Profile and background of Pete Bunce and Catermech

After a 2 year engineering apprenticeship and serving 12 years in the Royal Air Force as an aircraft engineer I decided not to sign on again and after much prompting from friends and considerable research I set up my own food processing business “Richmond Potato Products” start date 22-12-1984

Being on a very tight budget I manufactured much of the equipment needed such as stainless steel wire cooling trays, special vegetable cutter, special chip cutting blade, onion peeler and packing station. For the next three years along with up to 12 process workers I supplied Pubs, cafes, schools, and food manufacturing companies such as Dale Pak who in turn supplied the likes of Morrisons. During this time I supplied a mobile take away with raw chips and ended up buying the business. With great success I personally ran this on an evening and weekends along side my vegetable processing unit.

During daily deliveries visiting numerous kitchens, I would come across many an exasperated chef with equipment that had broken down and of course they would need it up and running yesterday!!! So using my engineering ability and knowledge I would repair my customer’s equipment free of charge. I found this type of work was far more enjoyable and in my line of experience than peeling vegetables and very shortly afterwards sold both businesses which are still running today. During recent years I opened and ran a B&B and have advised on the planning and layout of many food manufacturing businesses, cafes and takeaways.

“Catermech” (the mechanical side of catering) seemed an appropriate name for my new venture and I now supply new and reconditioned catering equipment including repairs, installations, design and fitting of extraction systems and often get involved in modifying machines for a specific process.

The associated courses I have studied include: Aeronautical engineering which included metallurgy, electric motors and electronic circuitry. Welding and fabrication. Gas installation and safety. Microwave technology and repair, Food technology and hygiene.

Having gained much valuable experience in food processing, preparation and cooking, manufacturing equipment and repairs. I feel am in an excellent position to advise on virtually any piece of catering equipment. All our reconditioned equipment is fully stripped, rebuilt and guaranteed.

Catermech has now been operating for 24 years.