MAY | SECTOR FOCUS
FOOD & CATERING
Good dining is reason alone to attend and event,
and the industry is catering to diverse tastes, as
palettes broaden
A SPOT OF LUNCH?
Liz Young, head of events at Historic Royal Palaces
says food is one of most significant factors when
it comes to evoking memories, both through
the flavour and the experience, so delivering
memorable food and drink offerings is key to
ensuring an event stands out in the mind of
attendees long after it has taken place.
“We’ve seen a rise in the use of interactive dessert
stations and lunch concepts and have used them
ourselves at showcase events as a unique way to
ensure a one-of-a-kind experience, enabling guests
the freedom to get creative with their food while
choosing to eat healthily or indulge in treats as they
wish.”
“This modern style of catering works really well
in the palace settings, providing a striking contrast
to the traditional architecture and history that
they exude and providing the perfect opportunity
for delegates to interact and unwind in a relaxed
setting, with the food experience at the core.”
TREND SPOTTING
Feast-it, a sort of comparison and booking site for high
quality street food was setup to cater for events up to 5,000
people. Its co-founder Digby Vollrath has his tastebuds
focused on catering trends after travelling extensively.
“The vegan food trend is maturing, and veering away
from being the ‘healthy option’ to being more about fun,
with big greasy burgers lathered in sauce, like a double
cheeseburger, deep fried, but with pulled jackfruit. It’s
perfect for the ‘dirty fast food’ trend. Elsewhere, Japanese
soul food, is big, with tempura chicken wings being eaten,
veering away from sushi.”
“‘Nu-Thai’ is also taking off, with Smoking Goat in
Shoreditch influencing the market But for the classics are
still practical when say 250 people + need to be catered for.”
RHH WEIGHS IN
The Royal Horticultural Halls re-tendered its list and now
includes Bubble, FoodByDish, Create, Food Show, The Recipe,
Eden, Sands Catering with Kosher catering supplied by Ben
Tenenblat and Food Story.
Rhiân Pressley, senior sales and marketing executive says:
“We recently held a showcase where Food Story provided
the most exquisite canapes served in miniature glass
domes and individual gardens in urchin shells, it was a true
gastronomic wonderland and had everyone buzzing. Food
is such an important aspect of an event, it can take it to an
incredible new level or it can break it. London is just buzzing
with new ideas all the time, and you can taste it here.”
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