Amadeus Glorious Magazine Issue 04

THE TEAM MEET THE MANAGERS
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