Amadeus wages war on sugar

This will equate to removing seven tonnes of sugar – or 30 million calories – from its food chain in the next three years.

It will achieve this by a range of measures from revising its procurement policies to looking at its food and beverage offer across its catering portfolio.

As of June 2017, Amadeus began a process of revising its menus across the 30 plus venues it caters for, looking at ways in which sugar could be reduced or substituted in meals without compromising on flavour. In addition, all new menus and recipes will be devised to strict sugar reduction guidelines.

Amadeus’ procurement team will also have reduction targets in mind when sourcing new suppliers, while the caterer will also look to promote low fat options over whole sugar products at its venues in a bid to help customers make healthier decisions when it comes to choosing what to eat and drink.

Kevin Watson, Managing Director of Amadeus, said:

“With recent research from Public Heath England showing that children are currently intaking more than three times the healthy limit of sugar per day, the issue is more prevalent than ever.

“At Amadeus, we believe it is the responsibility of caterers to provide consumers with healthy eating options which enables individuals to make positive food choices that benefit their health and mental wellbeing.

“Our pledge to tackle sugar consumption head on underlines our commitment to this across our complete portfolio of venues and events.”

Marc Frankl, Food and Beverage Director for Amadeus, said:

“As a team, we are motivated by devising innovative new menus and catering concepts that are both healthy and delicious –  from our ‘Food for the Brain’ accredited menu at the ICC to our PURE catering concept that focuses on ‘super foods’ that support the body’s ability to function at its optimum capacity.

“We will be looking at ways in which we can reduce sugar without impacting on taste or the overall customer experience. For example, we have recently trialled promoting low-sugar and sugar free drinks products over full fat options at our two arena venues which has been extremely successful and something we will look to roll out across all our venues.”

Amadeus has over 40 years’ experience operating as part of the NEC Group catering for four million visitors annually at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC), International Convention Centre (ICC), Vox Conference Centre, Barclaycard Arena and Genting Arena. It has just experienced its most successful trading year to date, winning several overseas business contracts for the first time and expanding its foodservice operation to over 30 external venues.