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NEWS FOOD INNOVATIONS
FOOD INNOVATIONS NEWS
BUILDING THE
RIGHT TEAM
In order to foster innovation, Amadeus has
to ensure the right people are part of their
culture, understand it and live and breathe
the values of ‘MADE a difference’.
In 2015, the HR team at Amadeus looked
to innovate and reinvent how they recruited
and trained over 1,000 staff including 90
Chefs. Tony Baldock, Operations Director
for Amadeus, looked at overhauling the
recruitment and training based on his belief
that a change was needed to take Amadeus
from being a serving culture to a selling one.
The process started with recruitment and
scrapping the traditional interview for an
audition, one in which the applicant had
to demonstrate they can sell and have
a passion and flair for food and service.
Tony then introduced a Service that Sells
programme to the Amadeus business, which
focusses on customer service – turn to page
28 to find out more about how it is working
for the staff and the customers.
As a brand, Amadeus prides itself in living
by a personality that is progressive, creative,
passionate, supportive and inventive.
It’s a culture that is delivering real results,
both now and in the future and one that
ensures the team will and can respond to
any challenge they are given.
TO FIND OUT ABOUT
CAREER OPPORTUNITIES
WITH AMADEUS GO TO
NECGROUP.CO.UK/WORKING-FOR-US
THEATRE ON A PLATE
The Amadeus team’s most recent
innovation has been introducing
a theatrical dining multi-sensory
experience where the food is
prepared and cooked in front the
guests, creating an additional air
of anticipation and excitement.
“Food should be part of the event
experience and we want
to get closer to
the customer,”
explains Simon
Hellier. “Not
only does it
showcase to the
guests the quality
and freshness of
the ingredients
and talent of the
chef’s brigade, but
it reiterates everything we say we
do – that we can serve fine dining
in large numbers.”
The theatrical dining experience
was premiered at the Vox launch
in February 2016. Emma Channon,
a journalist from Meetings and
Incentive Travel Magazine, said of
the event, “You don’t generally
associate conference venues with
Michelin-quality food – this has
officially set the bar.”
One of the standout dishes was a
lemongrass mist that engulfed the
table to give a citrus twist to the dish.
This technique, and other theatrical
dining elements, is an area Simon is
truly passionate about. He believes
multi-sensory experiences add
another dimension and overall the
whole meal is enhanced.
“It goes beyond just the experience
of eating the dish, it adds a bit of fun
into it too. The dish feels more alive,
more fresh. The lemon mist is a real
crowd pleaser. We use flavoured dry
ice, which reacts when warm stock is
poured over. As it evaporates vapour
is released and the mist travels across
the table and starts to roll in front
of the guests sat at the table. They
get this intense lemongrass smell
which
adds another
sensory level to
the dish. You are
creating a mystical
element and with the
right ambiance and lighting it can really
make the course stand out. We serve
this course at the beginning of the
dining experience so we really have to
make sure we follow through with four
or five other really impressive courses.
If you start with a great course and
don’t follow it up, the whole meal can
fall apart. We like to keep anticipation
levels high and really carry on with
the theatrical elements.”
Simon continues, “I wouldn’t say
I look at any particular ingredient
and think, ‘How can I use this in the
room?’ It’s more, ‘How can I add theatre
to this, how can I impress the guest?’
I’m always looking at dishes and
aspects that can be completed in the
room with the guests involved rather
than away in the kitchen. I believe
Crêpes Suzette may make
a comeback and will
be created in front
of the guest.”
Food and drink
at the click of a button
Under the brand initiative, ‘MADE life
easier’, Amadeus is also committed to
delivering innovation that improves
how customers order food and
drink at events and improving the
speed of delivering service. The first
major technical innovation that saw
Amadeus shortlisted for a prestigious
Catey award in 2016 was Qjacker
– an online ordering service to
cope with the demands of feeding
thousands of visitors at the Insomina56
Gaming Festival hosted at the
NEC Birmingham.
One of the most critical components
for the Insomnia event – an impressive
new event for the NEC venue – was
having a service for the BYOC (bring
your own computer) community
who are engaged in live games and
competitions round the clock on a
global scale throughout the event, to
be able to order refreshments from
8am-2am each day without causing
disruption to their play. Amadeus used
the convenient web and smartphone
app Qjacker, which allows users to
order food and drink to be delivered
directly to their gaming stations – all
other live sites now operating the
app use collection points. Working
closely with NEC Group IT and Qjacker,
Amadeus developed the application to
suit the needs of the event – including
design, build and testing – within just
eight weeks. With record numbers
processed and delivered to happy
gamers with an average time from
order confirmation to personal delivery
of just eight minutes it transformed the
way food and drink was delivered.
Operations Director, Tony Baldock,
explains the importance of introducing
the ground-breaking service, “The level
of detail required to get the finished
solution just right was challenging but
the planning and teamwork including
IT, marketing, our service partners and
suppliers helped make this venture
a success. The event was only
won in September
so a three-month
turnaround
for a brand new technological concept
is phenomenal. Allowing customers
to order instantly rather than preordering
gave a different dimension to
the event and was important for the
visitor experience. The team offered
exceptional service by following a predetermined
seating plan meaning we
were able to find customers quickly.”
Tony added, “We also worked
closely the Insomina56 organisers
to determine the demands of the
community with the most important
factors being portion size, quality of
food and value for money. Normal
operations were also in effect with our
service partners extending
their hours to support us so
if we did have any issues they
were resolved promptly as
to not affect food service
or customer experience.”
Qjacker has now been
tested in Starbucks and
the NEC Group’s two
arenas – Genting and
Barclaycard Arena – with
positive results. The service
is due to be implemented
across all NEC Group sites
by the end of 2016.
8 GLORIOUS
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