Future Hospitality Trends in Stadium & Sporting / Entertainment Precincts

The diversity of our projects across a range of industries provides for constant and engaging evaluation internally as we consider food and beverage trend applications across properties of all shapes and sizes.

The first half of this year (and some of 2020), Future Food enjoyed working with two sports centric environments. We have been very proud to partner with both the Australian Turf Club on Royal Randwick & Rosehill Gardens, and with the Christchurch City Council as they seek to develop a new stadium to replace Lancaster Park/Jade Stadium, lost in the earthquakes of 2010/11.

One of the most pleasing aspects of both projects was our ability and agility of working on projects interstate and internationally whilst under lockdown constraints of Covid 19. Usage of modern technology has accelerated uptake and development, including our new proprietary software that provides Future Food with a new competitive F&B/hospitality threat & gap analysis tool – the application & results of which, have paid off immensely with the restricted working environment.

The modern-day benchmark for food and hospitality in sporting stadia is driven by the standards of the high streets. It is no longer acceptable to consider what has been successful in the past to be adequate for the future.

In the past we accepted a meat pie and a beer, now the expectation is to get a veggie pie vegan options, wines by the glass, cocktails, etc etc. We used to get cash sales only, now the expectation is predominantly EFTPOS based physical transactions that are bolstered by a range of sales opportunities, including order/click & collect, vending, mobile concessions, elevated dining and beverage choices, a range of environments plus pre & post-game entertainment. As such, the modern multi-use arena needs to be inherently agile in its approach to hospitality.

The future of stadia must also be considered in a very fast-moving space – technology has the potential to significantly change our approach to stadium/event catering as is the changing nature of retail globally.

Hospitality at contemporary sporting events can be considered as an integral component of the ‘experience.’ The Aussie Open – case in point. Melbourne & Olympic Park and their key stakeholders such as Tennis Australia understand that an F&B strategy must compete with a multitude of other events and competition for the finite entertainment dollar. Whether it's other events, the High Street, shopping centres, or even pay-per-view television and food and beverage delivery services; the alternatives to visitation of a stadium or event experience grows ever stronger, therefore modern stadia must reflect the trends of food and hospitality in the wider community in order to remain relevant maximise uptake and subsequent revenue. The arena must contribute to a whole of city offering rather than competing with it.

Food Trends in Modern Sporting Venues
A new breed of stadia of a number of shapes, sizes and sporting codes continues to expand the inventory of benchmark stadia, Sofi Stadium, Allegiant Stadium (home of the LA Raiders), the often talked about and frequently benchmarked Tottenham Hotspur Stadium; as well as our own incredible new stadia such as Optus Stadium in Perth, Bankwest Stadium in Parramatta, Queensland Country Bank Stadium (this year becoming the first regional stadium to host the State of Origin) or the Sydney Football Stadium (currently under rebuild/development). Yet regardless of code, we see familiar trends of hospitality and F&B emerging:

 ·      Casualisation of the premium & corporate products
·      Elevated GA experiences (a direct inconsistency with the premium trend curve)
·      Expanding Functions inventory (i.e. greater range of experiences, evolving menus and customisation)
·      Expanding pre & post dwell times (maximising the business case for the Stadium)
·      Increased range of retail and corporate products (offer and price-point)
·      Female friendly experiences
·      Localisation of procurement – ensuring support from the local community and a unique experience for visitors
·      Service experiences beyond the grab & go/belly up approach
·      Externalisation of F&B – A year revenue opportunity regardless of event/non-event day
·      Increasing use of technology especially at the customer ordering interface

Whilst our projects and the subsequent observations represent a number of different sports, codes, events and business models they all share a similar trait – F&B is/will be a key contributor to the patron experience and business case for future operation of these venues.

It is important that the overall F&B strategy is incorporated into the design/redesign, so that both capability, revenue potential and customer experience are well considered, not as an afterthought, but as an integral component of the planning and design of the venue.

Game’s On!

The Art of Great Service

Investing in Hospitality Training and Staff Well-being at Work
As the world opens-up again after months of continuous lockdown – pubs, cafes, restaurants and even nightclubs welcome back patrons. As I travel the country again working in various cities and visiting a wide range of food service venues, it is more obvious than ever before, that there is a shortage of adequately trained food and beverage service professionals. This is due to a number of factors including the absence of overseas students, visa holders and some peoples’ desire not to return to the food service sectors for a number of reasons. This article is one in a series of industry-focused blogs called the ‘Hospitality Mindset’. I’m providing a customer’s insight into the importance and benefits of good service and delivering a positive experience, whether buying a coffee, ordering a cocktail or dining in a chef-hatted restaurant. 

 Good and consistent service is the end-product of effective and relevant training. In this blog I want to remind all food service businesses about the benefits of taking the time to train their staff. Yes, it is a daunting task for small businesses, however a couple of one hour training sessions in the initial days of employment can make all the difference. We acknowledge that training new staff can often be an overwhelming task; not only do you need to allocate time from your busy schedule, but you need to ensure that the time you dedicate to training is worthwhile. I’ve just finished a consultancy with a new, small neighbour café called Mia Zoi, located in Port Melbourne. It is obvious, the most basic customer service training yields many benefits, not only from a sales perspective but also from repeat, customer satisfaction.

Here are some of the tangible benefits of training food and beverage staff?
 1.     It sets a base standard for service and encourages teamwork
2.     It reduces slips-up and also reduces customer dissatisfaction
3.     It adds to positive and memorable eating and dining experiences
4.     It provides confidence and emotional stability for staff to approach and successfully serve customers
5.     It increases safety at work and overall productivity
6.     Sales are increased through suggestive selling of food and beverage products
7.     It reduces staff turnover – a costly and time-consuming exercise for small businesses
8.     It instils a service culture, and this is crucial for any food service business
9.     More training equates to greater staff development
10.  It adds to employee well-being at work – happy staff contributes to happy customers

Hospitality training allows your staff to learn and grow within their position and even your business. Without appropriate training it’s common for new staff to feel overwhelmed, struggle and get stressed during busy services. By providing training they can learn new ways to handle their daily tasks, ease stress and feel confident in their role. You may even see them grow so much you offer them a more senior position within your business.