Company Profile

Papillon Caterers^® is owned by RJC Caterers Limited, a subsidiary of Buttigieg Holdings Company Limited which was founded over thirty years ago by Mr. John Buttigieg, who is still the managing director of both companies.

Buttigieg Holdings started its operation with three main outlets in the north of the island namely the Panorama Hotel and The Arches Restaurant, both in Mellieha, together with a bar and restaurant in Xemxija called Carlos Hideaway. The Arches Restaurant was one of the only silver service restaurants on the island during the late 70’s and the early 80’s.

Since then the company has gained experience in various areas of the catering industry. During the 80s, the company operated factory canteens in Malta’s biggest manufacturing companies and was also entrusted with the canteen at Malta’s oldest brewery Simonds Farsons Cisk plc. During these years the company was also entrusted with the catering at Malta’s two biggest Summer events which are the Malta International Trade Fair and the Farsons Great Beer Festival and these mass catering contracts were renewed for over nineteen years.

In 1989, R.J.C. Caterers Ltd itself was formed as the company was heading for expansion. More investment was put in both companies and new directors and shareholders joined the company.

Also in 1989, the company entered the pub trade with the opening of the Scotsman Pub in St. Julian’s and a few years later with a second pub in the same town called Ryan’s Irish Pub which was the first Irish Pub to be opened on the island.

In 1991 our company won the contract for the only two catering concessions available at the newly opened airport at that time which were two cafeterias in the Departures and Arrivals Halls. These cafeterias are still under our operation till today. Then in 2006 we were awarded another outlet at the airport which we turned into Sportsfans Diner, a restaurant overlooking the main runway at the airport. In 2008 we were also awarded a 4th outlet at the airport which is a franchise of the chain Coffee Republic which we opened in the Non-Schengen Departures area at the airport. The airport is Malta’s most high traffic area as Malta receives over 1.5 million tourists a year apart from Maltese themselves who go abroad during the year which brings the average annual traffic at the Malta International Airport to nearly 3 million passengers.

In 1994 the company launched our brand Papillon with the opening of our first cafeteria – Papillon Café in Balzan. We then opened a second Café in 2000 in Hamrun under the same name.

In 1998 R.J.C. Caterers Limited, started its outside catering operations under the name of Papillon Caterers®. Slowly, this side of the company has expanded and today it is one of the leading outside caterers on the island. HSBC Bank (Malta) plc, Vodafone Malta plc, Malta International Airport plc, The Office of the Prime Minister, the Italian and Austrian embassies are only a few examples of the high quality clientele which use the services of Papillon Caterers® on a yearly basis

RJC Caterers is also the company that runs the catering outlets at the University of Malta and at the Junior College. Until 2008, the same contract also had the Malta Medical School and the Institute of Healthcare Canteens as a part of it and we were also responsible for these outlets.

The year 2007 saw the completion of Malta’s brand new state of the art national hospital Mater Dei. Papillon Caterers® together with one of the leading retailers on the island Miller Distributors Ltd entered the tendering process for the catering and retail needs at the hospital for staff and visitors. After winning the tender in November 2007 we began operating the Visitors Café & Retail Outlet, the Staff Restaurant and all the vending services at Mater Dei Hospital, the islands’ second high traffic area after the Malta International Airport. We are also proud to say that we were entrusted with the opening ceremony of the hospital with an invite list of over 3,500 guests.

In 2006 the company embarked on the ambitious project to build a new state of the art Central Production Unit from where the distribution and manufacturing for most of its products are now taking place. This new project costing more than €1,160,000 caters for this firm’s organic expansion within the company’s line of expertise as it is managing to cater for the technological advancements and changes in legislation which have been and are still taking place within the food industry. This new venture has also provided RJC Caterers Ltd with the required manufacturing capacity and the quality levels so as to make it possible for the company to venture overseas and start operating for the export market. The company is already in the final stages of concluding an agreement with a foreign firm to start exporting traditional Maltese food to mainland Europe. The investment made in this CPU can be appreciated even more when one considers that it is one of the best in Europe and has been constructed according to EU legislation and HACCP regulations whilst incorporating the latest technological innovations. One of these innovations is the automatic pastizzi and pie making machine, which is unique to the Maltese Islands. The set up of this unit, the only purposely built unit in Malta, has been discussed and supervised by professional executives in kitchen design and food hygiene.

The year 2007 also saw the company take over a specialised Wine & Spirits shop, Papillon Bottle Vault, situated in Swieqi.

At the end of 2008, the company also finished building its first foray into the property business. Our old Café Papillon in Balzan and the surrounding buildings that were the old kitchen were pulled down to make way for a brand new residential development consisting of 17 modern apartments and maisonettes together with a brand new refurbished Café Papillon.

The expansion and success of our firm in managing the ever-increasing number of outlets and operational challenges is due to the investment the company is making in cutting edge technologies and its human resources and to keep up with the ever changing nature of the food and food retail industry.

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• The Management
• Central Production Unit