Vama wins contract for Emirates lounge

Upmarket Indian restaurant group Vama has won a contract to provide catering for the Emirates business lounge at London's Heathrow Airport in a deal worth £1.5m per year.

Group owners Arjun and Andy Vama said they were delighted with the deal, which saw them beat off competition from contract catering giants Compass and Sodexho.

The joint venture, which will kick off on 25 September at Terminal 3, teams Vama with airline caterer Gate Gourmet. Gate Gourmet will provide the logistics and the majority of menu items for the lounge, while Vama will supply 14 staff to run it, as well as specialist Indian and Lebanese dishes.

"If we make a success of this, Emirates has a number of catering contracts up for grabs next year, including Heathrow's new Terminal 5, so it's a very exciting chance for us to expand," said Arjun Vama.

The group's latest diversification venture is in addition to the deal it signed earlier this year to open Vamaji concessions in several Selfridges stores.

Arjun Vama said that the increasingly competitive London restaurant scene had driven the company to search for other ways to grow.

By Chris Druce