The British Ports Association’s Annual Conference is one of the key events in the UK maritime calendar, bringing together port operators, industry leaders and government. For 2024 it came to Portsmouth, and events agency Freshwater needed a catering partner to feed 300+ delegates across two busy days at the port terminal. The brief was food that felt connected to the host city, served smoothly through tight conference breaks, with one point of contact handling the whole operation.

We travelled from Cardiff to research Portsmouth’s independent food scene, then built the menu around local businesses. Our team ran service across both days, from Bread Addiction’s breakfast pastries and Broadway Coffee to Caribbean street food lunches from Natty’s Jerk. Across the conference, we served nearly 800 dishes, pastries and desserts and around 1,500 coffees. Freshwater had one contact throughout, and we managed every allergen and dietary requirement.

The result: our first large-scale event outside Cardiff, the centrepiece of our Catering Supplier of the Year win at the International Confex Event Supplier Awards 2025, and a repeat booking as sole caterer for BPA 2026 in Dover.