amadeus_glorious_final

NEWS FOOD INNOVATIONS
FOOD INNOVATIONS NEWS
UNDERSTANDING
THE CUSTOMER
Changing
the way we eat
For 40 years Amadeus has been recognised for its
culinary expertise and commercial development that
is designed to improve the customer experience.
Here are just some of their latest innovations...
MADE FOR YOU
One of the most important elements scratch. At the International Convention
of the Amadeus catering business Centre (ICC) Birmingham, this is
is the ‘MADE for you’ initiative, which business as usual and has seen the Chef
means it is a bespoke offering – so up to team – headed up by Executive Chef,
85 per cent of food delivered is exactly Simon Hellier – create some of the
what the client wants. This means most imaginative and operationally
Amadeus creates an experience from challenging events ever seen.
“Food should be
part of the event
experience and
we want to get
even closer to the
customer”
Simon Hellier Executive Chef ICC
EXPERIENCING FOOD
UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL
In January 2016, Simon and his team
introduced the ‘Chef ’s Table’, an
experience that gives guests a real
insight into the food served at the ICC.
This has been created to support the
sales teams as it enables them to bring
clients on to the site to sample the
food and showcase it as a unique selling
point for the venue. Simon cooks in
front of the guests while talking them
through recipes, food provenance
and wine pairings.
Record
breaking
A ground-breaking event from the
team at the ICC saw Amadeus break
its own catering record. The gala
dinner for the World Small Animal
Veterinary Association Congress
(WSAVA), allowed 950 guests to
choose their starter, main and desert
from a full choice menu. The restaurantstyle
service for such a large event was
a first for the catering group, and a rare
occurrence for any venue.
“Delivering a restaurant-style service,
where each guest has a menu of
options to choose from is relatively
unheard of, particularly on such a
scale,” said Craig Hancox, Amadeus
General Manager at the ICC. “Each
table’s order was taken by
our front of house waiting
staff and then fed into the
kitchen where Simon Hellier and
his team got to work to deliver the
courses as ordered.
“We have delivered this service
before but not for so many. It
presents its challenges, primarily
from a service and ordering point
of view, but we have a very talented
team who are always looking to
raise the bar and I feel we’ve
certainly achieved this here.”
TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT
HOLDING AN EVENT
AT THE ICC OR ANY OF
THE AMADEUS VENUES
CONTACT 0121 767 3329
Providing customers with innovative
solutions continues when it comes to the
environments run by Amadeus. Within
the NEC, Amadeus had the opportunity to
conduct some in-depth customer research
to understand what would improve the
experience of a visit to the NEC food
and beverage areas.
In 2015, Emma Thorn, Head of Marketing
for Amadeus, teamed up with Know Research
and conducted one of the largest and most
in-depth customer research programmes ever
at the NEC site to understand the consumer
decision-making process at all stages of the
customer journey. This included a number
of research channels including accompanied
shops, app-based research prior, during and
post visit, incept interviews and observations.
The research produced insight into when
customers start thinking about food and
beverage, what impacts purchasing behaviour,
their mind states during the day and pre and
post perceptions of the food and beverage
offerings. From the research, some of the key
actions included refurbishment of some of the
NEC food and beverage areas called PODs.
As part of the redevelopment, the Amadeus
project team investigated eating trends,
multiple food service options and food
trends to influence the concept choices.
Working with the NEC Group’s central
Insight and Marketing Services departments,
which includes a full in-house marketing
agency, the concepts for ‘The Edge’ were
developed. The project is being launched
at the Autumn Fair and will include increased
speed of service and covers and four brand
concepts – see page 16 for details.
6 GLORIOUS
AMADEUSFOOD.CO.UK 7