Three-party catering deal served up at Farnborough

29 July 2010

Compass leads new tri-party catering consortium for Farnborough Air Show last week and for the 2010 and 2014 events

Farnborough International Ltd, organisers of the biennial Farnborough International Airshow, appointed the three-party consortium fronted by Compass to provide the catering for the airshows in 2010, 2012 and 2014, the first of which has just been completed with major success. The contract is estimated to be worth over £1m in total turnover.
Compass was appointed as the main caterer in the consortium with two other caterers: Mecco, Compass’ catering partner for the Ryder Cup 2010 which provided catering in the hospitality suite and exhibitor restaurants, and Creativevents which operated the exhibition halls’ cafes and bars. Compass provided catering for the on-site emergency services and Farnborough International employees throughout build-up and the airshow in the staff dining facility and to many of the 120,000 weekday trade visitors and over 100,000 weekend public visitors.
Mark Emmerson, Catering Contracts Manager, Farnborough International Ltd, said, “This unique three-way deal, which we believe is one of the first of its kind, combines the extensive expertise of all three companies. With such a wide range of catering services being required to fulfil the needs of our exhibitors, trade and public visitors, including retail restaurants and cafes, stand catering, outside food courts and corporate hospitality, we needed to look for a solution to achieve this. We chose Compass as they have many years of Airshow experience and a strong team.”
Grahame Jones, Operations Director of FIA and BIAS, said, “The decision to adopt tri-party catering followed our previous tri-party approach to security, planning and delivery.”
Matthew Thompson, Managing Director for Compass Group UK & Ireland’s Sport, Leisure and Hospitality sector, the contracting party in the deal, said: “Farnborough International Ltd was looking for niche expertise that could be brought together into one partnership to deliver industry-leading catering and service. The three-party consortium delivered more than the sum of its parts and, as the head of the consortium, we were really proud to be part of this new way of working.”
This year’s Farnborough International Airshow took place last week and the 2012 show will take place from 9–15 July 2012.