A Derby security company set up during the pandemic has passed the £1 million turnover mark.
Monarch Security, which is based at Oberoi Business Hub in Pride Park, now has access to 180 security staff, working for clients including national hotel chains and festivals, Hollywood film sets and foreign royal families.
It was set up during the Covid-19 lockdown by Farhaan Bhatti and Phil Wright who have nearly 30 years combined experience in the industry, and since then has more than doubled its turnover.
The pair initially started out staffing supermarkets and Covid-19 testing stations in the early days of the pandemic – expanding into hospitality, hotels, festivals, big store chains and football grounds as Covid restrictions eased.
When international travel re-opened, they were able to return to providing close security for high profile celebrities and members of several Middle East and Far East royal families – which is a particular area of expertise for both directors.
They have also clinched contracts to protect and patrol working film sets in Los Angeles and New York and supported a number of festivals.
Phil Wright said: “When the pandemic hit and hospitality was particularly affected, we decided to set up Monarch Security to have more control over our working lives.
“We quickly picked up a lot of work due to the Covid restrictions in place and the high demand for qualified and experienced security staff whose role as key workers was to keep staff, customers and the wider public safe.
“As the UK and world opened up, we have continued to secure more contracts and both turnover and staff numbers are expected to grow significantly in this, our third year in business.
“We are particularly looking to tender for larger contracts within the public sector premises and events as we feel that we are now in the position to compete favourably with larger companies in this very competitive industry.
“As our business rapidly expanded, we urgently needed office space, and the Oberoi Business Hub became an enticing option.
“The prime attraction was its strategic location, which was crucial for accommodating our VIP clients.
“We have moved into a larger office space as the business has grown and the additional services offered, such as call answering and meeting rooms, proved to be invaluable for our operations.”
Farhaan Bhatti said: “One of the key aspects of our success and growth so far has been the training, conduct and professional appearance of our team members.
“It is important that security staff properly reflect a client’s brand and we do a lot of supplementary training on site – using our own years’ of frontline experience to ensure standards of maintained.
“We are proud of our Derby roots and are particularly looking to expand our client base in the city and the wider East Midlands where Phil and I have worked for many years and have an extensive network of trained staff.”
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