In the wake of the Dot com bubble, Foot-&-Mouth disease in the UK and then 9/11, no option but to close the satellite businesses and regroup in Maidenhead, moving into slightly larger premises in St Peters Road.

Fundamental business review; focus on high-end customers.

Steve Conway joins as part-time head of finance - proper reporting and monthly reviews.

Understanding the importance of PEOPLE drives the inception of monthly Comms meeting, "emotional intelligence" program begins.

Start of the journey with Investors in People, guided by Paul Temple, achieve accreditation first time out.

Global Financial Crisis affects spending on new projects; very difficult decisions to close Projects and Fabrication teams, helping colleagues start their own businesses.

16 colleagues move into Westacott Business Centre, focus on service and maintenance.

Awarded the Royal Warrant by appointment to HM the Queen.

Young people in the office, George Robert-Smith (GRS) joins for a holiday job after gaining a Master in Engineering at Southhampton University.

OST developed tailor-made Android app specifically built for kitchen maintenance.

Claire Hinks, Mark Brooker and Alistair Collins join, creating a senior team for the first time.

Autumn - four visits to Anuga in Cologne to recce Europe as a potential opportunity - outcome is "too big to bite off now"...

45 Employees in the UK

First visit to Gulfood in Dubai; subsequent visits including to other territories in the Gulf, decisions to give it a go: 13th October George Roberts-Smith is left to initiate company formation, accomplished just before Christmas.

In the UK, start of Team North as well as Airport Team, working at Heathrow.

Grant of Dubai Trade License, able to open a bank account, take on premise and recruit staff: the three musketeers: Armin, Raymond and Jovanie.

James Chapman and Adam O'Sullivan take ship to Dubai in January, Adam going on in April to open up MCFT Qatar.

Investors in People Platinum Award.

McFarlane Telfer launches updated iteration of brand to "MCFT" with fire and ice logo, representing areas of the business.

Princess Royal Training Award, one of 40 awarded and one of only 6 organisations in the UK to combine with Investors in People Platinum.

Technical training - catering and refrigeration, in the UK and the Gulf, accredited to City & Guilds Assured; Leadership Programme accredited to Institute of Leadership and Management.

Establishment of Saudi Arabia in Riyadh.

Covid: April figures down 75% on January: in the UK, the Lifeboat Crew - 14 colleagues - guide the business through the month before, as Essential Workers, business, especially in schools, starts to pick up and more colleagues can rejoin the business.

In the Gulf, without government support, our customers base has to find ways to derive revenue - and consequently, need our services.

James Perton sets out to establish MCFT Netherlands in July and in September, joined by Iwan Fiering.

Before the end of the year, MCFT is also working in Belgium.

Following an introduction from Saudi Arabia, McDonalds in the Philippines asks MCFT to help support them with some of their estate. Alex Wilson starts the business in Manila and servicing starts in October.

After years of delivering in Scotland through trusted partners, we opened our office in Scotland for self-delivery to clients.

OST released Phoenix system, MCFT began migration onto platform. Initially in Netherlands, then into the UK.

George comes back to the UK to take over as CEO, Adam O'Sullivan steps up to Regional Director in the Gulf and Dan Smallbone becomes UK Managing Director.

After a number of years supplying remotely, MCFT Oman starts in Muscat.

Phoenix Platform rolled out into GCC.

Continued expansion of our services due to increased demand in Europe, beginning business in Germany.

Brand refreshed to update MCFT logo along with refined brand mission, vision and purpose across our global regions.

Approx 430 Employees Globally

Continuing our global growth, as demand grows for our services.

Development of our in-house training across the globe, continuing our focus on bringing new talent into the industry.

McFarlene Telfer Ltd is founded in St Peters Road, Maidenhead, by Chris Craggs, Kevin Darby and Mick Saunders.

General fabrication and sheet metal work: conveyor trays for crisps, brass display case for medal display, galvanised ductwork and stainless steel items for all sorts, eventually predominately for all the grand London hotels - Savoy, Dorchester, Claridges, the Ritz.

Initial development of job estimating and quoting software, enabled by David Winchester at Segment Software, the origin of sister company, Orca Service Technologies.