A family working side by side
Edna Armstrong serves as Head of Bid Management at Mount Charles, Northern Ireland’s largest independent catering, cleaning, events and facilities management company. Her eldest daughter Megan is General Manager of the Northern Quarter at the airport, while younger daughter Abby works there as a supervisor.
The trio live together outside Belfast. They work for the same company. And perhaps most impressively, they still choose to holiday together.
There is, however, one member of the household who has escaped the family roster.
“He works in the car part distribution sector,” Edna said of her husband Trevor. “Three of us working for the same company is probably enough.”
A major transformation underway
Mount Charles is investing £1 million in a major revamp of its food and beverage offering at Belfast International Airport, including a full redesign and upgrade of the Northern Quarter.
The space will shift away from a traditional food court model and instead become a single high-end restaurant and bar, with seating for 180 guests. The refurbishment will also introduce a new coffee dock developed in collaboration with Bewley’s.
The redevelopment will bring new opportunities as well as a new look. Mount Charles currently employs around 40 people within the Northern Quarter and plans to double staffing to 80 when the new concept launches in Spring 2026.
Winning the contract
Edna joined Mount Charles in July 2020, based at the company’s headquarters on Ormeau Road in Belfast. Before that, she held the role of Head of Bid Management for an international firm.
Her work focuses on securing new contracts for the business. Crucially, she played a role in the successful bid that secured Mount Charles’ ongoing presence at Belfast International Airport.
“I was involved in the rebid for the retail outlet,” she said. “It was probably the first opportunity I’ve had to work with Megan closely in a work capacity and the fact that we were successful was a brilliant result.”
For the Armstrong family, it was something of a full-circle moment. Edna helped win the contract, Megan is now leading the refurbishment, and Abby is part of the team helping run the day-to-day operation.
Encouraging the next generation
It was Edna who first encouraged her daughters to consider careers with Mount Charles.
“Mount Charles was a breath of fresh air when I joined,” she said. “When I heard there were jobs going, I instantly thought my daughters would be a perfect fit. They sent in CVs and the rest is history.”
Megan has now been with the company for four years and is leading the biggest transformation the Northern Quarter has seen.
“I’m on site and heavily involved in the refurbishment – everything from staffing to marketing and the actual build itself,” she said. “My primary role is about how it’s going to operate and getting staff.”
Sisters on the same team
Working alongside her sister is nothing new. Megan and Abby have shared workplaces since their teenage years.
“Abby and I have worked together many times,” said Megan, a marketing graduate. “One of our first jobs was in a restaurant here, then we both worked in the same café at university in Liverpool and then again when we came home.”
It was Megan who suggested Abby join the airport team.
“It’s a lovely environment and it’s very different from traditional hospitality,” she said. “There’s something exciting about an airport and I knew Abby would be a brilliant fit for my team.”
Abby, who studied criminology and sociology, has worked for Mount Charles for almost three years. As a supervisor at the Northern Quarter, her role is hands-on and people-focused, organising staff while ensuring the operation runs smoothly.
“I’m very hands-on – I do the day-to-day serving and managing staff and I make sure the units are clean and tidy,” she said.
She acknowledges that working with a sister, particularly one who is also your general manager, has its moments.
“I’ve been used to working with Megan since I was 16,” she said. “It can be challenging because sisters are going to argue at some stage, but it never lasts long. It’s good craic and you can trust her.”
Family support at work and beyond
Edna says the professional relationship always comes first, but having family close by can make difficult days easier.
“Work colleagues are different from family,” she said. “If you’re having a particularly difficult day, we find that we support each other.”
Outside of work, the Armstrongs make sure to spend time together away from the airport too. The family takes at least one trip away each year.
“This year we went to Dublin to watch Ireland play Italy in the Six Nations,” Edna said.
A family business in action
For Mount Charles, the Armstrongs represent something the company values deeply. A family-run organisation where the sense of family can be found in the people who work there.
For the Armstrongs, it is both a point of pride and a practical reality. Their shared workplace now includes a major refurbishment project, an expanding team and two sisters on the same rota.
As Edna put it:
“The fact that the three of us work for the same company says everything about how we feel about our employer and each other.”
