Olivia PowellCatering company Amadeus has pledged to put an increasing focus on creating vegan menus within its venues throughout 2020.
The business has increased its vegan offering to cope with demand, and has doubled its vegan options over the past two years.
Research suggests that the amount of vegans in Great Britain has quadrupled 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 year, the caterer is looking to work with leaders in vegan food as part of its aim to create new vegan menus.
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.
Frankl added: “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.”