Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) delivered its largest off-site event contract to date for the biennial Dubai Airshow 2013, as the company takes off on a targeted expansion strategy for a bigger slice of the major event catering business. The multi-million Dirham contract, set to run for five years and cover three Dubai Airshows and one Middle East Business Aviation (MEBA) event up to 2017, is a major coup for DWTC's multi-award-winning Hospitality Division.
The agreement, signed with the shows' organiser, F'&'E Aerospace, got off to a flying start for the record breaking Dubai Airshow 2013, which saw US$206.1 billion worth of aviation deals signed and its largest visitor and exhibitor attendance.
"Dubai is famed for its hospitality and with the Dubai Airshow truly welcoming the world, we needed to deliver a solution befitting the occasion. This was truly an end-to-end catering contract, fully utilising both our vast facilities and resources onsite at Dubai World Trade Centre and at the show venue to clearly demonstrate the depth and breadth of our service offering," said Mohammed Al Jumairi, Vice President - Hospitality, DWTC.
With more than 60,692 visitors and 1,046 exhibitors from 50 countries at the show, DWTC's Hospitality Division was tasked with delivering up to 105,618 meal covers. During the event build-up and show days, 63 tonnes of foodstuff was prepared and served. A total of 325 chefs, working 54,000 man hours, led a 1,000 strong team, delivering an additional 30,000 canapes and sandwiches a day.
DWTC, which had been planning the catering for more than 18 months, also played a key role in advising on the catering set-up at the show's new home, Dubai World Central, which it believes will set the hospitality delivery benchmark for the coming years.
"This has very much been a partnership with F'&'E Aerospace from the beginning. With the show taking off from a new venue, it has given us a much wider scope to be involved in the planning and execution from an early stage, allowing us to tap into our more than a decade of event experience to deliver a world-class solution that was efficient, cost effective and of the highest quality," added Mr. Al Jumairi.
"We had significant runway to plan this and in the process have further built up a rich knowledge pool that will allow us to continually enhance our offering for the shows, as well as assist us in expanding our business reach to other sectors."
Source: WAM