Making it with lego

Fresh, rather than fast, food is the mainstay of the catering operation at Legoland, the new £85m children's entertainment complex developed on the former site of Windsor Safari Park. Developed by Lego, the Danish producer of toy bricks and models beloved by children of all ages, the theme park is expected to attract 1.4 million visitors during its first six-month season.

Principal beneficiaries of this venture will be Swiss hotel, restaurant and food group Mîvenpick, which has a five-year contract to run all the catering at the site, and Marriott Hotels, with whom Lego has set up short-break packages at four properties.

For Mövenpick, the stakes are high. This provides the opportunity - which has so far eluded it - to make its mark over here. The company has opened only two restaurants, both in London, in the five years since it first brought its Marché "street market" concept to the UK.

Mövenpick's UK managing director, Daniel Senn, says Legoland will spearhead a fresh round of expansion that will include the national retail launch of Mövenpick's premium-brand ice-cream, which will also be sold throughout the theme park.

Mîvenpick's catering is based on fresh food, with everything prepared and cooked on site in front of customers. Lego believes it will be the first theme park in the UK, if not the world, to take this approach.

Mövenpick won the contract without a contest. "Lego wanted something different and we were a perfect fit, as our two philosophies are similar. Fast food operators were never in the running," says Mövenpick's Legoland general manager Jurgen Scheulen. "We were on board from the outset, which has enabled us to achieve what we need in terms of layout and facilities."

The company has not invested financially in Legoland, apart from the development of a chocolate-coated ice-cream Lego soldier - the park's motif - which will be sold throughout the site. All the outlets follow Mövenpick's standard formula that does away with back of house - with the exception of dish-washing - putting the kitchen out front, with all preparation and cooking paraphernalia on show to the public.

Sacks of vegetables, pasta, boxes of eggs, plus baking ovens, griddles, fridges and storage equipment are treated as part of the marketplace-style decor that is Mövenpick's hallmark.

The food will range from the Hilltop Café's croissants, pastries and pancakes, whose fresh-baked aroma is expected to captivate new arrivals, to pasta and pizza in the garden-themed Pasta Patch mid-way through the park, and barbecued ribs, chicken, sausages and burgers in the Crossed Ribs, the site's furthest outpost.

The Marché, the biggest restaurant, seating 200 inside and the same number outside, will serve the largest choice of meals, ranging from salads to a variety of pasta dishes. It will also provide meals for Legoland's 700 staff.

Instead of having separate menus, children will be served smaller portions of the main fare. "We don't want to restrict their choice, and we want them to feel like heroes, having the same food as their parents," says Scheulen. "All the food we are offering will be popular with children anyway.

"It will include our own beefburger which we serve throughout the world, and a small pork sausage developed for children. The Marché restaurant will also have a special daily pasta dish for children."

Bowing to British tastes, chips will be served at two outlets, though Scheulen says they're not in keeping with Mövenpick's philosophy. Scheulen is experimenting with a revolutionary new hot-air oven that doesn't use oil or fat, and works by "tumble drying" the chips to crispness. Though he has high hopes for the oven, which is made by German firm Ubert, there are doubts as to whether it will achieve the volume and speed that will be required. Valentine and Franke deep-fat fryers have been installed as stand-bys.

To achieve volume throughput on the restaurants' hot counters, each cooking station will have several pans on the go simultaneously, with the same dish at different stages of production. "We work on a cycle, so that by the time the first pan has been emptied, the last pan is ready for serving," explains Scheulen. "We're also highly selective with our recipes, each of which is designed to take four minutes to prepare. We have 100 in a file, compiled from all our restaurants worldwide.

"In keeping with our freshness philosophy, we prepare food continuously according to demand. It also keeps wastage to a minimum; if it's a hot day and a dish isn't selling, we only have a few portions to dispose of."

To simplify matters further, staff working on the hot counters will be trained to produce one recipe per shift, rather than a range of dishes.

This approach, which applies to all Mövenpick's Marché-style restaurants, calls for few conventional craft skills. "Our concept is so easy, we don't need expensive trained chefs," says Scheulen. "Anyone who is customer-oriented and has the right attitude can do it."

Over the past few months Mövenpick has been recruiting, mostly from the Slough/Maidenhead area, and seeks 290 seasonal staff for the peak summer period. Its selection policy is flexible. "Many will be part-timers, such as students and housewives, wanting a few hours' work. We're offering a lot of different opportunities," says Scheulen.

Recruits will receive six days training prior to Legoland's opening. Trained staff who have proved their worth will be encouraged to return the following season. Four senior managers will be permanently sited at the theme park.

Projected turnover from the catering operation remains a closely guarded secret. "We have an idea, but can't say in case we're wrong," says Senn cautiously.

However, between 10,000-15,000 visitors are anticipated daily during the peak summer months, spending an average of five or six hours in the park, during which the majority are expected to eat at some point. As an indication of prices, Mövenpick will charge 75p for a croissant, 95p for individually ground-and-brewed coffee and about £3.60 for pasta.

Unlike other leisure parks, where daily visitor volumes are unpredictable, making catering more difficult to plan, Legoland is to operate a pre-booking system that will control intake.

When capacity is reached - a variable figure depending on the child/adult ratio - the park will close. Marketing manager Joanna Oswin says the primary market will be the UK, and estimates a potential audience of nine million young families within a two-hour drive time.

A large chunk of weekday business is expected to come from school outings. With a huge promotional campaign under way, Legoland has over 200,000 advance bookings, putting it well on the way to achieving its annual target figure.

Marriott Hotels, Lego's recommended hotel group, already has substantial forward bookings at its Portsmouth, Swindon, Heathrow and Slough/Windsor properties, where short-break packages are being offered to individuals and through travel operators serving US and European markets.

Heathrow Marriott sales and marketing manager, James Ramage, anticipates Legoland generating 25,000 bed nights over its six-month season. "We're thrilled by it," he says.