Wimbledon's crowd-pleaser

It's 10.30am on day four of Wimbledon 2003. Top seed Lleyton Hewitt is out. Last night Greg Rusedski exited in a shower of expletives. Britain's women have sunk without trace. Tim Henman will be on Court No 1 at 1.30pm. If he doesn't make the next round, the tournament will lose some of its fizz for the 40,000 spectators that daily swarm through its gates.

One man, however, is indifferent to the on-court dramas. Frank McCartney doesn't follow tennis. He's a rugby man, a former outside-centre, and later chairman of rugby, at London Irish. Besides, McCartney, managing director of official Wimbledon caterer FMC, reckons nothing - even the dismissal of Henman - could stop these people eating, drinking and making merry.

"If you look around, everyone's smiling," he says, ordering us Champagne on the Tea Lawn, where 400ft of counter space offers strawberries and cream, jugs of Pimm's, spicy "Dutchee" sausages, pizzas and doughnuts. "There's a lovely atmosphere. You'd have to work really hard to spoil these people's day."

McCartney, too, rarely stops smiling. It seems to be his main job for the 13 days of the championships: glad-handing hospitality clients and their guests, keeping the tennis club bosses happy, and bantering constantly with the 1,600 or so staff hired for the event, keeping them on their toes.

The hard work, he insists, is done by his co-directors, Martin Joyce and Colin Botting. Joyce controls the catering operations, Botting looks after "everything else" - logistics, buying, furniture storage, accounts. McCartney's remit is "business development and the interface with clients".

These job descriptions have not changed despite the takeover of FMC two months ago by Compass, the UK's biggest contract caterer, for an undisclosed sum. In fact, they haven't changed in the five years since McCartney set up FMC with Joyce and Botting, and probably since long before that. The Wimbledon contract - Europe's biggest single annual sports catering operation - is inextricably linked with the threesome, as Compass is well aware.

The FMC men "grew up together" as trainees at J Lyons Catering. Its event catering subsidiary, Town & County, had three Royal Warrants and a top-end portfolio that included Buckingham Palace garden parties, Cartier polo - and Wimbledon. McCartney eventually became managing director of this business.

In the early 1990s, Town & County was sold to Fort‚'s contract catering arm, Gardner Merchant, which was itself subject to a management buy-out in 1993. And when Gardner Merchant was bought by Sodexho in 1995, McCartney, Joyce and Botting went with it. But there was clearly a clash of cultures and - reading between the lines - personalities between the former J Lyons men and their new bosses.

"We didn't get on," is about all McCartney will say now. "It was a different culture, which my team and I were not comfortable with."

Whatever the issues, they were resolved in 1999 when McCartney quit Sodexho and established Facilities Management Catering (FMC), taking his two long-time colleagues - and the Wimbledon contract - with him.

By the sound of it, the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club's insistence that McCartney and friends should run their catering had been a source of friction for both Forte's and Sodexho's senior management. The club takes "a uniquely intimate interest" in food service during Wimbledon fortnight, McCartney says. "They feel you're only as good as your people, and I agree with that."

After gaining independence and clearly enjoying it, why has McCartney agreed to be bought out by another multinational? The Compass deal felt right because there was no question of a management shake-out, he says: "They buy a business for its unique features and then keep the management in there. The same people who are running FMC now will continue to run it as long as they can work."

One of McCartney's few fixed commitments during the championships is a daily 2.30pm meeting with the chairman of the All England Club and the secretary of its catering committee. Discussions range from menus for any special parties - some functions continue until nearly midnight - to less predictable events. A couple of years ago, a tree fell on a tent. On the first day of Wimbledon 2003, the swipe-cards used by huge numbers of staff and guests to pay for food refused to work for half an hour. Sales had to be recorded by hand.

A phone and two-way radio are permanent accessories for McCartney, whose mobile rings frequently during our interview. But he says major headaches are rare once the 13-day tournament is under way. "It's really just low-level problem-solving - boring, administrative checking. It's only when you get to the championships you find out whether all that talking, all those meetings, all that coffee-drinking, has been successful."

Planning really is everything. The consumption figures for Wimbledon fortnight are tripped out so often it's easy to become blas‚, but they are huge: 80,000 half-pints of Pimm's, 27,000kg of English strawberries, 22,000 slices of pizza, 12,250 bottles of Champagne, 30,000 portions of fish and chips, 190,000 sandwiches, 305,000 cups of tea and coffee.

Venues range from the take-away Food Village (chargrill, burgers, hot wok, pizzas, fish and chips, ice-cream, etc) in the Number 1 Court stadium to the £42-a-head Renshaw restaurant for debenture holders. There's also the waiter-service Wingfield public restaurant and the Caf‚ Pergola wine bar.

Just about everyone associated with the championships has their own eaterie: the county Lawn Tennis Associations, umpires and stewards, competitors and ball boys and girls. The massive media presence - more than 2,000 accredited journalists - is served by separate press and broadcast canteens, the latter open all night to accommodate Asia-Pacific correspondents.

There are numerous hospitality suites inside the ground, and FMC is also official caterer for two external marquees. One is the 500-cover Gatsby Club, operated by Keith Prowse, the UK market leader in corporate entertainment packages. Its lunches this year include, as a starter, a timbale of Moroccan-style lamb with cucumber salad and tsatsiki dressing, and, as a main course, pan-fried halibut drizzled with avocado oil and forked new potatoes.

McCartney estimates that 7,000-8,000 spectators eat sit-down meals each day. "They do their main-meal eating before the tennis, which means 11.30am to midday. People come and promenade before the first match, from 10.30am, and they won't leave sometimes until 9-9.30pm. So they're here a long, long time."

Surprisingly, the weather has little influence on sales overall. Sunshine means more ice-cream, water and Pimm's; cooler weather means less ice-cream and more Champagne. McCartney says the volume is pretty consistent from year to year. Even if it rains, the people keep coming. What's ideal, he says, is a heavy shower halfway through a show-court match, driving everyone to the bars.

The absence of lairy advertisement hoardings throughout the ground shows the club's aversion to overt commercialism, and McCartney cannot disclose figures such as spend-per-head. But FMC's first-year sales, when Wimbledon was its only contract, were £4m. Selling prices are reviewed annually by the club's catering committee, usually rising in line with inflation, "but spend usually rises at twice that". That should put this year's takings well beyond £5m, although the true figure is now hidden in a company turnover that could hit £17m in 2003/4. Since 1999 FMC has expanded well beyond the boundaries of SW19, even though its small year-round staff is based at the tennis grounds. ("You have to admit it's a terrific address," McCartney says).

The company's ongoing contracts now include catering for Southampton FC, the National Motor Museum and Marwell Zoo in Hampshire, and the Kingston Communications rugby and soccer stadium in Hull. FMC has a concession at the Royal Horticultural Society's Harlow Carr garden, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, and management contracts for Castle Howard, North Yorkshire, and Ipswich Town FC. It also supplies one-off events, such as Michael Parkinson's charity golf days.

At 2pm, rising noise levels tell us Henman is on court. The disinterested McCartney won't see it because he's off for his daily conference with the club. An hour or so later, Tim has completed a straight-sets win, and the crowd on Henman Hill are still smiling. Luckily for them, unluckily for FMC, rain fails to interrupt play this time.

Salmon and strawberries…

FMC aims to improve Wimbledon's food and drink offering every year, but it's more about presentation and service than radically overhauling menus. FMC tampers with the traditional favourites at its peril.

Its directors have visited the US, Australian and French open championships this year, as well as scouring UK restaurants for ideas.

"We review things together," Frank McCartney says. "Could we speed up service? Could we change what we're selling. Dare we change what we're selling?

"We've started to present salads differently. The USA is so salad-conscious, and we learned a lot from the restaurants at Flushing Meadow. But sometimes we can't emulate things because we don't have the space: every spare corner here is occupied."

Salmon remains the top main-meal choice, with about a tonne of poached and smoked fish sold daily. Strawberries are still a core item too, but yogurt is now offered as an alternative to cream.

Stir-fries have been radically improved. "Most people don't do it that well," McCartney says, "but we've brought in six Chinese chefs and given them the right equipment, so it's hot enough for them. And that's now very popular. One in every 10 or 11 people will have stir-fry."

What you'll pay, and where…

Food village Coca-Cola (500ml) £1.65
Tea per cup £1.15
Coffee per cup £1.15
Fish and chips £4.50
Chicken/vegetable stir-fry £5.65

Tea lawn Sandwiches from £2.50
Sausage roll £1.20
American muffin £1.35
Pure orange juice £2.05
Strawberries (10) and cream £2.00
Pizza slice £3.00
Baguettes £3.95-£4.50

Renshaw restaurant (debenture holders) Afternoon tea £8.25
(sandwiches, scones, cake, strawberries and cream, tea)Three-course lunch, £42.00including coffee

Wingfield restaurant (public) Three-course lunch, including coffee £33.50
Seafood menu £57.00
(glass of Champagne, prawns, lobster, strawberries and cream, coffee)

Team Talk

Recruiting 1,600 temporary staff for Wimbledon fortnight is a six-month task, carried out entirely by FMC's small personnel department.

Half of each year's intake has worked at previous championships, so recruitment starts with a Christmas card to old hands, accompanied by a priority application form.

Most employees are students from top universities throughout the British Isles. They don't usually have a catering background, but Frank McCartney says the policy means "we have extremely bright people who take direction well".

Unlike a royal garden party, Wimbledon doesn't require staff to have counter-terrorist clearance. But two references are taken and there are Home Office checks during the championships.

There are 3,500 applications a year, many from friends of former employees drawn by the great atmosphere and environment. "We pay minimum rate except for chefs, where there's a range, and they all get a bonus if they work to the end of the championships." Average earnings for the fortnight are about £600 before tips.

The team includes 150 chefs at all levels plus 125 managers and supervisors, alongside waiting and bar staff, general assistants, cashiers and store people.

FMC executive chef Frank Coughlin acts as troubleshooter for the food operations, providing training and support. All employees attend a pre-tournament training day covering everything from health and safety to interpersonal skills.