Amadeus Glorious Magazine Issue 04

Glorious 

The adventurous catering solutions magazine | Issue 04 

MAJOR NEW CONTRACTS 

A number of impressive new contracts have been secured over the last year 

MEET THE GENERAL MANAGERS 

The leaders who ensure Amadeus are always providing exceptional experiences

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Welcome 

• 

The summer months are jam-packed for Amadeus with events up and down the 

country keeping the team on their toes and a new mobilisation calling for all hands on deck 

It’s been a busy few months for Amadeus 

with a packed season of events across our 

arena, exhibition, conference and meeting 

venues keeping the team on their toes. At the 

Barclaycard Arena we’ve seen record F&B figures 

at a recent sports event while the NEC team are 

mixing it up with a new pop-up cocktail offer 

for exhibiting clients – read all about it in our 

innovation news section. 

Our External Events team are flat 

out catering for events up and down 

the country as they experience their 

busiest months of the year. No team 

could be more committed than them 

and I can’t wait to hear how visitors at 

events such as Ricoh Women’s British 

Open and AAM Scottish Open rated 

the food and hospitality. 

Following our recent 

mobilisation at two visitor 

attractions in the Midlands we 

have just finished mobilising 

the newly branded East of 

England Arena and Events 

Centre in Peterborough. 

On page 10 we speak to 

Chairman of the venue, 

Richard Tate, who explains 

why he felt Amadeus 

was the right partner 

for them. 

Our new contracts in Belfast also continue to 

thrive with quality products from the region’s 

best suppliers on offer – read all about this in 

our feature of the showcase event at Belfast 

Waterfront. 

I’m proud to say all the hard work the team 

has put in over the past year is paying off and 

today, we are celebrating the company’s strongest 

trading results in our 40-year history. 

And yet we can’t rest on our laurels 

– as we approach the second half 

of the year, we are already busy 

preparing for the Christmas season. 

Get an insight into the fantastic themed 

Christmas parties Amadeus caters for 

at both the NEC and ICC, and how 

we tailor our festive offering at the 

external venues we operate in, 

on page 17. And with over 

50,000 covers to serve, 

it’s never too soon to 

start working on one 

of the most exciting 

and challenging tasks 

of the year! 

KEVIN WATSON, 

MANAGING 

DIRECTOR, 

AMADEUS 

Ellie Rance 

Editor 

info@amadeusfood.co.uk 

0121 767 3329 

amadeusfood.co.uk 

Follow us... 

@amadeusfood 

This magazine has been produced in 

conjunction with EP 

EP 

4 Lombard Street, London EC3V 9HD 

020 7933 8760 

epmagazine.co.uk 

Ben Butler Managing Editor 

Advertising Ben Butler 

ben.butler@epmagazine.co.uk • 020 7933 8763 

Design Domino 4 Limited 

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domino4.co.uk 

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AMADEUSFOOD.CO.UK 3

IN THIS ISSUE READ ALL ABOUT IT 

Contents 

Issue 04 

Glorious 

The adventurous catering solutions magazine | Issue 04 

Hot 

topic 

MAJOR NEW CONTRACTS 

A number of impressive new contracts have been secured over the last year 

MEET THE GENERAL MANAGERS 

The leaders who ensure Amadeus are always providing exceptional experiences 

© ANNA DENISOVA | 123RF.COM 

REGULARS 

06 

43 

Food innovations 

All the latest news, awards and 

records from the Amadeus team 

Calendar of events 

Your guide to what’s taking place 

during summer and autumn 2017 

FEATURES 

10 

14 

Major new contract 

Amadeus have secured the 

impressive East of England 

Arena and Events Centre 

in Peterborough 

Belfast and beyond 

Amadeus showcases Belfast’s 

17 

food heritage through its menus 

4 GLORIOUS

READ ALL ABOUT IT IN THIS ISSUE 

10 

24 

14 

17 

24 

30 

50 

Christmas with Amadeus 

The countdown to Christmas 

has already begun and for the 

Amadeus team, the next few 

months will be extremely busy 

with seasonal bookings 

What I’m loving this season 

Glorious speaks to David 

Siddall, Executive Chef at 

Barclaycard Arena 

Meet the General Managers 

The leaders who ensure 

Amadeus are always providing 

exceptional experiences 

Made my day 

Glorious speaks to Alison Smith, 

Catering Operations Manager at 

the iconic and busy Library 

of Birmingham 

AMADEUSFOOD.CO.UK 5

NEWS FOOD INNOVATIONS 

On stand cocktails 

Our new services in partnership with Zest Mixology 

© BOROJOINT | WWW.123RF.COM 

The services of Zest Mixology, the UK’s 

leading provider of pop-up bars and cocktail 

solutions, have been engaged to further 

bolster our exhibitor hospitality service. 

At the National Exhibition Centre 

(NEC) in Birmingham exhibitors are now 

able to book bespoke pop-up bar and 

cocktail services. The venue welcomes 

2.4 million visitors and over 39,000 exhibiting 

companies to over 500 events every year. 

The new offer is being provided by Zest 

Mixology and is part of our ‘Served to You’ 

package. Launched in 2014, ‘Served to You’ 

is an on stand catering hospitality service that 

“ 

We’re excited to be an 

extension of the Amadeus team 

and look forward to providing 

exhibitors with our pop-up 

bars and cocktail services. 

” 

Murdo MacLeod, 

Managing Director, Zest Mixology 

delivers food and drink directly to clients for 

them to serve to those visiting their stand. 

The service also offers drinks and canapes 

for exhibitor drinks receptions. 

Zest Mixology, which has a head office in 

Leeds and warehouse operations in Leeds 

and Luton, was formed by entrepreneur 

Murdo MacLeod in 2011 with a vision to 

become the ‘go to’ supplier for pop up 

cocktail bar services for business events 

throughout the UK & Europe. 

To date, Zest Mixology has provided their 

events services to more than 2,500 events, 

serving over a million guests for brands 

such as Nokia, BMW, EE, Lloyds TSB, First 

Direct, Barclays and others. 

The firm has experienced double digit 

growth for five consecutive years and 

recently opened a second warehouse 

operation in Luton, after securing a scaleup 

loan of £80,000, which will enable the 

business to better service clients in the 

Midlands and the South of England. 

Commenting on the new partnership 

with Amadeus, Managing Director, Murdo 

MacLeod, said: “We’re delighted to be 

working in partnership with Amadeus 

and providing cocktail services as part of 

“ 

Clients exhibiting at the 

NEC want to spend maximum 

time on their stand engaging 

visitors with their product 

or service, which is why we 

designed our on stand catering 

hospitality service. 

” 

Paul Bate, 

General Manager, Amadeus, NEC 

their hospitality catering packages at the 

NEC. We’re excited to be an extension of 

the Amadeus team and look forward to 

providing exhibitors with our pop-up bars 

and cocktail services.” 

Paul Bate, General Manager for Amadeus 

at the NEC, said: “Clients exhibiting at the 

NEC want to spend maximum time on 

their stand engaging visitors with their 

product or service, which is why we 

designed our on stand catering hospitality 

service to make their time spent at the 

venue as easy as possible. 

“We found that many of our clients were 

requesting bar and cocktail services on their 

exhibitor stands – something we could not 

offer previously. We are extremely pleased 

to welcome Zest Mixology on board as our 

cocktail service provider for our ‘Served to 

You’ hospitality package and have every 

confidence it will be a huge success with 

our clientele.” 

6 GLORIOUS

Bacon 

FOOD INNOVATIONS NEWS 

Prestigious award 

win 

COOKING UP A RECORD 

BREAKING YEAR 

Annie Monnox 

Winners at Cost Sector Catering Awards 2017 

Well done to the team! We are thrilled to 

have scooped the ‘Event/Stadia/Arena 

Award’ at the Cost Sector Catering Awards. 

At a ceremony which celebrates excellence 

across the foodservice and catering 

industry, the award was presented to 

Annie Monnox, Catering General Manager 

of the Genting Arena, in recognition of the 

team’s achievements. 

As the driving force behind the venue’s 

catering success, Annie has proved to be 

an inspiration to her team. Since joining 

Amadeus, part of the NEC Group, in 2012 

Annie has transformed the team at the 

Arena into a more dynamic operation, 

boosting morale and improving 

performance. Under her leadership they 

continue to consistently deliver strong 

retail sales and fine dining excellence in 

a challenging environment where visitor 

numbers and customer profiles differ at 

each event. 

Among other successes, the catering 

team delivered record-breaking results at 

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds concert 

in April last year with revenue exceeding 

£159K. More recently, the team saw F&B 

sales soar at Black Sabbath’s final ever 

concert at the Genting Arena, with revenue 

exceeding £255K across two dates. 

Annie said: “This award is testament 

to the hard work of the team behind 

the scenes who are striving to make the 

customer experience at the Genting Arena 

the best it can be. 

“But we cannot rest on our laurels – we 

need to constantly grow and adapt. We 

are looking at further investment over the 

coming year, particularly in our hospitality 

areas and we will be looking to improve 

the customer experience through even 

quicker speed of service and the quality of 

our food. We are only as good as our last 

event and recently our events have been 

outstanding so we have a lot to live up to.” 

Kevin Watson, Managing Director at 

Amadeus, said: “Winning this prestigious 

award further cements Amadeus’ 

reputation as a leader in the catering sector. 

Our hand-picked team are key to our 

success as one the UK’s leading caterers 

and Annie very much leads from the front 

with passion, drive and with extensive 

knowledge of the industry. 

“Under Annie’s direction the team have 

consistently exceeded their targets, a 

trend which is only set to continue with a 

number of new technology advancements 

and improvements in customer service 

planned for next year.” 

“ 

We are only as good 

as our last event and 

recently our events have 

been outstanding so we 

have a lot to live up to. 

” 

Annie Monnox, 

General Manager, Amadeus, Genting Arena 

We‘re absolutely delighted to announce 

we have seen a 20% increase in revenue 

from 2015/16 and 44% growth in EBITDA. 

Both at our home and external venues we 

have seen great success. At the National 

Exhibition Centre (NEC) EBITDA increased by 

nearly a third (29%) and over a quarter (26%) 

at the International Convention Centre (ICC). 

Over the last year (2016/17) we have 

secured a record amount of new contracts 

totalling over £30m, including the East of 

England Arena and Event Centre, Delapré 

Abbey Preservation Trust and Compton 

Verney art gallery. 

We also won two major contracts in 

Northern Ireland to provide catering and 

hospitality services for Belfast Waterfront and 

sister venue Ulster Hall and a further four 

visitor attractions including Belfast Zoo, Belfast 

Castle, Malone House and the Stables coffee 

shop in Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Park. 

These achievements add to our last five 

years of success, which has seen revenues 

grow from £25m to £42.2m and profit 

by 223% under Managing Director Kevin 

Watson’s leadership. 

Kevin, who has led an ambitious growth 

strategy since taking on the directorship 

in 2012, said: “This is an exciting time for 

Amadeus as we continue to expand at pace 

and is testament to the unique and brilliant 

team we have. 

“Investments in new technology to 

improve the customer service across our 

venues and extensive staff training and 

development has played a key role in the 

company’s growing success. We are set to 

expand further in the coming year with an 

exciting pipeline on the horizon.” 

Afternoon tea 

- Sandwich Selection - 

Roast Chicken 

with wild rocket 

East Coast Prawns bound 

in a lemon mayonnaise 

Local free range egg and watercress 

with cracked black pepper 

Fivemiletown Cheddar 

with a farmers chutney 

- Cakes - 

Millionaires Slice 

Lemon drizzle cake 

Mini Scones, fruit and plain 

served with clotted cream and local strawberry jam 

Freshly Brewed Tea 

- BREAKFAST MENU - 

Ulster Fry breakfast 

McWhinneys pork sausage 

Hash brown 

Free range egg 

Baked beans 

Mushrooms 

Fresh tomatoes 

Fried Soda bread 

Vegetarian breakfast 

Vegetarian sausage 

Free range egg 

Hash brown 

Baked beans 

Portobe lo mushroom 

Fresh tomatoes 

Fried Soda bread 

Two Item Breakfast on Soda 

Choose from either bacon or sausage, 

and then one item from the fo lowing, 

Bu ton mushrooms, fried egg or gri led tomato 

Additional Items 

This is for one additional item from the breakfast range 

Toast/butter and Jam 

Bloomer - brown and white 

2 slices of bread, farmers jam and butter 

Croissants with Farmers jam 

Danish Pastries 

Handmade muffins 

Lemon & white chocolate 

Triple chocolate 

Lady Dixon park in south Belfast is one of our most popular parks. 

it is home to the city of belfast internationalRose garden, 

AMADEUSFOOD.CO.UK 7

NEWS FOOD INNOVATIONS 

GIVING BACK 

Delivering over £5m 

revenue in banqueting 

Success at the ICC and the Vox in only 12 months 

We are proud to announce that Annie 

Monnox, our Catering General Manager 

of the Genting Arena, has been awarded 

the title of ‘Best Business Advisor’ at the 

Young Enterprise Awards for Birmingham 

and Solihull. 

The Young Enterprise Company 

Programme provides young people (aged 

15–19 years old) with the opportunity to 

set up and run their own real company 

while they are still at school or college. Each 

company is guided through the experience 

by a volunteer adviser from a local business. 

For the last two years Annie has been 

a business adviser for St. Martin’s School 

based in Solihull, helping school children 

throughout the project as they form a 

company and then design and retail a 

product. At the Birmingham and Solihull 

finals, where students presented their 

companies and products, Annie was awarded 

the ‘Best Business Advisor’ award for the 

excellent guidance she provided to those 

at St. Martin’s School. 

Annie said: “I decided to become a 

business advisor for Young Enterprise as 

I wanted to give something back to the 

schools. I didn’t have a great experience at 

school and I wanted to show children if I 

can get to where I am today, so could they.” 

For more information on the 

scheme please visit the website: 

https://www.young-enterprise.org.uk 

The International Convention Centre 

(ICC) and the Vox Conference Centre are 

celebrating a successful 12 months 

having delivered over 230 banqueting 

events for 71,500 delegates, resulting in 

a combined revenue in excess of £5m 

across both venues. 

Sales Director of the ICC and the Vox, 

James Elston, said, “Stand Alone Banqueting 

is very important to our venues. It not 

only helps to keep our venues busy in the 

evenings and over weekends, but it also 

plays a vital role in the local economy. With 

tens of thousands of delegates visiting our 

venues annually for banquets, this only 

has a positive impact on the surrounding 

hotels, bars and restaurants in the city 

centre where the ICC is based and on the 

NEC campus where the Vox is part of the 

integrated leisure complex, Resorts World.” 

“The banqueting space we offer is also 

vitally important to a growing number 

of charity events that we host on annual 

basis. We are able to bring together a 

large amount of people in the same 

room for their events enabling them to 

raise phenomenal amounts of money for 

extremely good causes.” 

Always striving to provide an 

unparalleled dining experience, £140k 

has recently been invested in a new 

range of table top light equipment setting 

the catering offer apart from the typical 

conference and banqueting environment. 

The new tableware, including crockery 

based around free flowing, organic 

concepts, drives a new style of food 

presentation which is designed to enhance 

the fresh, great tasting food, provided by 

Amadeus at both venues. 

8 GLORIOUS

FOOD INNOVATIONS NEWS 

ON THE SHORTLIST 

We are extremely proud that 

Amadeus’ Managing Director Kevin 

Watson was shortlisted for the 

Foodservice Caterer of the Year Award 

at the Cateys 2017. 

Although he was just pipped to the 

post this is a fantastic achievement 

for Kevin who was recognised for 

his outstanding contribution to the 

success of Amadeus over the past five 

years. Since their inception in 1984, 

The Cateys have cast a spotlight on 

the industry’s highest flyers, strongest 

performers and hottest brands. Over 

more than a quarter of a century, they 

have become a byword for quality, 

class and achievement; the awards that 

everybody wants to win. No wonder 

then that the industry refers to them as 

its Oscars Night! 

In other news, Amadeus Catering 

Manager for the Mobile Catering 

Division at the NEC, Teresa Gohail, was 

a finalist for the recent ACE Robyns 

Awards. The exciting awards, organised 

by the Association of Catering 

Excellence, are aimed at showcasing 

young talent in the world of contract 

catering. We congratulate Teresa and 

are immensely proud of her for having 

demonstrated the commitment needed 

to get onto the shortlist. 

© SCANRAIL | 123RF.COM 

F&B Bullseye 

Record sales of food and 

beverage at the Betway Premier League Darts 

We have scored a ‘bullseye’ by delivering 

record food and beverage sales at the 

popular darts tournament held at the 

Barclaycard Arena in Birmingham. 

Final figures show revenue reached 

over £119,000 at the popular event which 

saw the world’s top darts stars return to 

the 15,800 capacity Arena for round 13 of 

the 2017 tournament. With over 32,500 

individual items sold, F&B sales increased by 

10% in comparison to the 2016 tournament, 

also held at the Barclaycard Arena. 

Increased speed of sale across the venue 

and a bespoke product offering tailored 

to the visitor profile are credited with the 

surge in spend – Amstel was the most 

popular product on sale with over 6,000 

pints pulled during the evening. 

Nick Cole, Amadeus General Manager 

at the Barclaycard Arena, said: “The 

Barclaycard Arena has a varied and 

diverse event programme so customer 

numbers and profiles differ for each 

and every event. After each event we 

analyse customer purchasing patterns 

to understand what F&B products were 

popular helping us to make informed 

decisions that benefit the customer 

experience at future events. 

“After catering for the darts tournament 

for over 10 years, we knew what worked 

well and what we needed to change – 

for example, the popularity of beer at 

the 2016 event led us to employ mobile 

‘beer bugs’ in addition to our static bars 

this year to ensure we met increased 

customer demand.” 

The venue’s hospitality business, Amplify, 

also catered for nearly 300 covers as part 

of its ‘Freestyle’ VIP package comprising 

of complimentary drinks vouchers and a 

two-course dining experience. 

Sally Walder, Amplify General Manager 

added: “Birmingham is known as the curry 

capital of the UK, so we wanted to treat 

our guests to some traditional flavours of 

the region. Starters of lamb and vegetable 

samosas, spinach pakora and onion 

bhaji were served, followed by various 

curry options including paneer saag and 

jeera spiced cod tail, to set off what was a 

fantastic evening of darts.” 

AMADEUSFOOD.CO.UK 9

NEW VENUES NEW HORIZONS 

AMADEUS SECURES 

FIRST MAJOR CONTRACT 

in the East of England 

• 

Amadeus have secured a number of impressive new contracts over the last year – the most 

recent to join the portfolio is the East of England Arena and Events Centre in Peterborough. To 

find out more about the recent £4.4m contract win, Glorious speaks to Marc Frankl, Food and 

Beverage Director at Amadeus and Richard Tate, Chairman of the venue. 

The new £4.4m contract for East of England 

Arena and Events Centre includes running all 

hospitality catering at the venue – everything 

from weddings and banqueting to corporate 

events. The three-year contract will see 

Amadeus provide catering services across the 

venue’s newly refurbished conference centre, 

state of the art arena and exhibition centre. 

Amadeus’ rapidly expanding external 

catering portfolio forms part of the ambitious 

growth strategy led by Managing Director 

Kevin Watson. At the time of the win, he 

said, “This contract was a perfect fit for us. 

Amadeus are experts in conference and 

exhibition catering, constantly innovating and 

changing our offering based on delegate or 

visitor profile. We also understand the art of 

arena catering – the importance of speed of 

sale without compromising on quality. 

“We bring four decades of experience 

to our new partnership with the venue. 

In this way, our world-class hospitality will 

contribute to the status of the venue as a 

whole, underpinning the benefits offered to 

event organisers.” 

Based in Peterborough, The East of 

England Arena and Events Centre is the 

gateway to the strong and growing East of 

England. Chairman Richard Tate tells Glorious 

more about the new relationship. 

“Amadeus’s unrivalled expertise in arena 

and event hospitality and their commitment to 

develop our business was the most attractive 

part of the relationship. We felt we would work 

well together. Having Amadeus on board as 

our hospitality partner is part of our investment 

in infrastructure and services to attract and 

support event organisers. With them on 

board our hospitality offering is continuously 

benchmarked to international standards. 

“Hospitality and catering are fundamentally 

important to the experience and enjoyment 

10 GLORIOUS

of everyone visiting us, however it is the food 

that makes the difference. We want every 

visitor to feel there is something prepared 

specially for them. 

“The venue is owned by the East of England 

Agricultural Society, a charity concerned 

with the promotion of agriculture and the 

countryside. Amadeus are keen to support 

local farmers which not only benefits the 

rural economy, but it has a direct impact on the 

seasonality, quality and taste of the food served. 

“We have already received impressive 

feedback. Many people have congratulated us 

on the results of our investment overall and 

especially the impact Amadeus have made on 

the restaurants and hospitality offering. They 

like the presentation of both facilities and food 

and they say ‘it tastes delicious’. 

“Now we must continue to grow the 

business. We are going all out to make event 

organisers aware of the Eastern economy 

and the benefits of the East of England Arena 

and Event Centre in competing within it. 

Our relationship with Amadeus puts our 

hospitality offering at the top of the league 

so we look forward to attracting more events 

with increasing visitor numbers who will 

enjoy their foodie experience.” 

The multi-purpose venue offers 9,000m 2 

of indoor spaces within a 250 acre green 

site. With bespoke event packages and 

excellent transport links, up to 100,000 

visitors can enjoy the high standards of 

hospitality within an ever-changing calendar 

AMADEUSFOOD.CO.UK 11

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12 GLORIOUS


of events. Marc Frankl speaks to Glorious 

about the new relationship. 

“Local sourcing is a strong commitment 

for all the venues we work in and the East 

of England Arena and Events Centre is no 

different. We are helping local businesses to 

grow and develop, plus putting something 

back into the economy by letting local 

suppliers showcase their fantastic products 

in an established venue which will help 

to raise their profile. It’s also great from an 

environmental point of view because we are 

reducing the number of food miles and the 

food is as fresh as possible. 

“One of our local suppliers is Marybelle, 

where we get our cream from. They 

produce fresh, delicious dairy products 

from a pedigree herd. The award-winning 

producers can trace this herd back to two 

cows and supply a number of farm shops 

in the East of England. We are also using 

Colston Bassett Blue Cheese, the home 

of traditional Stilton and Shropshire Blue 

cheeses. They have been making cheeses for 

over one hundred years. They only use milk 

from local farms – all within 1.5 miles of the 

dairy in the Vale of Belvoir. 

“We are also using cheeses from Mrs 

Temple’s Cheese in Wells-Next-The-Sea. Their 

cheeses are made at Copys Green Farm at 

Wighton using milk from the Chalk Farm herd 

of Holstein Friesians and the Copys Green 

herd of Swiss Brown cows. The handmade 

cheeses were developed to offer a Norfolk 

cheeseboard. Their goat’s cheese is from 

Norfolk Mardler – which means to Mardle; 

from the Norfolk dialect meaning ‘to gossip 

or chat’. This is a waxed, eight week matured 

goat cheese which is deliciously creamy – this 

cheese melts particularly well and a whole 

Norfolk Mardler weighs approximately 1.2kg! 

“You may have noticed we are passionate 

about the local cheeses! But this is just a 

handful of the great locally sourced products 

customers will find at the venue. We also 

source our leaves from Cambridgeshire 

growers and this is everything from baby leaf 

to iceberg and cos to kale. The asparagus we 

use comes from Ashby Asparagus in Oundle 

and fresh berries are from Lutton Farm nearby. 

“We have real strength when it comes 

to procurement and for many it is a difficult 

game to play. However much of it is about 

relationship management and we have 

years of experience with this. It’s about 

understanding local producers and the issues 

and pressure they face and working with 

them to overcome these. We help achieve a 

route to market for them and we represent a 

low risk company to work with that provides 

a large opportunity to sometimes very small 

suppliers. Our suppliers are also supported in 

areas such as food safety, forecasting, logistics 

and planning – this really helps them reach 

the very best standards as possible. 

“Engaging with the local community is so 

important when mobilising a new venue – 

we talk to those locally at the beginning of the 

process and ask for their continued feedback. 

In this way, our menus reflect the spirit of 

the area and the location the venue is in. We 

design our menus to be affordable to those 

visiting each venue, with loyalty schemes and 

offers to provide added value. The East of 

England Arena and Events Centre is owned 

“ 

i” 

menus every year in collaboration with our 

You may have noticed 

we are passionate about the 

local cheeses! But this is just a 

handful of the great locally 

sourced products customers 

will find at the Arena. 

by the East of England Agricultural Society, a 

registered charity that’s been long-dedicated 

to delivering local food from local suppliers – 

a sentiment we fully support. 

“By tailoring our food and beverage 

offer for each venue, in terms of regional 

produce, we ensure those visiting enjoy the 

quality and choice. Therefore we are really 

driven by the customer demographic and 

visitor profile. It’s important to monitor this 

throughout the year and so we use in depth 

reporting tools to provide an insight. This 

research allows us to update and refresh our 

executive head chefs.” 



Belfast 

AND BEYOND 

• 

Amadeus showcases Belfast’s food heritage through its menus 

Last year Amadeus won a £16m contract 

over five years with Belfast Waterfront and 

Ulster Hall in Northern Ireland to exclusively 

supply catering for its packed conference 

and events schedule. Here, Glorious takes a 

look at the recent showcase event at Belfast 

Waterfront that Amadeus catered for. 

The conference was a brilliant showcase 

of Belfast to the world. The corporate 

familiarisation trip was organised by Belfast 

Waterfront in partnership with Tourism 

Northern Ireland and other key city 

providers. International event planners and 

trade press, gathered to experience at 

first-hand the best the city had to offer 

business travellers. 

On the day, the morning session, aptly 

titled ‘Evolve or Die’, kicked off with ground 

breaking business thinkers Dr Deep Parekh 

and Polo Looser discussing the key tools 

today’s businesses need to manage change. 

And with digital technology having a 

massive impact upon all industries, Mary 

Ann Pierce, founder and CEO of MAP Digital 

showcased how event planners can adopt 

these new technologies to enhance the 

delegate experience. 

In keeping with the theme of change, 

delegates took a tour of the new Belfast, a 

city that has greatly benefited by continuous 

investment to successfully evolve into one 

of Europe’s trendiest city destinations for 

business travel. 

The tours covered Titanic Belfast, the 

World’s Leading Tourist Attraction and 

Belfast’s political and historical sites, including 

the infamous Crumlin Road Gaol. 

Catherine Toolan, Managing Director of 

Belfast Waterfront and Ulster Hall Ltd, said: 

“We have a great offering, but there is only 

one way to truly experience the best of 

Belfast and that is to visit it. Today local and 

international event planners and international 

trade press got the opportunity to 

explore our city’s attractions, sample our 

culinary excellence, enjoy our famous Belfast 

hospitality and see how easy it is to travel 

to our shores. Foremost they will see how 

Belfast Waterfront’s 7,000m 2 conference 

facility will help cement the city’s position as 

a leading business destination, by enabling 

Belfast to attract more international and 

national conferences.” 

Naomi Waite, Tourism NI Director of 

Marketing commented: “Overseas tourism to 

Northern Ireland is worth over half a billion 

pounds to the local economy and 

our ambition is to grow exports to over 

£1 billion by 2025. Today’s event has 

helped to position Northern Ireland at the 

forefront of the minds of event planners and 

international trade press, showcasing our 

region as a must see destination for business 

and leisure.” 

Guests returned to Belfast Waterfront 

in the evening for a pre St. Patrick’s Day 

14 GLORIOUS


“ 

i” 

“ 

entertainment. I have such 

Comments received 

following the showcase’: 

Just a note to say very many 

thanks for a most enjoyable 

evening at the showcase 

at Belfast Waterfront. 

It was lovely to enjoy the new 

addition to Belfast providing 

Craic Agus Ceol to the local 

industry, and those from 

much further afield, and 

I am sure all who were in 

attendance were suitably 

impressed with the best that 

Belfast has to offer. 

“We were totally blown 

away by the fabulous evening 

at the Waterfront .” 

It was all perfect from 

the fabulous venue and 

the superb hospitality and 

confidence for our event 

with you and a great sense 

of pride, I can’t wait for 

my associates to see what 

Belfast has to offer, they will 

be so impressed and their 

standards are very high! 

celebration, where a spectacular line up of 

entertainment and performances by local 

artists awaited as well as a feast of delicious 

locally-sourced food. 

The unique event was a fantastic 

opportunity for the venue and city – 

Amadeus had to ensure visitors left being 

wowed by all aspects of the hospitality 

experience. Catering included a VIP breakfast 

buffet and a themed lunch for 100 guests as 

well as an interactive seafood themed drinks 

reception and gala dinner for 300 people. 

The menu was designed to promote 

and showcase the provenance and quality 

of suppliers from the local area, while also 

highlighting Amadeus’ VIP Luxury Packages 

that are now available to book. 

The event was an overwhelming success, 

generating bookings and extremely positive 

feedback. 

“Well done to all 

concerned and thanks for 

your hospitality .” 


CELEBRATING THE FESTIVE SEASON CHRISTMAS 

Christmas with 

• 

The countdown to Christmas has already begun and for the 

Amadeus team, the next few months will be extremely busy with 

seasonal bookings. With a host of options and themes, 

Amadeus can provide the perfect catering offer to celebrate the 

season. Glorious goes behind the scenes for an insight into how 

to hold the best party and the secrets to success. 

Every year Amadeus caters for thousands 

of people at the NEC and ICC’s Christmas 

party events. Ian Taylor, Venues Sales 

Director at the NEC, gives his expert opinion 

on what makes a festive event stand out 

from the pack. 

“When it comes to Christmas parties, 

event bookers and guests are more focused 

than ever in securing value for money, and 

this can apply at every level of ticket price. 

We offer packages at the NEC and ICC in 

partnership with Vivid Experience and JD 

Parties respectively and whilst both venues sit 

towards the premium end of the Christmas 

Party market, our partners ensure guests 

have a high quality experience across each 

element of the party. 

Vivid Experience runs Christmas Party 

World at the NEC which in 2016 delivered 

32,000 covers in just three weeks, so the coordination 

and operational aspects are very 

important when welcoming up to 2,000 

guests each night. The Vivid Experience team 

does a great job in managing the overall 

experience and feel good factor that’s crucial 

to a great night. 

At the ICC, JD Parties believe that location, 

theme and what is included in the package 

can influence decisions on perceived 

value. JD Parties welcomed over 8,000 

covers at the ICC in 2016 across a range of 

dates to increase availability and convenience 

for guests. 

When people are looking at Christmas 

parties, location is so important. We have 

great partners at two easily accessible 

venues in Birmingham, which is why our 

offerings are so popular. Organisers will 

have a lot of different options, so word of 

mouth and the reputation of the venue 

can help their decision making. Our parties 

are very popular not only because of the 

location convenience but the level of service 

they deliver. 

My top tips for event organisers looking 

to select a venue for their Christmas party is: 

get booked up early. 

You might not want to think about 

Christmas when you have just enjoyed a 

summer holiday, but this means you are 

more likely to get your preferred date. Even 

now some of the peak Friday and Saturdays 

in December are already sold out having 

been booked in the spring. 

Also, do your homework. Ask to speak to 

previous party clients and take time to make 

a venue site visit. We are proud of what we 

offer with Vivid Experience and JD Parties so 

we will always happily give the organiser any 

information they need.” 

© SUKIBLUE | 123RF.COM 


CHRISTMAS CELEBRATING THE FESTIVE SEASON 


VIVID EXPERIENCE CHRISTMAS 

PARTIES AT THE NEC 

• 

Lorna Hendey, Live Events Catering Operations Manager at the NEC 

talks to Glorious about the electric Christmas parties at the venue 

What was the theme last year? 

“Africa was the overarching theme at the NEC 

for our Christmas parties last year. We had 

32,000 covers through the doors and the 

atmosphere on each night really was brilliant. 

The opening night is simply electric. All the 

team get really excited working it, and due to 

us having mostly the same staff for most of 

the run, there is a real team feeling between 

us by the end. And that’s saying something, 

considering there is nearly 150 front of house 

staff on each day!” 

How does Amadeus offer something 

different? 

“Our high quality dinners. This isn’t always the 

case at Christmas parties and this, combined 

with speedy service, really leaves guests 

blown away. We receive brilliant feedback 

with many saying how they can’t believe we 

can get all the food out so hot. It’s a really 

interactive experience and we use glow 

sticks to direct our team to the correct tables. 

Some guests really like this and try and steal 

them away! 

Are there any challenges? 

“In hospitality there is always the challenge 

of ensuring there is enough staff, especially 

as everywhere in Birmingham is busy at the 

same time. However our team spirit is strong 

and we always complete a great job together. 

Other challenges include ensuring all the 

food is delivered to hall at the correct time as 

we use multiple kitchens across the venue. 

Our experience always helps here but we 

must be prepared and ready.” 

What’s happening this year? 

“The theme is Manhattan and guests can 

expect delicious canapes such as mac ‘n’ 

cheese in Japanese breadcrumb. For the 

starter they may pick trio of salmon or 

smoked dill and beetroot, for the main, 

roasted chicken breast filled with a chorizo 

and turkey stuffing and chocolate truffle 

tart to finish the delicious meal. We hope 

to beat the number of covers we had last 

year and people can still book by visiting: 

www.birminghamchristmasparties.com” 

How does the food and beverage make 

the party stand out? 

“We ensure that every single guest that 

comes to a Christmas party has the same 

high quality experience, and we aim to 

deliver the same high quality food as we do 

for any dinner that we deliver throughout 

the year.” 

18 GLORIOUS


Richard Longhill, Managing Director of Vivid Experiences, 

shares his thoughts with Glorious 

What are the priorities these days for 

Christmas parties? 

“Guests are more focused than ever in securing 

value for money, and this can apply at every 

level of ticket price. Sitting at the premium end 

of the Christmas party market, we have had to 

ensure every element of the event justifies the 

higher ticket price. At the same time we are 

not trying to compete with a Michelin starred 

restaurant or a Westend theatre. We offer 

guests a complete experience at Christmas 

Party World where the organiser, be that 

the office junior or the CEO, should expect 

a high standard across each element of the 

party. So it’s difficult to narrow down one 

ingredient as being more or less important 

– it’s that overall experience and feel good 

factor that’s crucial to a great night. 

Are there common mistakes when 

organising parties at this time of year? 

“I get asked this question a lot and ultimately 

it comes down to securing the right venue – 

one that is suitable for you and your guests. 

When you’re looking around at different 

Christmas Party options you’ll be considering 

a whole range of different criteria – budget, 

location, the style of party, the menu and you’ll 

most likely have lots of different opinions 

from friends or colleagues! My advice would 

be to ask around – word of mouth and the 

reputation of a venue is a good way to ensure 

you’re not going to be left red-faced.” 

Any tips for event organisers? 

“Get in early. Some of the peak mixed party 

nights – Fridays and Saturdays – are already 

sold out at the top venues. In the exclusive 

party sector we’d tend to be speaking to 

clients during the early part of the year with 

a view to contracting them by early spring. 

Any later than that and desirable corporate 

nights – Wednesdays and Thursdays – tend 

to be taken. And again, do your homework. 

Ask to see videos and pictures, speak to 

previous party clients and take time to make 

that site visit – if a venue is proud of what 

they do they’ll be happy to give you all the 

information you need.” 

Last year guests at the NEC were treated 

to a delicious menu devised by Amadeus 

in conjunction with Vivid Experiences. 

Starter 

Homemade roasted and spiced 

butternut squash soup topped with 

toasted pumpkin seeds 

main 

Seared breast of chicken with a 

festive turkey stuffing, potato fondant, 

wilted greens, roasted parsnips and 

pigs in blankets 

dESSERT 

Raspberry macaroon, chocolate orange 

brownie, caramel crème brûlée 


CHRISTMAS CELEBRATING THE FESTIVE SEASON 


JD CHRISTMAS 

PARTIES AT ICC 

• 

Kay Silvester, Food and Beverage Manager at the 

ICC talks to Glorious about parties at the venue and 

the exciting Alpine Ball theme this year. 

What was the theme last year? 

“1920s – The Speakeasy Ball with a menu that 

was tailored to what we know works well for 

a variety of clients and palates at Christmas 

time. In total we had 6,800 covers for 

Christmas parties. It was a great atmosphere 

and guests really matched the theme with 

their style. Men were in Peaky Blinders suits 

and flat caps and ladies were in flapper 

dresses, garters and feather headwear.” 

How does Amadeus offer something 

different? 

“I believe we have a more superior style 

with a great tasting three choice menu. Guests 

can pre-order what they would like from 

three choices for starters, mains and dessert.” 

What’s happening this year? 

“We’re really excited by our Alpine Ball this 

year. We’re enhancing the dining experience 

with a fourth course option of cheese, so 

we’re providing more for great value. The 

menu has a real Christmas wintery feel. 

Guests can expect a starter of Pulled ham 

hock & sweet mustard terrine, pork crackling 

popcorn, vegetable pickles, sweet sherry 

vinaigrette, Roast chicken supreme, coleslaw 

potato rosti, ginger creamed spinach, honey 

glazed parsnip, cranberry compote, and 

tarragon jus as a main and for dessert an 

amazing selection of sharing shots: dark 

chocolate mousse and cherry profiterole, 

lemon meringue pie, plum trifle and 

raspberry snap.” 

How does the food and beverage make 

the party stand out? 

“This year we’re aiming for 8,000 covers and 

will continue to ensure we provide great 

food, great service, happy guests enjoying 

themselves and of course fab management! 

For a lot of our guests it’s the main Christmas 

party of the season and have saved hard all 

year to attend, so we always aim to please 

them with a fab Christmas meal. They also 

partake in the party games and overall have 

a great time. We also ensure we cater for 

everyone’s needs and tailor the catering for 

all allergies and intolerances.” 

What trends are you witnessing at 


“Some guests come to enjoy the meal and 

others come to party so for us we always 

have to balance the experience. We want 

everyone to leave with a memorable dining 

experience and comment to friends and 

colleagues what great food and service 

they had at the ICC. We do this by providing 

great activities and entertainment and with 

our chefs produce high quality tasting and 

presented dishes.” 

Last year guests at the ICC were treated 

to a delicious menu devised by Amadeus 

in conjunction with JD Parties. 

Starter 

Tandoori roast salmon fillet, cardamom 

cream spinach, crisp angel hair noodles, 

exotic fruit salsa 

main 

Sweet potato and butternut squash 

dauphinoise, halloumi spring roll, 

spinach preserved artichoke heart, 

red pesto dressing 

dESSERT 

Apple and blackberry crumble 

tartlet, mulled berry compote, vanilla 

seed cream 

20 GLORIOUS


Andrew Gentles, Managing 

Director at JD Parties shares his 

thoughts with Glorious. 


EXTERNAL VENUES 

• 

Amadeus cater at a number of external venues which are ideal for 

Christmas parties and make for a special celebration. Glorious speaks 

to the Amadeus External Events team to find out more. 

What are the priorities these days for 


“The initial stage in the process of 

selecting a venue is location, this is 

not only determined by where the 

business is based but often on where 

the employees reside. The theme can 

differentiate from one venue to another 

but the decision is ultimately based on 

perceived value of what is included 

in the package: arrival drink, menu, 

entertainment. The theme can also help 

the guests in their choice of outfit and 

assist in creating a vision of the evening, 

our guests are encouraged to dress up 

to the occasion.” 

Are there common mistakes when 

organising parties at this time of year? 

“Organisers forgetting themselves when 

making their booking – this happens 

more than you would think. As well as 

not booking early enough to secure a 

preferred date. We also notice that trying 

to please both the boss and colleagues 

can often result in some disagreements.” 

Any tips for event organisers? 

Organisers sometimes forget location 

and it’s important to know what event 

format you would like – what the night 

includes. Ensure you have budgeted for 

the night adequately. 

Which venues does Amadeus provide 

Christmas catering for? 

“We provide magical and memorable 

Christmas events throughout all of the 

fourteen unique venues we cater at. An 

important factor that influenced our planning 

process this year was appreciating the 

differences between each venue. With the 

mind set of ‘no one size fits all’, our chefs 

created a number of festive menus – from 

fine dining at the historic Stoneleigh Abbey, 

to festive nibbles and fizz at The National Sea 

Life Centre, we have it covered. 

Is Christmas catering available for 

other locations? 

“Throughout the years, we have noticed an 

increasing trend in organisers wanting to 

hold events in unusual and obscure ‘venues’. 

From carparks to offices, we have catered to 

them all. This year, we want to emphasise our 

enthusiasm and ability to provide Christmas 

catering solutions to any event space. With 

our award-winning chefs, event managers 

and waiting staff in tow; Amadeus will be on 

hand throughout the festive period to deliver 

our delicious Christmas menu to any event.” 

Do any Christmas events from the 

past stand out? 

“Over the years we have seen some 

spectacular Christmas displays in our venues. 

It’s no secret that the historic Coventry 

Cathedral is the perfect set up for those 

looking to impress their guests. With 

towering ceilings and spectacular gothic 

features, this venue goes hand in hand 

with our Premium Festive Menu. With new 

venues like the beautiful Compton Verney 

joining our portfolio this year, 2017 has been 

an exciting time to develop and experience 

differing Christmas event concepts.” 

How are menus tailored for each venue? 

“We appreciate more than anyone that 

the idea of a standard turkey dinner can 

be slightly uninspiring when organising an 

amazing Christmas party. A great example 

of our ‘no one-size fits all’ mantra is last 

year’s Christmas Grotto event, held at the 

stunning Stoneleigh Abbey. With a client 

brief of ‘against the norm’, our chefs created 

festive bowl food concepts for a social, 

yet substantial alternative to a three course 

Christmas dinner.” 

How can dining support overall experience? 

“A phrase that we continually relate to is; 

‘people will always remember the food’. It is 

widely known that catering can either make 

or break an event. With food at the forefront 

of most people’s minds throughout the 

Christmas period, it’s important to get it right. 

With this in mind, our team works closely 

with our chefs and venues to ensure our 

festive offer is dynamic and delicious.” 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION 

ON ANY OF OUR VENUES 

OR CHRISTMAS MENU PACKS, 

PLEASE CONTACT THE AMADEUS 

EXTERNAL EVENTS TEAM ON: 

SALES@AMADEUSFOOD.CO.UK 

OR 0121 767 3329. 


22 GLORIOUS

A newly designed Multi-Deck Structure 

Style Re-imagined 

0121 748 3377 

info@contemporaryeventstructures.co.uk 

www.contemporaryeventstructures.co.uk 


DEVELOPING TALENT MEET OUR CHEFS 

What I’m loving 

this season 

• 

David Siddall is the Executive Chef at Barclaycard Arena, the world class music and 

entertainment venue that provides a best-in-class customer experience. Relatively new to the 

team, David has looked after the Arena’s catering for two years and strives to keep his dishes 

simple and consistent. The knowledgeable chef is proud to always use the very best seasonal 

ingredients and at this time of year loves nothing more than garden peas, British summer berries 

and fresh strawberries. Glorious speaks to the chef who loves what he does. 

David has vast experience having worked for 

large caterers, in hotels and under some of 

the biggest names in the chef world. He has 

modelled his high personal standards from 

his years of work and strives to always have 

consistency with everything that comes 

out of his kitchen. The down-to-earth chef 

approaches each day with the ultimate aim 

of achieving the very best with ingredients 

that are fresh and in season. His journey to 

where he is today is not an unusual one in 

the hospitality industry but it is inspiring and 

passionate story. 

“It all began with a bad experience at a 

retailer who specialises in cars and bikes. 

I went there for an interview for my 

work experience whilst at school. 

The interview was poor and took 

place on the shop floor. Even at 

a young age I knew this wasn’t 

professional and instead found 

an alternative experience at 

a local steakhouse. This is 

where my love of catering 

started and I have never 

looked back.” 

At the age of 15 David 

worked part-time on the 

pot-wash, a vital but 

underappreciated 

cornerstone of 

hospitality. 

“This was back when you could work late into 

the evening on a school night. I soon moved 

onto starters and sweets, then the grill and I 

enjoyed every minute.” Having completed 

a three year course at Birmingham College 

of Food, specialising in catering butchery 

and larder preparation in his last year, David 

joined Midland Hotel as a Commis chef. 

On his return to the UK, David joined a two 

Rosette restaurant in London and also helped 

on a hotel opening. All of these experiences 

have prepared David for the quality he would 

eventually bring to Amadeus. 

“I have cooked for Michel Roux 

Senior and Gordon Ramsey 

using their recipes for 

their respective book 

launches and have 

worked round the 

country providing 

live demonstrations. 

Cooking for these 

chefs in the upper 

echelons of the 

culinary world 

was a privilege 

but also nerve 

wracking 

experience. 

I remember 

a time when I 

had to present 

24 GLORIOUS

MEET OUR CHEFS DEVELOPING TALENT 

the sauces for Michel Roux Snr’s cookbook. 

Luckily, he enjoyed them! Following this I 

gained experience working at large venues 

and events including the Millennium Stadium 

in Cardiff and the Ryder Cup in Ireland. I went 

on to become Executive Chef at Aubrey 

Allen and looked after all food aspects of the 

company’s outside catering.” 

All of these experiences have provided 

David with the passion, skill, leadership 

and creativity needed for any successful 

Executive Chef. 

“Amadeus is my first Executive Chef role at 

a foodservice company so the challenge for 

me at the beginning was to understand all of 

the policies and processes. It has taught me 

to always think ahead and this is invaluable 

for a busy chef brigade and busy kitchen. 

Being spontaneous will always be needed, 

as things do change, but having to deliver a 

consistent offer means planning is required. 

We do this with skill and look at the creativity, 

seasonality, menu development and the 

customer. From a John Legend concert to a 

Ricky Gervais stand-up show, we have a food 

offer which suits the crowd.” 

David’s team includes a Head Chef, Deputy 

Chef and two regular chefs who together 

all look after the food offers in the indoor 

sporting and entertainment venue in 

Birmingham. “We’re a good team and get 

on really well. We know each other very 

I remember a time when I had to present 

the sauces for Michel Roux Snr’s cookbook. 

Luckily, he enjoyed them! 

David Siddall 

Executive Head Chef, Amadeus 



well and constantly communicate so there 

is never any bitterness. We’re also all over 

40 years old so that may help too! There 

is a real sense of unity and my Head Chef 

and Deputy Chef have been here for over 

20 years combined. Their knowledge and 

knowhow has been essential for me as I got 

to know the business. ” 

Today David always maintains the excellent 

food and beverage offer at Amadeus and 

keeping consistency is always the main 

objective. “I’ve been trained a certain way 

which means my personal standards are 

very high. I keep it simple and use the food 

that’s in season to produce delicious menus 

that the customers will enjoy. It is this honest 

approach that shows David’s authenticity. 

As leader in the kitchen at the Barclaycard 

Arena, David says he’s also very privileged 

and thankful for his team who provide him 

with inspiration. “They have helped me, being 

a sort of newbie compared to their years 

here. In return I hope I inspire them by always 

asking for their input and making sure they 

feel valued and supported.” 

Consistency is always an invaluable trait for 

catering on larger scales as David explains. 

“From the first customer through the door 

to the 500th the food offer has to be exactly 

the same. As a chef you never stop learning 

and experiencing new things, so I’m always 

looking at trends, the menus and our offer. 

However without stability and a consistent 

offer, none of the other stuff really matters. It 

is all about the customer experience and for 

one of the busiest, large-scale indoor venues 

in the world, this is essential.” 

“During my time at Amadeus a number 

of great events stand out such as The Davis 

Cup and the British Veterinary Association. 

We have looked after and catered for some 

of the best and biggest events in the country. 

I am privileged when a client comes back 

with great feedback, wants to rebook and 

increases their numbers for the next one. 

It shows we have gone beyond what they 

expected and they can’t wait to return.” 

At home David looks after 95 per cent of 

the cooking and uses his extensive travels to 

influence the dishes. From traditional British 

to Japanese, India and Korean, David enjoys 

new trends and keeps a close eye on various 

markets. “In Birmingham we have witnessed 

a rise in Korean food which I would have 

“ 

I’ve been trained a 

certain way which means 

my personal standards are 

very high. I keep it simple 

and use the food that’s 

in season to produce 

delicious menus that the 

customers will enjoy . 

26 GLORIOUS

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Now available at Majestic and Waitrose stores nationwide. 

www.silentpooldistillers.com


INGREDIENTS (SERVES THREE) 

3 bone rack of lamb (French trimmed 

to one bone) 

500ml lamb stock 

100g butter 

5 x asparagus spears 

75g broad beans (peeled) 

150g carrots (new season) 

1 x banana shallot (finely diced) 

100ml white wine 

30g black olives (chopped) 

1 x large Desiree potato 

1 x sprig of rosemary 

Salt and pepper 

METHOD 

Pre-heat the oven to 190˚C and peel the 

potato and shape into a round puck. 

Place 300ml of lamb stock into a 

cooking dish and add three quarters 

of the potato and the rosemary. Place 

30 grams of butter on top of the rest of 

the potato, cover with foil and cook in 

the oven for 20 minutes. Once done 

thought is linked to the high student numbers 

coming to the city and because it’s so healthy.” 

David is also very proud that his freezer only 

contains a couple of items, “I like to keep things 

fresh, all we have in there are peas, bread, 

chips and fish fingers! I’m a strong believer that 

cooking healthy meals at home can help make 

a positive impact on the obesity crisis we have 

been observing in the country. My worry for 

society is the reliance on ‘ping’ meals which 

parents give to their children; I understand they 

are busy and tired from work but a microwave 

meal is not good for the future.” 

David is a rounded family man and 

modestly enjoys what he does and is 

passionate about providing a quality food 

offer. The experienced chef is also clearly 

aware that how society eats is going to 

impact on the future customer in the country. 

With this knowledge he’ll ensure a healthy 

quality offer is always provided. 

The Barclaycard Arena is a top choice 

for music stars and has hosted the likes of 

Justin Bieber, One Direction and Madonna. 

In addition, it welcomes a variety of family 

entertainment events from Disney On Ice to 

Strictly Come Dancing. 

Visitors to the Arena can expect a vast 

food offer that has been created to suit the 

demographic who are attending. David 

explains how they keep it simple which so 

many people enjoy, “There is nothing better 

than a simple meal full of goodness – rack 

of individual lamb, butchered by my team, 

buttered fondant potato and purple sprouting. 

Strong in season flavours are always a winner. 

I don’t like to complicate it and cook what 

people can relate to. A menu that people can 

understand, such as my seasonal lamb recipe 

– a delicious home cooked meal.” 

TO FIND OUT ABOUT CATERING 

OR THE UPCOMING EVENTS AT 

THE BARCLAYCARD ARENA VISIT 

BARCLAYCARDARENA.CO.UK 

28 GLORIOUS

One bone rack of 

NEW SEASON LAMB 

The flavour of lamb really develops as the year moves on. Pair with Evesham asparagus, 

broad beans, buttered rosemary fondant Desiree, carrot puree and black olive sauce. 

remove the foil and carry on cooking 

until golden brown on the top and soft 

underneath. 

Peel and cut carrots into one inch length 

pieces, add 20 grams of butter, 

salt and a splash of water and cover in foil. 

Cook in the oven for around 30 to 40 

minutes until the carrots are soft. When 

finished bleed the carrots until smooth. 

Peel asparagus and blanch in salted water for 

three minutes. 

Seal the lamb rack in pan until golden all 

over and place in the oven for 12 minutes 

– this’ll come out medium rare so cook for 

longer if preferred. Once the lamb is done, 

remove from the oven and allow to rest. 

In the same pan that the lamb was cooked 

in, drain the fat and add the wine and shallots. 

Allow to reduce by two thirds, then add 

100ml lamb stock and reduce again by half. 

Remove from the heat and stir in 10 grams of 

butter, pass this through a fine sieve and add 

chopped black olives. 

Plate the dish and you’re ready to go. 


THE TEAM MEET THE MANAGERS 

Meet the team 

Glorious speaks to Amadeus’ General Managers across the 

business to find out how their job roles differ 

• 

2017 marks five years of leadership for Kevin Watson as Managing Director 

of Amadeus. During this time the business has achieved an incredible amount 

and competitors are now keeping a keen eye on the growing, successful 

company. It would be nothing without its passionate team of General Managers – 

here we take a look at each of their respective parts of the business. 

A WORD FROM KEVIN 

“When I became Managing Director in 2012, I took 

the opportunity to remodel the business from the 

top down, handpicking an entirely new management 

team who shared my vision to make Amadeus a 

£50m business. 

“The strategy was simple: to achieve more 

transactions and increase spend per head across the 

NEC Group’s home venues. 

“How did we set about doing this? Over five years, 

we have invested £3.8m in technology designed to 

enhance the customer experience across the Group 

and put us ahead of our competitors. Since 2012 we 

have also overhauled the F&B offering across the Group 

spending £2.5m on refurbishments and developing 

new retail focused dining concepts. 

“An innovative staff training programme has helped 

to further transform the customer experience across 

the Group: ‘Service that Sells’ moves from a service 

to sales-led culture by training staff to learn what a 

customer wants and to make recommendations to aid 

the decision-making process. The scheme is paying 

dividends with increased spend per head delivering 

7% year on year growth, and customer service ratings 

across Group venues exceeding 80%. 

“Looking beyond our core NEC Group venues, I 

also saw the potential to significantly grow our external 

venue and events business – over the last few years this 

side of the business has grown exponentially. 

“Five years on, Amadeus has grown from a £25m 

– £42m business and I’m proud to say that this year 

represents the strongest in Amadeus’ 40-year history.” 

30 GLORIOUS

MEET THE MANAGERS THE TEAM 

PAUL BATE, GENERAL 

MANAGER FOR AMADEUS 

AT THE NEC 

talks about the challenges of catering for 

2.4 million visitors each year 

The NEC hosts over 500 events every year 

and welcomes 2.4million visitors annually. 

With each show – from the popular public 

events such as Crufts to the four-day Spring 

Fair trade show that takes over every hall in 

the venue – comes a different profile, which 

in turn creates varying demands for what the 

customer wants to eat. 

Paul has driven growth of £1m profit 

(+27%) in the last financial year. This is largely 

down to a number of new concepts he has 

spearheaded as General Manager. 

Paul oversaw a £1.4m refurbishment of the 

food ‘pods’ in halls 1, 3 and 4 and introduced 

The Edge concept with four different food 

offerings – EvViva (Italian), Butcher and 

Grill (American), The Oak Kitchen (British) 

and MADE Café (grab and go). The Edge is 

currently delivering growth of 14% spend per 

transaction and will be rolled out across all 

exhibition halls by 2020. 

Paul has also developed a range of mobile 

concepts following extensive research. The 

mobile catering units are perfect for catering 

for massive spikes in exhibition attendance and 

this allows the team to be flexible, providing 

bespoke catering solutions to each individual 

show that matches the visitor profile. 

The six pop up concepts in operation are: 

l Puor – healthy eating dishes using 

“superfoods” that support the body’s ability to 

function at its optimum capacity 

l MADE – grab and go, featuring deli 

sandwiches and a range of scrumptious 

desserts made fresh daily 

l The Big Cheese – a much loved classic 

combination of toasted bread and melted 

cheese with a modern twist on flavours and 

cooking methods 

l Burrito Cantina – authentic flavours of 

Mexico, served in a Burrito, naked or with 

tortilla chips 

l Carnivore Club – prime joints, marinated for 

a minimum of 48 hours before being cooked 

and glazed ‘slow n’ low’ style 

l Taco Fusion – An eclectic range of flavours, 

cooking styles and ingredients served in a 

Mexican inspired wrap 

Paul said: “The biggest improvement during 

my time here is the change in approach. 

In the last 18 months, we have invested in 

two Starbucks, three Edge Restaurants with 

another four to launch this summer and six 

new mobile concept kits. This is an investment 

close to £4.5 million, something I don’t believe 

the venue would have seen before Amadeus. 

“On a busy show day we can have multiple 

events on site, on these dates I will block out 

© SM PHOTOGRAPHY 

time in my diary to tour the catering areas 

within these events spending time with the 

Key Account Team, Operational Managers, 

Senior Chefs and our Service Partners. This 

ensures I view any challenges first hand and 

can work with my team in overcoming them. 

“I can’t wait to see the customer reaction 

to the new mobile concepts. As we continue 

to improve the experience I see the NEC 

constantly developing in numbers and style of 

events. It is an exciting time and I can only see 

positive growth in the live events sector.” 



CRAIG HANCOX, 

GENERAL MANAGER FOR 

AMADEUS AT THE ICC 

tells Glorious how new projects are making 

the difference at the venue 

Quality food in a conference setting is one 

of the key talking points when it comes to 

the ICC and sets the venue apart from its 

competitors. It offers different levels of food 

– silver, gold and platinum – and can host 

meetings, conferences for up to 8,000 or 

banquets for up to 900. 

General Manager Craig Hancox has driven 

growth of £0.6m (+22.5%) for Amadeus 

at the ICC in the last financial year due to 

a greater focus on conference catering 

conversion and banqueting. 

The team has looked to differentiate its offer 

by a number of different projects including: 

l Food for the Brain accreditation – The ICC 

became the first conference centre in the UK 

to gain accreditation from Food for the Brain 

– an educational charity which promotes 

the importance of nutrition in mental health 

and well-being. The accreditation recognises 

that the ICC and Amadeus has achieved 

high standards of nutritional excellence 

and its menus support mental well-being 

concentration and performance. 

l New tableware – has been introduced 

based around free flowing, organic concepts 

and drives a new style of food presentation 

for the ICC which is designed to enhance the 

fresh, great tasting food. It moves from the 

standard white china to a range of various 

shapes, colours and sizes and is cutting edge 

in a large scale banqueting environment 

where everything is usually uniformed. 

l Starbucks extensive refurbishment – the 

Starbucks store at the ICC has increased 

customer seating from 79 to 137 covers 

and an additional coffee bar has increased 

serving capacity by 50%. The design includes 

improved working areas for visiting delegates 

and an area to accommodate larger group 

meetings and support a number of local 

community clubs that meet at the ICC 

regularly. To further improve customer service 

at the store, table service is also available, so 

customers never have to leave their seat. 

Craig explains how Amadeus has grown 

since he started 12 years ago, “The last six years 

have really seen the most dramatic change, 

with technology now being prominent in the 

way we run our businesses. In the early days 

with Amadeus there were many manual time 

consuming processes preventing caterers 

from working with customers to deliver great 

food and service, the development of core 

systems has allowed us the time to innovate 

and improve our services over recent years 

and become more customer focused.” 

“I have an amazing team around me 

at the ICC and I’m privileged to be the 

General Manager at such a great venue. My 

day-to-day activities switch between sales, 

innovation, compliance and cost control. 

The day usually begins with a conversation 

with Simon Hellier, our Executive Chef – he 

starts around 6am most days, so he always 

has plenty to say when we catch up in the 

morning! I like to walk around the venue 

and catering locations at least once each day, 

spending time with our chefs and front of 

house management team ensuring we meet 

the standards we expect of ourselves.” 

Following these projects Craig is looking 

forward to exciting future developments. “I 

believe our speed of growth will increase as 

we consolidate our achievements, giving us 

the capacity to move onto an even bigger 

platform. We’ll also keep our strong client 

relationships to ensure longevity and win 

many new contracts. 

“My personal view for the future is a large 

focus on healthy eating and maximising 

energy levels and mental ability through eating 

the correct foods. British farming will thrive 

and our food content will need to be heavily 

influenced by these factors. Diners’ knowledge 

of food will continue to develop resulting in 

the invention of new cooking techniques for 

largescale banqueting, we will become more 

adventurous in food production ensuring the 

thrill of eating out remains.” 

32 GLORIOUS

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EMMA PATTIE, GENERAL 

MANAGER FOR AMADEUS AT 

THE VOX CONFERENCE CENTRE 

talks about her highlights working for the business 

The ICC’s sister venue, the Vox, has 

experienced a phenomenal two years of 

growth since opening in 2015. Like the ICC, 

its catering is second to none, and the team is 

adept at catering for up to 900 delegates and 

guests on any one day. Last year, banqueting 

was a huge success for the Vox, and together 

with the ICC, they have delivered over 230 

banqueting events for 71,500 delegates, 

resulting in a combined revenue in excess of 

£5m across both venues. Here, Glorious talks 

to Emma about her recipe to success. 

What are the biggest improvements you 

have seen during your time at Amadeus? 

“When I started at the Vox everything felt 

fresh with it being such a new venue to 

the portfolio. A new team and lots of new 

clients. Every day was a learning day as we 

developed our standards and operating 

styles and bonded as a team. The changes 

and improvements that were being 

implemented throughout became our norm 

as we weren’t comparing to how things had 

worked or operated previously. We were 

benefitting from the changes without really 

knowing the challenges some of our teams 

had faced previously. I love the fact that I 

work for a forward thinking company with 

constant improvement plans or innovative 

ideas being raised and worked on.” 

What does your day-to-day consist of? 

“I can honestly say I don’t have a consistent 

day to day routine as we have some fantastic, 

diverse events on in the venue that ensure 

our days are never the same. There is 

however the same point of focus through 

my day – the people, whether that is my 

team, our colleagues in the events team and 

technical teams and of course our customers 

and clients. I can be operational managing 

dinners for up to 850, drinks receptions and 

parties for up to 1,600 or looking after our 

executive board for 16 in one of our fantastic 

boardrooms. On quieter operational days 

we hold a huge volume of client menu 

tastings and planning meetings.” 

What is the biggest strategy that you 

have implemented as GM? 

“At the Vox we really strive to exceed our 

customers’ expectations and create a unique 

experience for our guests. The aim is that 

they enjoy something they firstly wouldn’t 

expect and secondly will make them talk 

about us and return to the venue. I am very 

lucky to have Executive Head Chef Aaron 

Johnson working with me and together we 

ensure our clients requirements come to life. 

I believe this strategy makes us stand apart 

from our competitors and improves our 

retention as our customers feel valued.” 

What does the future of Amadeus look 

like to you? 

“Bigger and better! Amadeus has a huge 

focus on growing its portfolio and the quality 

of its staff. My aim is to position the Vox as 

the best of its kind in the UK. I would love to 

be part of a mobilisation team – providing 

training, support and showcasing Amadeus 

to its new staff and clients.” 

What is the best event you’ve worked 

on at Amadeus? 

“The largest and possibly the highest profile 

event that we have held at the Vox was the 

BBC Sports Personality of the Year pre-show 

red carpet event and post-show party. The 

planning and logistics for the event coupled 

with the Genting Arena were vast and went 

on for months prior to the event. The event 

was a huge success and the team worked 

fantastically together to deliver a very 

memorable experience for all involved.” 



ANNIE MONNOX, 


AMADEUS AT THE 

GENTING ARENA 

talks about how the team gets their great results 

Welcoming the world’s best comedians, 

sportspeople, singers, dancers and 

everything in between, the Genting Arena 

can host intimate academy events for 5,300 

people, or hold almost triple that number for 

the world’s superstars with the total capacity 

of 15,700. 

Annie explains how they look after 100 

shows per year and over 900,000 people, 

“We have dark days where no event is being 

held and we report and plan for future events. 

Then there are the event days which consists 

of making sure we deliver the very best 

experience and there’s also lots of walking! 

Amadeus has grown in confidence and belief. 

I realise that’s a little cheesy but we are now 

competing with larger catering companies 

and winning contracts. We have the right 

people in place to ensure we can drive the 

business forward.” 

Annie describes some of the previous 

successful strategies: “In 2014 we introduced 

‘beer bugs’ – we now have 16 and they 

have driven in excess of £200,000 with 

minimal staffing costs. Another was the 

Stowford Press Bar – this was originally four 

food and beverage concessions and we 

struggled to maximise revenue from them. 

In 2016 we placed a bar counter in front of 

the concessions to make one large bar and 

introduced fast pour. 

Since October 2016 this has generated 

an additional £160,000 in revenue based 

on comparable events. Contactless is a 

growing trend with more people using this 

to make payments. At Take That, May 2017 

we launched our first contactless bar to great 

results. We increased the speed of transaction 

which resulted in doubling our transaction in 

1 

/2 hour compared to other bars, this meant 

we increased revenue.” 

36 GLORIOUS


NICK COLE, GENERAL 


THE BARCLAYCARD ARENA 

tells Glorious how the team tailor their catering 

offer to different visitor profiles 

The Barclaycard Arena is one of the 

busiest, large-scale indoor sporting and 

entertainment venues in the world and 

accommodates everything from music, 

sport and comedy, to family entertainment 

and live theatre. Each year, the venue hosts 

over 100 events and welcomes over half 

a million visitors through its doors. As a 

multi-purpose venue, it is extremely flexible 

and the Arena’s capacity can range from a 

maximum of 15,800 down to 2,464 for more 

intimate events. 

Nick explains the focus for him and his 

team, “We are focused and great at thinking 

outside the box and always looking at clever 

ways of increasing revenue, while ensuring 

cost savings. We always ensure a smooth 

and effective service is delivered and exceed 

customer expectations.” 

“Our team understands each event has a 

different personality and timings are also a 

massive influence on the planning and final 

revenue for the catering team. Amadeus 

use direct and third party feedback from 

customers and feed this into a database 

of historic events for the same artist or 

genre of music to enable the team to 

make informed decisions that benefit the 

customer experience.” 

The team are very focused on what the 

customer wants and the retail food areas have 

been developed following customer insight 

and feedback which highlighted the lack 

of brand concepts. A diverse food market 

offering a range of flavours including English 

(Great British Fish and Chips), Italian (Neo 

Pizza), Middle Eastern (Theo’s Street Food) and 

premium burgers among others have now 

been introduced at the Arena. 

In addition, a number of adaptable kiosks for 

pop-up trading outlets are also used including: 

l Champagne bar 

l MADE – handcrafted café 

l Beer bugs 

l Hotdog stands 

“Hospitality at 

the Arenas is run through 

Amplify and the food 

is provided by Amadeus. 

There are three levels of 

hospitality – Freestyle, 

Club and Air.” 



CATHY SCHOFIELD, 


AMADEUS’ REGIONAL VENUES 

tells Glorious how Amadeus brings food and 

beverage to life across its external portfolio 

Steadily expanding the external business 

since 2012, Amadeus secured a record 

amount of contracts over the last year. Here, 

Glorious talks to Cathy Schofield, General 

Manager of Regional Venues, about how 

Amadeus brings food and beverage to life at 

its external venues with retail catering offers. 

Why has Amadeus been so successful 

in this market? 

“Clients are increasingly choosing Amadeus 

due to our bespoke approach which aims 

to become ‘one team with the client’, our 

sustainable sourcing policies and our ability 

to capture a venue’s personality through food 

and beverage. This is illustrated by our venues 

which includes Dudley Zoo and the Library of 

Birmingham and others. We understand that 

price is one of the main complaints visitors 

make at attractions so concentrate on creating 

branded and unique food concepts aimed at 

making food and beverage part of the visitor 

experience and enhance perceptions of value.” 

Can you tell us about a really successful 

mobilisation? 

“At Cadbury World a ‘factory in the garden’ 

concept restaurant was created which draws 

upon the chocolatier’s rich history. The team 

drives the menu development with chocolate 

inspired options. Last year, £140,000 was 

spent extending the café area and improving 

the F&B offering in order to account for an 

increasing amount of visitors wanting to use 

the facility. Profit has increased by a third (33%) 

over three years since Amadeus took on the 

contract as it continues to look at customer 

insight and develop its offer – for example, the 

development of the Cadbury Cabin – a pop 

up outside catering vendor that offers guests 

another choice of F&B venue, especially 

during the summer months.” 

What new contracts are you working on? 

“Two of our newest venues to manage 

are Delapré Abbey Preservation Trust and 

Compton Verney Art Gallery both launched 

this year. The Conservatory Café at Delapré 

reflects the venue’s 900-year history and 

personality through its food and beverage. 

The restaurant setting and menu reflects the 

rich heritage, whilst also offering quality and 

value for money. We also support the regional 

economy through our choice of suppliers. 

Similarly, The Compton Kitchen draws 

inspiration from the 18th Century country 

mansion and artistic masterpieces found 

within the building. The team has also recently 

mobilised a catering contract at the newly 

named East of England Arena and Events 

Centre in Peterborough to run all hospitality 

and catering at the venue. The contract was 

won due to the reputation of Amadeus as 

experts in exhibition and arena catering and 

the ability to change the food and beverage 

offering based on delegate or visitor profile.” 

© 2013 JOHN CLEARY PHOTOGRAPHY 

38 GLORIOUS

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MATTHEW LAIRD, GENERAL 


BELFAST WATERFRONT AND 

ULSTER HALL 

talks about the food trends that are inspiring 

his team 

The importance of incorporating and creating 

strong links with local communities is an 

essential cornerstone as Amadeus establishes 

its offer in the city of Belfast. Offering quality 

products from local Belfast suppliers allow 

the team’s menus to constantly evolve. 

Matthew Laird, sums up the team’s 

excitement, “It’s a fantastic time for Amadeus 

in Northern Ireland. The days of the ‘safe’ 

food option at events are long over. 

Tastes have become more sophisticated 

and delegates expect a gastronomical 

experience. With the rise of the ‘foodie’ and 

the celebration of Northern Ireland Food 

and Drink in 2016 – there is a lot on offer to 

push the food journey at an event. Belfast is 

fast becoming the perfect business tourism 

destination for conferences and exhibitions 

and there are many new hotels being built to 

accommodate demand.” 

In addition to hosting world-class 

conferences, Belfast Waterfront is home to 

the best in live entertainment. Many of the 

world’s biggest acts (U2, Robbie Williams, 

Sting), all-time music greats (Chuck Berry, 

B.B. King), an array of pop sensations 

(Westlife, One Direction) and a plethora 

of world acclaimed opera legends (Dame 

Kiri Te Kanawa, Katherine Jenkins) have all 

taken centre stage at the Waterfront. The 

Ulster Hall, an iconic music venue, has also 

been at the forefront of Belfast’s culture, 

arts and entertainment for over 150 years. 

Matthew’s day-to-day involves everything 

from managing catering requirements for 

conferences and exhibitions, to setting up 

and overseeing gala dinners for up to 1,000 

people or ensuring the retail offering is set 

up for auditorium shows for up to 2,200 

people. “It is the variety of this and being able 

to deliver successful events that I truly love 

and enjoy.” 

“Our food focus is on provenance. This, 

along with our expertise in exhibition, 

conference, banqueting, event and retail 

catering which features in these two contracts 

– our desire to integrate catering with 

technology solutions is what made Amadeus’ 

pitch stand out from the crowd. Events range 

from a retail offering for the World Irish Dance 

Championships that lasted a week and saw 

12,000 people through the doors to catering 

for Routes Europe and feeding the 1,000 

delegates a fork buffet in the auditorium.” 

40 GLORIOUS


BEN CAMPBELL, GENERAL 


BELFAST CASTLE, BELFAST ZOO, 

THE STABLES COFFEE SHOP 

AND MALONE HOUSE 

tells Glorious what his typical day entails 

The second major win for Amadeus in 

Northern Ireland sees Ben and his team 

manage the catering for a number of 

Belfast’s most popular visitor attractions. 

In particular, Belfast Zoo is one of Northern 

Ireland’s oldest and most popular visitor 

attractions with the 55-acre site home to 

116 species. Here, Glorious talks to Ben 

about his recipe to success. 

What does your day-to-day consist of? 

My day begins at 7am touring my venues 

one by one and setting daily objectives. 

Around 10am I’ll catch up on emails before 

heading off to client meetings at various 

venues. Every day at 5pm I also catch up with 

all the managers at each venue location to 

talk through any issues and look ahead to 

the following days. On event nights, I’ll be on 

hand to make sure everything is delivered 

to plan. 

What is the biggest strategy that you 

have implemented as GM? 

In the short time I’ve been here, I have 

looked to change the management structure 

and reporting lines in order to allow 

each venue’s catering operation to run as 

smoothly as possible. I have also moved to 

a central production kitchen model based 

out of Belfast Castle serving all of the events 

business which has had a dramatic effect on 

resource and efficiency. 

What does the future of Amadeus look 

like to you? 

Looking to the future, I hope to grow our 

event and retail sales by 60% across all the 

four venues. 

What is the best event you’ve worked 

on at Amadeus? 

One of the biggest events we have on 

our radar this summer is Rose Week – 

a celebration of the spectacular rose 

garden at Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Park 

in July. Amadeus provides retail and 

hospitality catering, which requires detailed 

planning to ensure that we execute this to 

the highest standard. 



SAM BATES, GENERAL 

MANAGER FOR AMADEUS’ 

EXTERNAL EVENTS TEAM 

tells Glorious about her varied and demanding 

role that sees her travel all over the UK 

Sam’s role is to oversee Amadeus’ external 

events portfolio. This can range from 

‘greenfield’ events where catering facilities 

have to be set up from scratch, one off 

standalone events for clients or conference, 

banqueting and wedding catering for the 

many different venues Amadeus works with. 

The events team have worked on 

everything from marquee weddings to large 

corporate events and some of the world’s 

best sporting events over the last year. What’s 

more, the team has also more than doubled its 

revenue in the last financial year. 

Sam has focused solely on the events side 

of the business since managing Amadeus’ 

catering operation at Olympic Park North 

in 2012. 

In 2016, Amadeus’ standalone events team 

went overseas for the first time, 

delivering an event for JCB at trade fair Bauma 

in Munich. Three of the Amadeus team visited 

the local area first to find the best wholesale 

supermarkets and investigated popular 

German dishes and products to understanding 

the food culture of Munich and Bavaria. 

At Bauma 2016, Amadeus demonstrated that 

they can provide delicious catering on grand 

scales abroad and the future now brings 

with it more opportunities to cater at various 

international locations. 

Sam said: “Many great events stand out 

for me. We look after major sporting events, 

weddings at beautiful Stoneleigh Abbey and 

also for clients such as JCB. Whether we’re 

catering for the general public at a live event or 

for a fine dining banquet for Heads of State, we 

ensure a tailored, quality solution is provided 

for each and every client. 

“Our main aim is our guests have a great 

experience. Sometimes the events we cater 

for are almost white-label under our clients 

but we always ensure the catering is of a great 

standard. This is slightly different to say the NEC 

where everyone knows we are the caterer, for 

some of the external events the guests may 

not always be aware. With our experience we 

do truly know how to provide a great event. 

Our commitment is clear whether it’s for a 

wedding or a golf tournament. It’s important 

to make sure we look after everyone from 

the hospitality suites to the marshal rest areas. 

Everyone’s there for a reason and we always 

have to make sure we provide them with the 

best experience.” 

42 GLORIOUS

AMADEUS CALENDAR OF EVENTS 

CALENDAR OF EVENTS • PUBLIC AND TRADE 

The comprehensive guide to the upcoming shows and events this season 

14•10 

J. Cole 

14•10 

Legends Live 

25•10 

Emeli Sandé 

18•11 

Royal Blood 

21•11 

James Blunt 

www.thenec.co.uk 

www.barclaycardarena.co.uk 

www.gentingarena.co.uk 

CALENDAR OF 

EVENTS 

AUG 

UNTIL23AUG 

l DINOSAURS IN THE WILD, NEC 

3 

l CÉLINE DION, 

BARCLAYCARD ARENA 

6–8 

l MODA UK, NEC 

10–13 

l THE FESTIVAL OF QUILTS, NEC 

12–13 

l PAW PATROL LIVE!, 


18 

l MIRANDA LAMBERT, 


20 

l TOY COLLECTORS FAIR, NEC 

OSA IMAGES 

Legendary music icon Céline Dion returns to the UK and Europe for the first time in over 

eight years, including her triumphant return to Birmingham on 3rd August! 

l 3 AUGUST 

Celine Dion, 


25–28 

l INSOMNIA61 – 

UK’S BIGGEST 

GAMING 

FESTIVAL, NEC 

26 

l OPEN MIC UK 

BIRMINGHAM MUSIC 

COMPETITION, NEC 

SEPT 

2–6 

l AUTUMN FAIR 

2017, NEC 

l 18 AUGUST 

Miranda Lambert, 



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SEPT 

9 

l NOORAN SISTERS, 

BARCLAYCARD 

ARENA 

11–13 

l GLEE, NEC 

12–13 

l AVEX 

INTERNATIONAL 

2017, NEC 

12–13 

l CHANNEL LIVE, 

NEC 

12–14 

l RWM, NEC 

16 

l DA-BANGG WITH 

SALMAN KHAN, 

BARCLAYCARD 

ARENA 

16–17 

l THE BIRMINGHAM 

CRUISE SHOW, NEC 

20 

l JOHN LEGEND, 

BARCLAYCARD 

ARENA 

20–21 

l THE EMERGENCY 

SERVICES SHOW 

2017, NEC 

22–24 

l A PLACE IN THE 

SUN LIVE, NEC 

22–24 

l THE CYCLE 

SHOW, NEC 

23 

l G-DRAGON, 

GENTING ARENA 

24 

l BIRMINGHAM 

VELO, BARCLAYCARD 

ARENA 

26–28 

l INTERPLAS 2017, 

NEC 

l 20 SEPTEMBER 

John Legend, 


l 9 OCTOBER 

Lady Antebellum, 


Formed in Nashville, Tennessee in 2006, the group have had more than 18 million album sales worldwide 

and are seven-time GRAMMY award winners. 

The sisters, Jyoti and Sultana are without a doubt the most amazing 

and exciting act to come out of Panjab in recent years. With their full 

live band they bring a night of exquisite Sufi/Qawali/Fusion music. 

l 9 SEPTEMBER 

Nooran Sisters, 


Acclaimed, multi-platinum selling, Oscar, Golden Globe, and 10x Grammy Award winning singer/ 

songwriter John Legend, will be hitting the Barclaycard Arena on 20 September with his biggest tour yet – 

‘Darkness and Light’! 


CALENDAR OF EVENTS AMADEUS 

l 4–8 OCTOBER 

Horse of the Year 

Show, NEC and 

Genting Arena 

Multi-platinum-selling artist J. Cole will be hitting the road with his “4 Your Eyez Only” Tour, stopping at the 

Barclaycard Arena on 14 October. 

26–27 

l MICRO NANO MEMS, NEC 

26–27 

l SENSORS & INSTRUMENTATION, NEC 

26–28 

l TCT SHOW – ACCELERATING 

3D TECHNOLOGIES, NEC 

26–28 

l PPMA SHOW 2017, NEC 

29SEPT–1OCT 

l THE NATIONAL WEDDING SHOW, NEC 

30 

l THE AUSTRALIAN PINK FLOYD SHOW 2017, 


l 14 OCTOBER 

J. Cole, 

Genting Arena 

OCT 

3–4 

l FLEET 

MANAGEMENT 

LIVE 2017, NEC 

3–5 

l SOLAR & STORAGE 

LIVE 2017, NEC 

4–5 

l RECRUITMENT 

AGENCY EXPO, 

NEC 

4–5 

l COACH & 

BUS UK, NEC 

4–5 

l TYREXPO UK 

& GARAGEXPO 

UK 2017, NEC 

4–8 

l HORSE OF 

THE YEAR SHOW, 

NEC AND 

GENTING ARENA 

Birmingham welcomes back the world’s biggest girl group Little Mix to the Genting Arena, with their brand new Glory Days Tour! 

l 13 OCTOBER 

Little Mix, Genting Arena 

7 

l I LOVE THE 90’S, 

BARCLAYCARD 

ARENA 

8–9 

l TRADE DAYS, NEC 

9 

l LADY 

ANTEBELLUM, 

BARCLAYCARD 

ARENA 

10–11 

l CARE SHOW, NEC 

10–12 

l UK CONSTRUCTION 

WEEK, NEC 

11–15 

l GRAND DESIGNS 

LIVE BIRMINGHAM, 

NEC 

12 

l GROUP LEISURE & 

TRAVEL SHOW, NEC 

46 GLORIOUS




Celebrate the most memorable Disney tales with all your favourite characters in Disney On Ice presents 

Passport to Adventure. 


Disney on Ice presents Passport to Adventure, Barclaycard Arena 

l 14 OCTOBER 

Legends Live, Genting Arena 

12 

l LADY GAGA, 

GENTING ARENA 

12 

l IMPRACTICAL 

JOKERS ‘WHERE’S 

LARRY?’ TOUR, 

BARCLAYCARD 

ARENA 

13 

l LITTLE MIX, 

GENTING ARENA 

13 

l NEIL DIAMOND, 

BARCLAYCARD 

ARENA 

14 

l LEGENDS LIVE, 

GENTING ARENA 

14 

l J. COLE, 

BARCLAYCARD 

ARENA 

15 

l LADY GAGA, 


15 

l NEIL DIAMOND, 

GENTING ARENA 

17–22 

l THE MOTORHOME 

AND CARAVAN 

SHOW 2017, NEC 

17–18 

l THE WORLD 

OF LEARNING 

CONFERENCE & 

EXHIBITION, NEC 

18–29 

l DISNEY ON ICE 

PRESENTS PASSPORT 

TO ADVENTURE, 


19–21 

l BDIA DENTAL 

SHOWCASE 2017, NEC 

l 25 OCTOBER 

Emeli Sandé, Genting Arena 

The Legends Live arena tour 2017, features Suzi Quatro, David Essex, The Osmonds and Hot Chocolate. 

This show is not to be missed when it heads to the Genting Arena this October! 

Emeli Sandé heads to Birmingham’s Genting Arena in October 

2017. The tour in support of Emeli’s hugely acclaimed second studio 

album “Long Live The Angels” is not one to be missed. 


CALENDAR OF EVENTS AMADEUS 

The Vaper Expo is Europe’s biggest and best vape event attracting exhibitors and visitors worldwide. 

l 30 OCTOBER 

Metallica, 

Genting Arena 


The Vaper Expo, NEC 

l 7 NOVEMBER 

WWE Live, Barclaycard Arena 

The unique brand of action packed entertainment is returning to the Barclaycard Arena in November 2017. 

Fans will be able to see all their favourite WWE Superstars live in action all under one roof. 

OCT 

21–22 

l DIVE 2017, NEC 

22–23 

l BPM PRO 2017 – 

SOUND + LIGHTING, 

DJ + STUDIO EVENT, 

GENTING ARENA 

25 

l EMELI SANDÉ, 

GENTING ARENA 

26–29 

l BRICKLIVE 

BIRMINGHAM, NEC 

27–29 

l THE VAPER 

EXPO, NEC 

28–29 

l HELLOWORLD, 

GENTING ARENA 

30 

l METALLICA, 

GENTING ARENA 

31OCT– 

3NOV 

l IPEX 2017, NEC 

NOV 

1–2 

l SALTEX, NEC 

1–2 

l ADVANCED 

ENGINEERING 

2017, NEC 

2–5 

l STITCHING, SEWING 

& HOBBYCRAFTS, NEC 

2–5 

l SIMPLY 

CHRISTMAS … THE 

CRAFTY CHRISTMAS 

SHOWCAKE 

INTERNATIONAL, NEC 

3–5 

l CAKE 

INTERNATIONAL, NEC 

3–4 

l NATIONAL 

GRADUATE 

RECRUITMENT 


3–5 

l MIND BODY 

SPIRIT WELLBEING 

FESTIVAL, NEC 

4 

l JAMIROQUAI, 


6–7 

l THE KILLERS, 

GENTING ARENA 

7 

l WWE LIVE, 


8–9 

l HIGHWAYS UK, NEC 

9 

l AUTOMOTIVE 

MANAGEMENT 

LIVE, NEC 

48 GLORIOUS




With the release of their eagerly anticipated second album ‘How Did We Get So Dark?’, Royal Blood have 

announced their biggest headline tour to date. 

It has been an extraordinary six months for James Arthur. After 

returning with his single Say You Won’t Let Go, James has gone onto 

achieve multiple #1s, a Platinum selling album, sold out tours and 

two BRIT’s Nominations. Now he embarks on his first arena tour. 

10–12 

l JOHN BISHOP, 

BARCLAYCARD 

ARENA 

10–12 

l LANCASTER 

INSURANCE CLASSIC 

MOTOR SHOW, NEC 

11 

l FREE RADIO 

LIVE 2017, 

GENTING ARENA 

13 

l BLONDIE, 

BARCLAYCARD 

ARENA 

14 

l ALICE COOPER, 


16 

l TLC, BARCLAYCARD 

ARENA 

16–18 

l THE SKILLS 

SHOW, NEC 

16–19 

l FESTIVE GIFT 

FAIR, NEC 

17–18 

l LITTLE MIX, 

GENTING ARENA 

17 

l DEEP PURPLE, 

BARCLAYCARD 

ARENA 

18 

l ROYAL BLOOD, 

BARCLAYCARD 

ARENA 

l 29 NOVEMBER 

Stone Sour, Barclaycard Arena 

l 18 NOVEMBER 

Royal Blood, Barclaycard Arena 

18–19 

l MCM BIRMINGHAM 

COMIC CON, NEC 

18–26 

l MOTORCYCLE LIVE 

2017, NEC 

19 

l DEPECHE MODE, 

BARCLAYCARD 

ARENA 

21 

l JAMES BLUNT, 

BARCLAYCARD 

ARENA 

22–23 

l OCCUPATIONAL 

THERAPY SHOW, 

NEC 

23 

l BANANARAMA, 

BARCLAYCARD 

ARENA 

23–26 

l BBC GOOD 

FOOD SHOW, 

NEC 

24 

l ENTER SHIKARI, 

BARCLAYCARD 

ARENA 

Heavy metal’s Stone Sour have announced a major UK tour this winter, and will be hitting the Barclaycard 

Arena 29 November, with support from The Pretty Reckless. 

l 25 NOVEMBER 

James Arthur, Genting Arena 

25–26 

l WARLEY, 

NATIONAL 

MODEL RAILWAY 


25 

l JAMES ARTHUR, 

GENTING ARENA 

25–26 

l THE 2017 

BIRMINGHAM 

INTERNATIONAL 

TATTOO, 


27 

l ELVIS IN CONCERT, 

GENTING ARENA 

29 

l STONE SOUR, 

BARCLAYCARD 

ARENA 

30 

l QUEEN + 

ADAM LAMBERT, 

BARCLAYCARD 

ARENA 

LISTINGS CORRECT 

AT TIME OF GOING 

TO PRINT. 


TEAM WORK CATERING OPERATIONS 

MADEmy day 

Glorious speaks to Alison Smith, Catering Operations Manager 

at the iconic and busy Library of Birmingham. 

What do you enjoy most about your role? 

I manage a team of ten at the Library and 

really enjoy creating a great team within a 

happy venue. With reports and feedback the 

team can see what they can achieve and I 

take great pride in being known as a leading 

venue due to our customer service skills and 

compliance results. 

What are the biggest improvements you 

have seen at the Library of Birmingham? 

During my time at the Library I have seen an 

improvement in compliance training which 

makes the team feel more confident in their 

role within the Library and Amadeus. The 

access and ease to complete these courses 

enables the team to learn without it feeling 

like a chore. Amadeus also have several other 

initiatives which really help the team come 

together and we all feel part of the whole 

Amadeus family, even as a regional venue. 

What draws customers to the iconic location? 

Many visitors come to view the architecture 

and the terraces and often students attending 

classes at Brasshouse Language School 

visit as we are based in the same building. 

We are looking forward to 2018 where the 

new family friendly park area is due to be 

finished in Centenary square. This will bring 

many even more visitors to our venue. 

How to do you measure success? 

We measure success through the customer 

feedback we receive. We are delighted to 

have been awarded the highest mystery 

shopper score within Amadeus. Positive 

feedback and the high scoring results from 

the visit really energise all of us to always 

ensure we offer the very best service. 

How does Amadeus ensure regional 

venues feel a part of the family? 

Many of us have worked at other locations 

where the catering is run by Amadeus. 

Before moving here I was based at the 

ICC and since moving I always felt part of 

the whole Amadeus team. Our venue has 

constant communication with the wider team 

and this ensures we are synced. We are a 

regional venue but part of a strong overall 

team culture. 

We are delighted to 

have been awarded the 

highest mystery shopper 

score with Amadeus 

50 GLORIOUS

Welcome to the Wonderful World 

of Lick Me I’m Delicious 

Incredible installations to make your event awesome. 

We can create any flavour, any colour, we can cater for 

100 - 2000 people at corporate events, private events, weddings, 

pop-ups and parties on the moon. 

bookings@lickmeimdelicious.com 

020 3637 1206 


FIREWORK 

DISPLAYS 

LIGHTING UP THE SKIES AT ANY EVENT 

OFFERING A COMPLETE, PROFESSIONAL FIREWORKS SERVICE 

Flashpoint Fireworks is an established firework company based near Guildford. 

We are an award winning firework display company who provide displays nationwide 

for councils, companies, concerts, weddings, parties and the general public. 

Visit our website or give one of our friendly staff a call for a full quotation. 

www.flashpoint-fireworks.co.uk 

01483 417475

Amadeus Glorious Magazine Issue 04

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