A Sweet Start: RDG Events

RDG Events have had family, quality and entrepreneurialism at their heart from the beginning. What started with a successful sweets business has grown into an event catering company that is all about great food, customer experience and flexing those event management muscles that come with being in the industry for as long as they have.

A Sweet Start 

Darren and Ruth, the team (and married couple) behind RDG events travelled the UK working at music festivals with their vintage mobile sweet shop, Gordons Sweets with jars of nostalgic sweets for over 15 years. But when the pandemic hit, like many in the industry, they found themselves suddenly without events, with over 200 jars of sweets and nowhere to trade.

Gordon’s Sweets was a family business, there was a big boom in old fashioned sweet shops when they set Gordon’s Sweets up, and it worked brilliantly at festivals. They did all the big shows, Glastonbury, Leeds, Car Fest, Boomtown etc and there was nothing else on offer like them at all.

Their kids travelled with them across the country every weekend, Ruth tells me they learnt to cook and serve from an early age, one of them even busked outside their pitch at Glastonbury! It would normally take a day to set up Gordon’s Sweets which was all part of being a festival business but when they started seeing people rock up in a trailer and be ready to go, this planted a seed in Darren’s head and a few years later their event catering business was born and the catalyst for setting up RDG was as we mentioned, the pandemic.

Thinking on their feet, Ruth and Darren turned to Too Good To Go and managed to sell most of the stock, helping to recover some of the costs. It was a tough time, but it gave them space to reflect on what they really wanted to do next.

They were approached by one of the organisers of Love Supreme before the pandemic who was putting a new show on, and he said that they’d always wanted to try catering out so why not give it a go. They went ahead and it gave them a taste of what was out there which put them in good stead for when they were ready to get RDG up and running.

Unfortunately, Ruth had an accident that put her out of action for 18 months and during that time Darren took over the business with family members to support so the business could keep going. During Covid there was a gap in the market, so Darren took Gordon’s Sweet’s online.

Ruth also runs a food and entertainment agency which she started when she was 18 so she continued with this when she was back on her feet, this coupled with the online sweet shop meant that they could keep going while they were building the new business.

Little Flo

‘Starting a food truck business had always been a dream of mine. After losing my mum, I knew I wanted to do something in her memory — something that would carry her name with me wherever I went. That’s how Little Flo was born, named after my lovely mum, Veronica Florence.’                                                                

                                                                                            Ruth, RDG Events                                                                                                

So RDG Events was ready to go but how did they decide on what they wanted to sell? They began by serving waffles but soon realised that crêpes could be a delicious addition, so they dived in – researching recipes, studying French technique, and spending every spare moment perfecting their batter and skills.

They had always focused on vegetarian or vegan dishes but started to broaden their menu pretty quickly, keeping up with trends and what customers wanted, they added savoury dishes, breakfasts, trends like omelette rolls to their menu as well as their now famous gooey cheese toasties.

Ruth commented, ‘Little Flo is a lovingly restored vintage horsebox, full of charm and character, and it quickly became the heart of our new venture. Over time, our offering expanded to include breakfast, lunch, brunch, evening snacks and indulgent sweet treats.’

Darren and Ruth decided to build their business around private events because they felt the risks were too high with festivals. They said ‘there is nothing certain, you don’t know where you’re going to be or whether anyone else will be selling the same thing (at festivals). Festivals suit some people, but the risks are too high now. It’s really tough out there.’

Since starting out, Little Flo has travelled the country, delighting customers at private events across schools, birthdays, golf clubs, corporate events, local fetes, fairs and much more.

Enter Maisie Boo

In 2023, they welcomed their second trailer, Maisie Boo, named after Ruth’s great-grandmother. She’s a sleek, modern pod that complements Little Flo. Together, they allow RDG to cater to a wide variety of events, from garden parties to large weddings and corporate events and film sets.

They’ve now got around 12 sample menus and thanks to their forward thinking and adaptable nature, they are always changing up how they do things. In fact, this year, they expanded again by adding two stylish food stations which are ideal for events hosted indoors or under gazebos for garden parties. These stations allow RDG even more flexibility to bring their sweet and savoury delights to any space, no matter the setup.

As for their highlights, they’ve fed the Chicago Bears, Daniel Craig and Hugh Bonneville, catered for a Nuclear Power Plant, worked on adverts, film & tv, their trailers have been used as props as well as at glamping events and brand activations including one for M&S.

An agency working with M&S on a brand activation, ‘Follow the Flower’ roadshow asked them to source a trailer, kit it out and event manage the road show. Darren said, ‘it was great that the agency had the trust in us to source the vehicles, find the fabricators etc.’ Since then, they’ve been approached by other companies to do more and it’s now another string to their bow.

For the last year or so they’ve used a company to run their socials and this has really helped, they’ve got lots of reviews on Trust Pilot and Google and their clients always praise them on communication, their family approach and occasionally on Darren’s singing prowess.

Their next venture may be in charcuterie and cheese, targeting golf clubs, and high-end companies with their new food stations – as always, quality and customer experience will be top of their agenda.

Their summer is looking busy which is great but now after years of never going away over summer they factor in a break in August which after 15 years of festivals is something really special for the family.

When I asked what they love about the industry and what keeps them motivated, they say it’s all about people, the variety of jobs and being able to travel across the country.

The couple said:

‘We love jobs when we get to head out on a Sunday morning and travel to a beautiful Oxford village, getting out of the hubbub of London is great (what’s great is that we’re making people happy and putting smiles on their faces. People are excited and happy to see us there).

It’s also been great to see Little Flo and Maise Boo on film and TV sets –you can catch Little Flo and Darren on a recent episode of The Cleaner!’

What started as a tribute has grown into a full family-run business that brings joy, connection and great food wherever they go, it was wonderful to hear Ruth and Darren’s story, they are entrepreneurs in the truest sense and will continue to go from strength to strength – thank you so much for sharing it with us RDG.

To find out more about RDG events, head to their website https://www.rdgevents.co.uk/

Give them a follow on their social channels to keep up with what they’ve been up to:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rdgevents/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eventsrdg