The Crown Group’s caterer, Kudos, has been awarded a five-year contract by the Harrogate International Centre (HIC) to provide all catering and hospitality services for the venue’s eight halls (covering 18,500sqm of exhibition space) and its 2,000-delegate conference centre.
Kudos, having initially won the contract in 1999, subsequently retained the position as on-site preferred caterer for 13 years.
The formal tender, managed by HIC Yorkshire, invited caterers to propose a range of ideas to manage the delivery of food and beverages to the hundreds of thousands of visitors that attend the venue each year.
Kudos created concepts that were supported by research and demonstrated the key trends which included: proud to be British, markets and street food, spending austerity, localism, seasonality, health and nutrition, connectivity and digitalisation.
A new brand was proposed, which would support three distinct concepts of food stores, coffee kiosks and cafes. New product ranges using six regional suppliers, four of which are within one mile of the venue were also proposed, and Kudos created a unique product key for all food labelling to assist the diverse international audience that attends the venue.
The proposal will involve Kudos making a substantial investment in the refurbishment of key areas, including the building of a supermarket style food store between Halls B and C, along with a Cafe in the lobby area of Hall H. The investment will also extend to several mobile coffee kiosks and Piaggio Apes, which can be set-up within any area of the eight halls of the HIC.
“The tender gave us the opportunity to demonstrate how creative the team can be while still delivering great food and service on a day-to-day level,” says Jon Pryce, MD of Kudos (pictured).
Simon Kent, Director at HIC, adds: “We were looking for a radical change in the way the catering was being delivered across the whole event space at HIC and how it was received by the guests.
“The dynamic ideas and innovation that were demonstrated by Kudos have led us to believe that the team can not only evolve, but lead us over the next five years.”
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