Loading
Caterer & Hotelkeeper Magazine

Tags:

Caterer loves... Wimbledon

Thursday 23 June 2005 00:00

Nothing - apart from the tennis - symbolises the Wimbledon Championships as much as strawberries and cream. At this year's tournament it is expected that visitors will consume more than 28,000kg of strawberries accompanied by over 7,000 litres of fresh cream. That's more than 8,000 punnets per day.

Supplying tennis fans with their favourite treat is no small task. Grade 1 strawberries are picked in Kentish farms the day before and driven to London overnight. They arrive at about 5.30am, when they are inspected before being hulled and fed to the punters.

The price of a serving of 10 strawberries with cream increased gradually from £1.60 in 1990 to £2 in 2003, but since then the price has remained the same.

Wimbledon has the largest catering operation carried out at any single annual sporting event in Europe. About 1,500 catering staff are employed by Facilities Management Catering at numerous restaurants and cafs across the site, including the tea lawn, the Wingfield restaurant and the member's enclosure.

Visitors to this year's tournament are expected to gorge on 190,000 sandwiches, 135,000 ice-creams, 22,000 slices of pizza and 12,000kg of poached and smoked salmon - not to mention the 150,000 glasses of Pimm's, 17,000 bottles of Champagne and 100,000 pints of beer.

The first Lawn Tennis Championship was held in 1877 and had only one event, the gentlemen's singles, won by rackets player Spencer Gore. About 200 spectators paid one shilling to watch the final.

Recommended articles

Articles from the web

 
blog comments powered by Disqus
Profiting from 2012: Case Studies

Slash VAT, Boost business - Sign the petition now!

Latest Video

housekeeping

Video: highlighting housekeepers

In this week’s issue, guest edited by Raymond Blanc, we explore the important roles of housekeepers.

Watch here

The Caterer and Hotelkeeper discussion forum

  • Dingley Dell Flying Visits @ The Victoria Dingley Dell Flying Visits @ The Victoria
  • Dingley Dell Flying Visits @ The Victoria Dingley Dell Flying Visits @ The Victoria
  • Dingley Dell Flying Visits @ The Victoria: Mark Hayward Dingley Dell Flying Visits @ The Victoria: Mark Hayward
  • Dingley Dell Flying Visits @ The Victoria Dingley Dell Flying Visits @ The Victoria
  • Dingley Dell Flying Visits @ The Victoria Dingley Dell Flying Visits @ The Victoria
  • Dingley Dell Flying Visits @ The Victoria Dingley Dell Flying Visits @ The Victoria

Best of chef

Best of Chef – now available online

Best of Chef – now available online
View it now

Videos

Marcello Tully, Kinloch Lodge Video: Michelin-starred chefs turn out in force for Wellocks' chef conference Video: Highlights from Hotelympia 2012 Video: Foraging – why all the attention?
Marcello Tully
Masterclass
Watch the video here
Wellocks'
chef conference
Watch the video here
Highlights from
Hotelympia 2012
Watch the video here
Foraging:
why all the attention?
Watch the video here