Foodservice Cateys 2024: Retail and Leisure Caterer of the Year – Elior UK

This year’s Retail and Leisure Caterer of the Year has been rewarded for putting innovation at the heart of its stadium catering experience.

A key contract for Elior UK is the Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh, which in 2023 had the largest ever concert footprint with more than 250 bar service points and 44 food outlets. In 2024 this was exceeded with 58 food outlets.

Elior introduced EBar pods, a mobile self-service dispense kiosk that delivers a perfect pour. The EBar uses contactless payment and enables customers to order, pay and receive two drinks in less than 30 seconds. It was designed to transform the bar experience at events by providing a quick and simple way to buy a drink without the pain of long queues.

In a commitment to sustainability, the caterer collaborated with Edinburgh City Licencing and Edinburgh Planning & Operational Group to move away from serving drinks in the stadium’s retail bars and to also save 70,000 plastic glasses at each of the venue’s seven international rugby matches as well as concerts and Edinburgh Rugby matches.

Elior has excelled in using data and insights to personalise each experience. The business builds experiences for the guest and tailors every concept to the artist when it comes to choosing its food stands, bar stock and retail offer. For example, in an 11-day span in 2023, the spend per head was on average 30% lower for a Harry Styles concert compared to a Beyoncé one. Despite this, the Harry Styles event generated more in ice-cream sales than Beyonce’s due to favourable weather and a younger, low-drinking audience. The catering company used this information in planning and forecasting for Taylor Swift’s three Edinburgh dates this year to ensure it catered to the right price point, allocating the correct number of bars versus food units and merchandise stands.

The Elior team was also directly involved in the opening of Edinburgh Rugby’s new 7,800-capacity DAM Health Stadium within the Scottish Gas Murrayfield estate. To service this, the caterer developed the West Fan Village located outside the main stadium’s West Stand, creating the purpose-made Container Bar, permanently positioned and ‘plumbed in’ in front of the new Edinburgh Rugby stadium, offering 20 tills and three multi-pour beer fonts, delivering speedy quality service.

Elior’s thoughtful development has meant the West Fan Village revenue has grown by more than 65%, becoming the largest grossing revenue stand. The food offer has been enhanced to promote best of Scotland’s food and drink, with artisan producers such as Bonnie Burrito, which is well known in the city, and offers Mexican food with a Scottish twist, such as locally sourced venison burger, churros and home-roasted stovies.

It is no wonder these innovations proved to make Elior the irresistible winner of the Foodservice Cateys’ Retail and Leisure Caterer of the Year category.

What the judges said

“A forward-thinking business that is always learning by using the power of data to improve performance for both customers and its own commercial goals.”

Greg Bramwell

See previous winners of the award here