The English Rugby Football Union and Levy Restaurants UK, the sports, leisure and hospitality sector of Compass Group UK & Ireland has announced that it is to continue its joint venture, Twickenham Experience Ltd (TEL).
The partnership, which started in 2000, provides all matchday catering, hospitality and bar services, as well as non-matchday catering, conference and event management services at London's Twickenham Stadium, the home of English rugby union.
The ten-year contract extension is worth over £30 million in annual revenues to the RFU Group; the profits from which facilitates investment back into the game at all levels.
The renewed venture will deliver all matchday retail and hospitality food and beverage operations for the 82,000-capacity stadium, as well as continuing to grow the non-matchday conference and events business at the venue.
The operational functions of TEL will continue to be supported by Levy Restaurants UK’s sales specialists, Lime Venue Portfolio - the UK’s largest collection of unique, unusual, cultural and sporting venues.
As part of the RFU’s £76m commitment to creating a state-of-the-art, connected stadium, there has been significant investment in the delivery of catering and hospitality services at Twickenham.
Stephen Brown, chief financial officer for the RFU and chairman of TEL, said: “We are not only committed to delivering a unique and inspiring experience for fans attending Twickenham Stadium on matchday, but also creating the same quality of experience for customers attending the many other non-match day events and conferences that occur throughout the year at our venue.
'There has been a long and successful partnership over the past 14 years with Compass Group UK & Ireland, who have extensive experience in delivering the very best in catering, hospitality and retail services. This strong relationship has instilled a great deal of confidence in our joint venture and has facilitated the bringing forward of the contract renewal process 12 months to this year.
'The new ten-year contract will allow us to continue to develop and innovate our matchday and conference and events offering, as well as to set an ambitious, standard-setting long-term strategy for the Twickenham Experience Limited business.”
Colin Bailey, MD for sports, leisure and hospitality at Compass Group UK & Ireland, said: “As a partnership, we have made a considerable investment to the development of facilities and staff at Twickenham. The contract renewal is testament to the partnership we have with the RFU, and the commitment we share to delivering an exceptional experience for visitors to the stadium.”
Last year TEL’s public bars and catering units served in excess of 1 million event-day guests at 19 events and over 49,000 hospitality covers catered for on matchdays.
TEL’s non-matchday conference and events business achieved revenues of £4.5m, with the facilities being utilised for a range of events, from small lunch meetings to international conferences, product launches, weddings and awards dinners for more than 800 people.
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