Amadeus increases vegan focus

Amadeus has pledged to put an increasing focus on vegan throughout its venues in 2020.

The business has seen vegan options double over the past two years, increasing its vegan offering to cope with demand.

Research suggests that there has been a fourfold rise in the number of vegans in Great Britain since 2014 and during this time vegan alternatives have become increasingly commonplace at Amadeus’ venues, which include the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) and Birmingham’s two arenas, Arena Birmingham and Resorts World Arena.

As well as introducing a range of new vegan options in the past calendar year, the caterer is looking to collaborate with leaders in vegan food to make sure it is providing the best and most innovative menus at its venues.

Marc Frankl, food and beverage director at Amadeus, said: “Veganism is here to stay, and we are really excited to be putting it really high up on our agenda for this coming year.

“Our research shows that our vegan offering has grown year-on-year, supporting the demand we’re seeing from visitors to our many venues across the UK.

“In the past 12 months we have developed a range of new vegan offers and concepts into our venues, including the all-vegan ‘Str-EAT No Meat’ concept at our Arenas, which includes vegan kebabs and cauliflower wings, as well as vegan options at every outlet. We’ve also introduced a new range of vegan and beyond meat burgers at the NEC.

“The idea for ‘Str-EAT No Meat’ came from a food tour in London – and just a few months later we introduced it at our Arenas, completely selling out on the first night. We’re also serving vegetarian menus as vegan in the hospitality section of our arenas due to the demand we’re seeing. We’re always looking at ways to innovate as the demand for vegan options increases.

“It’s important for us to keep options varied but not lose sight of what visitors to our venues want when it comes to food and drink: quality, speed and value for money.”

Vegan options are also being developed in the conferencing strand of the caterer’s business, with the ICC and VOX, Birmingham’s conferencing centre.

Frankl continued: “Throughout 2020 we’re looking to work with leaders in veganism to make sure we’re offering new and exciting options for customers.

“It’s been an ongoing process, working closely with clients to develop all vegan menus and we’re seeing that this is a growing trend in the industry. Our vegan revolution is also well underway at The ICC. We’ve introduced concepts such as hummus pit which has proved extremely popular, as well as adapting our service style with live cooking stations.

“Moving forward we’re looking to work even closer with suppliers. They are an important part of the Amadeus family and we’re always speaking to them about new products and ideas. There is no sign of the vegan movement slowing up and we’re really excited to see how we can innovate in this space.”