Centerplate Centre of Excellence and Stadium of Light Renewal
News
Sunderland AFC announced today that it has signed a new long-term contract extension with Centerplate – the hospitality provider to premier venues across the UK – to continue to provide public match-day catering at the Stadium of Light, a role it has played since 1997.
As part of the new relationship, Centerplate is establishing Sunderland AFC’s Stadium of Light as a Centre of Excellence – a move which will see the venue become a centre for innovation in sports stadia catering from staff training, and development of new food and drink concepts, to the beta-testing of new equipment and technologies – allowing Sunderland’s fans to enjoy the latest experience enhancement innovations.
Over the past three years, Centerplate has already made significant upgrades to its service offerings at the SoL. In 2012, the company completely revitalised the lower concourse experience with a series of branded retail kiosks which resulted in record sales and a year-on-year spend per head increase greater than 10%. Each of the successive two seasons has also delivered new year-on-year sales records. Centerplate also recently set a sales record for concerts at the venue at North East Live, where the company’s menus and service locations customised to the family-friendly event, delivered a spend-per-head increase of more than 30% over average concert sales. To the delight of fans, this season Centerplate has introduced high quality new favourites such as Northumbrian Sausage Stotties with caramelised onions, and a Torn Beef Stottie created by Centerplate’s culinary team, which pairs a popular regional bap with locally-raised meats sourced from the Northumberland farm of J.G. Walton & Son. New for this season is the launch of “The Big Mackem” burger, a 5oz prime beef burger, custom ground and freshly prepared to Centerplate’s specifications. The company plans to continue developing menus featuring inventive foods and local ingredients in its strategy to enhance the guest experience.
Gary Hutchinson, Commercial Director at Sunderland AFC, says: “We are delighted to be extending our partnership with Centerplate. Over the past decade we have improved our catering and hospitality offering and this is thanks to the fantastic relationship we have forged with Centerplate.