learning more about the culture, I knew it would be a great fit. I joined as Business Development Manager in October 2025, working three days a week – the perfect balance for me.

I really enjoy the education sector – I’ve worked in it for nine years – and I can say with certainty that this is where I’ll stay for the rest of my career.

Have you always had a life plan when it comes to your career?

My husband is a bit older than me and has already retired, so I’d always planned to work full-time until I reached 55 and then step back to part-time. I love working – at one point I had 2,000 people in my team and it was full-on – but it’s important to make time for yourself, your hobbies and your family.

I’m also passionate about encouraging the next generation to step up. I’ve been involved in mentoring externally with Women First, and also internally within the organisations I’ve worked in supporting people coming through into director-level roles. It was incredibly fulfilling, and I loved helping others reach their potential.

Your mentorship isn’t just in the workplace – we’ve heard you’re also a team leader for a local running group.

Yes, I’m a leader for a group called Mother Runners – it’s really inclusive and open to women of all abilities.

If you’d told me 10 years ago that I’d be a runner, I would have laughed. I don’t think I even owned a pair of trainers at the time!

I started running when I was 47 and completed my first marathon at 51. My daughter entered me into the London Marathon for my 50th birthday, but I didn’t get a spot. Still, it kick-started something and I realised I really wanted to do a marathon, so I ran Manchester and raised money for The Christie in Manchester, Europe’s largest single-site cancer centre. It’s a charity close to my heart, as my brother-in-law was treated there for leukaemia a few years ago.

Since then, I’ve got the marathon bug and have completed two more – the Yorkshire Marathon in 2019 and the London Marathon in 2021 – both raising funds for the Stroke Association.

It sounds like food and catering is a huge part of your life, as you also started your own baking business.

I did! When I went part-time, I used some of my spare time to set up a catering business. It started as a passion project but quickly became very busy. I’ve since scaled it back – I still bake, but now I do it purely to raise money for charity.

In October, I made Halloween cupcakes with profits going to Cancer Research. In November, I’m making ‘Elf on the Shelf’ themed cakes with proceeds going to The Brain Tumour Charity.

Dolce works in catering… so we’ve got to ask: what would be your “death-row” meal?

It would have to be a Sunday roast with all the trimmings. There’s something special about everyone sitting around the table, eating and chatting together. I trained as a chef, so I like to put those skills to good use.

They’ll certainly be tested at Christmas – we have all the children and grandchildren coming for lunch, 20 of us in total – but I can’t wait.

Thanks Anne!
The Dolce team

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