NEC's Amadeus puts team in place for London 2012 Olympics

Amadeus has announced the starting line-up for its 2012 project team, following its Olympic contract win in March.

The NEC Group's award-winning catering business will operate the Olympic Park North at the games in London next year.

Leading the team is project operations director Andrew Taylor, who joins Amadeus following seven years overseeing the food and beverage operation at Wembley Stadium as stadium general manager for Delaware North.

He has more than 20 years' experience in major sports and leisure event catering, having previously been operations director of the British Grand Prix. He said: "This is a really exciting time for me to join one of Britain's most experienced and creative contract caterers.

"I'm incredibly proud to lead the team which will deliver some great British food and regional flavours to the Olympic Park North - home to the cycling velodrome, basketball, hockey, BMX, Eton Manor and handball."

Taylor will be supported by Amadeus chef Neil Ashton, who has worked on major events such as the Rugby World Cup and the BBC Good Food Show. He will lead a dozen speciality chefs from Amadeus as they serve up menus for around 100,000 people every day of the games.

Samantha Bates has been appointed deputy project director after working as a key member of Amadeus's Olympic tender development team for several months. She was previously an Amadeus key account manager at the NEC Group. Other appointments include Rachel Hopkins as project support executive and Susan Cardno as business development finance manager - both previously held different roles at Amadeus.

Alyson Cawley, acting managing director of Amadeus, said "This is an exciting time for Amadeus and a huge honour for us to be part of London 2012. We have some great people on board and as always are committed to setting the benchmark for catering excellence in the live events industry.

"Our 35 years' experience across events such as the Horse of the Year Show, the Barclays Scottish Open and International Athletics have proved an invaluable grounding experience and we are all looking forward to what 2012 will bring."

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By Janie Stamford

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