London 2012 – are you ready for the Olympics?

With little more than a year to go until the 2012 Olympics, only a third of hospitality businesses feel sufficiently prepared, according to the first Caterer Olympics Market Barometer in association with ACT Clean, which gauges the feeling of the industry ahead of the event

Nearly a quarter of hospitality businesses have not even thought about preparing for the Olympics while nearly 40% still do not feel sufficiently prepared.

That's one of the chief findings from the first Caterer Olympics Market Barometer in association with ACT Clean, which gauges the feeling of the industry ahead of the event.

Only a third (33%) said they feel sufficiently prepared now to face the 2012 Games.

The finding makes for worrying reading with little more than a year to go until the Olympic flame is lit, signalling a start to the Olympic, and later the Paralympic Games.

The apparent lack of preparation by a majority of the 375 businesses quizzed comes despite almost two-thirds (61%) admitting that they expect the Games to have a positive or very positive impact on their business.

Businesses were even more positive when asked if they thought the Olympics would have a positive impact on the hospitality industry in general, with 75% saying they expected it to be a great success for some or all of the sector.

There were also signs that the message of the Olympic Fair Price Charter was getting through, as only 11% of respondents said they expected to raise prices. An overwhelming 72% indicated that they would not hike prices.

And fortunately for those businesses who are feeling a little less prepared than they would like to be, Caterer will be running a monthly focus on hospitality operations near the Olympic venues. Starting in July, this special series of Better Business profiles will follow operators to find out what they are doing to get ready, as well as providing tips on marketing, training, staffing, cleaning, and much more besides.

What the industry thinks…
Do you think the Olympics will be a success for the hospitality industry?
â- It will be a great success for the ones that prepare and make the best out of it
â- London hotels did not benefit much from the Royal Wedding as the tourists were not spending
â- With the sheer numbers of people coming to London from all over the world it has to be good
â- Like the Royal Wedding, it will be a short-lived but welcome blip
â- It's too far away in rural mid-Wales - even the Ryder Cup was over two hours away!
â- The Royal Wedding and the Olympics will keep Britain in the public eye for some time to come
â- The impact will generally be felt in London - there may even be a decline in other visitors to the UK
â- It's a chance to showcase our country and culture in a once-in-a-lifetime event that will be beamed worldwide
â- It will attract so many people