It’s less than four years since Gate Gourmet London nearly went out of business. The airline caterer was losing money and struggling to hold on to its customers. Absence levels were sky high and employee relations were stuck in a 1970s timewarp, with go-slows and unofficial industrial action regularly disrupting work at its main operating unit at Heathrow.

Yet neither the workforce nor management seemed to understand that Gate Gourmet London was in trouble. “It was a business that was underperforming and didn’t realise it was underperforming,” recalls Richard Wells, group senior vice-president, HR. “There was huge resistance to change within both the management and the workforce.”