Having spent five years getting his catering and party planning business Zafferano accredited as a supplier with 12 of London's top venues, including Tate Modern, Julian Snaipe's next challenge is to maintain the growth of the £2m turnover business in a climate when companies are postponing "flamboyant" parties.

He can at least enlist help from his previous career to "put on a show"—for six years he was a bass-baritone opera singer, travelling the world and singing on film soundtracks. "My involvement in opera hasn't completely died and we use opera in some of our corporate entertaining," he says.

Opera, says Snaipe, is a glamorous and theatrical fine art, while hospitality relies on a "carnival of people". There's a synchronicity between the two. "What we do at Zafferano, producing high-quality food and serving it in a glamorous environment, it's a showbiz equivalent," he says.

He and his wife Viv, who founded the business, do not plan to expand out of London, but to build organically on what they've achieved. "We'll get involved with more venues, increase turnover and hire more employees," says Snaipe.