Sodexho feeds guests at Rugby World Cup

Sodexho Prestige, the corporate hospitality arm of contract caterer Sodexho, has won a major contract at the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia.

The deal - worth £35m-£40m, depending on sales in the next few weeks - will involve entertaining 60,000 guests at the tournament's 48 matches, and includes providing tickets, catering and transport at 11 stadiums across Australia.

"This is a big win for Sodexho," said executive director Stephen McManus. "It reinforces our standing as a world force in event hospitality and catering. We hope our participation here will lead to other sporting-event projects."

Sodexho's latest victory in the sporting arena follows involvement at the last Olympics in Sydney and at last year's Commonwealth Games in Manchester, where the caterer provided 50,000 meals a day for spectators, athletes and officials.

Russell Haddon, the company's international events director, said the firm's experience entertaining at big sporting events was an important factor in winning the Rugby World Cup contract.

"We also made a financially good offer," he added.

In partnership with Cavendish Hospitality, Sodexho is offering a whole range of entertainment packages, designed to meet the needs of everyone from big corporate groups down to individuals. At least 52,000 hospitality bundles have been sold already.

Sodexho will run both concourse and corporate hospitality at Stadium Australia in Sydney, the venue for the semi-finals and final.

"It is going extremely well," Haddon said. "All the operations are set up - we are just waiting for the tournament to start."

The event kicks off on 10 October and runs for six weeks. It is now rated as the third most important showpiece in the sporting calendar, behind the Olympics and the football World Cup. It is predicted to draw more than two million spectators and will be beamed around the world to more than three billion viewers.

Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 2 - 8 October 2003