Delaware North Companies Partners with SATS as Exclusive Caterer for Singapore Sports Hub

BUFFALO, N.Y. and SINGAPORE, March 13, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Singapore Sports Hub has appointed joint venture Sports Catering Services to provide catering and food and beverage services for its retail concessions, corporate suites, and members dining areas and for conferences, exhibitions and other special events across five of its venues. The contract tenure is for 21 years, with expected revenue of approximately S$50 million per year in its steady state of operations.

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Sports Catering Services is a 70:30 joint venture company between SATS (which holds the majority stake) and Delaware North Companies. This partnership creates a unique collaboration by bringing together two organizations with extensive wealth of knowledge and experience – combining more than 160 years of delivering large-scale catering and hospitality solutions – commensurate with the scale and length of tenure of the Sports Hub catering contract.

Philippe Collin Delavaud, Chief Executive Officer of the Singapore Sports Hub, said: "We are pleased to welcome Sports Catering Services to the Singapore Sports Hub team. The combination of specialized expertise from SATS, a proven culinary powerhouse in Singapore, and Delaware North Companies, the world leader in concession and hospitality catering, will create a new standard in providing a first-class visitor experience at the Sports Hub. We are confident that their extensive experience in innovative food trends, concessions, and customer service will 'wow' patrons and provide a new cutting-edge experience when they visit Singapore's newest sports, entertainment and lifestyle destination."

Previously, SATS provided catering services for sporting events such as the 2010 Youth Olympic Games and the 2009 Asian Youth Games in Singapore. Delaware North Companies is a global leader in hospitality and food service at more than 70 sports and entertainment stadia in the United States, Australia and the UK – including MetLife Stadium in New York, Wembley and Emirates Stadiums in the UK and Melbourne & Olympics Parks, the home of the Australian Open Tennis, in Australia. The company also owns TD Garden in Boston, one of the top sports and entertainment venues in the world.

SATS, through its inflight catering joint venture in India, first collaborated with Delaware North Companies in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, providing food and hospitality at the Athletes' Village, serving 33,000 meals daily across the main, casual and workforce/police dining areas. This forged the foundation for Sports Catering Services' bid for the prestigious Sports Hub catering contract.

The key deliverables and accountabilities of Delaware North Companies will be for the day-to-day operational delivery of the catering and food and beverage services, and internationally tested and trailed systems, and global best practices garnered from more than 70 contracts in the United States, UK, Australia and New Zealand. SATS will oversee areas including product development, quality assurance, culinary expertise and logistics.

What Sports Catering Services will deliver

Sports Catering Services will deliver a tailored catering solution for the 50 retail concessions, 62 corporate boxes/suites and four premier dining areas that has been firmly predicated on the broad demographic, cultural and dietary requirements as well as authentic local flavors and contemporary food trends.

The vision of Sport Catering Services is to deliver a high standard of catering service that is commensurate with the international facilities and events calendar that the Sports Hub will attract and to work pro-actively and collaboratively to ensure the hospitality offer meets the expectations of its guests, athletes and patrons.

The signing of the Sports Hub catering contract was held at the National Stadium Club Experience Centre.

Tan Chuan Lye, SATS President and CEO, said: "As a Singapore company renowned for its quality in catering services, SATS is proud to be associated with the Singapore Sports Hub as its catering partner, serving both the Singapore community and our visiting guests. We are excited to take on a key role in creating a memorable event experience for every individual who visits such an iconic venue. Together with Delaware North Companies, we are well placed to deliver this outstanding service by leveraging on our shared expertise and excellent track record of catering for institutions and large-scale sporting and premium events."

Lou Jacobs, Principal of Delaware North Companies, one of the most admired privately held hospitality companies in the world, remarked: "Delaware North Companies is certainly pleased to partner with a stellar organization like SATS to bring its brand of world-class hospitality and catering to one of the most significant new sports and entertainment complexes in the world. The Singapore Sports Hub is destined to be an undeniable landmark in Singapore, and we are certainly proud to be a part of such an iconic and inspired project that will take the sports scene in Singapore to a whole new level. In addition, we are extremely excited to be back in Asia. We have been searching for the right opportunity to gain a foothold back in Asia after 20 years and are certainly excited about the prospects for growth in sports, travel and hospitality."

Sports Catering Services will commence operations when the Singapore Sports Hub is fully operational in April 2014.

About SATS
With over 60 years of operating experience and a growing regional presence, SATS is Singapore's leading provider of gateway services and food solutions. Our comprehensive scope of gateway services encompasses airfreight handling, passenger services, ramp handling, baggage handling, security services, aircraft interior and exterior cleaning as well as cruise handling and terminal management. Our food solutions business comprises airline catering, institutional catering, and food distribution and logistics. Today, SATS handles about 80 percent of the scheduled flights and serves close to 60 scheduled airlines at Singapore Changi Airport. We are present in 36 airports in 10 countries and through our non-aviation food business, we have also established our presence in Australia. SATS has been listed on the Singapore Exchange since May 2000. For more information, please visit www.sats.com.sg. 

About Delaware North Companies
Delaware North Companies is one of the largest and most admired privately held hospitality companies in the world. Founded and owned by the Jacobs family for nearly 100 years, it is a global leader in hospitality and food service. Its family of companies includes Delaware North Companies Parks & Resorts, Delaware North Companies Gaming & Entertainment, Delaware North Companies Travel Hospitality Services, Delaware North Companies Sportservice, Delaware North Companies International and Delaware North Companies Boston. Delaware North Companies has revenue exceeding $2.6 billion annually and 55,000 associates serving half a billion customers in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand and Asia. For more information, visit www.DelawareNorth.com

About Singapore Sports Hub
The Singapore Sports Hub will be Singapore's premier land and water sports, entertainment and lifestyle hub with integrated programming. A unique cluster development of integrated world-class sports facilities within the city, it will play a critical role in accelerating the development of sports industry, excellence and participation and take sports to the next level in Singapore.

Located on a 35ha site in Kallang, the Singapore Sports Hub will include the following facilities:

• A new 55,000-capacity National Stadium with a retractable roof
• A 6,000-capacity indoor Aquatic Centre that meets world tournament standards
• A 3,000-capacity Multi-Purpose Arena that will be scalable and flexible in layout
• A Water Sports Centre
• 41,000 square meters of commercial space
• The existing Singapore Indoor Stadium
• Supporting leisure and commercial developments

The Singapore Sports Hub, which is led by SportsHub Pte Ltd, is one of the largest sports facilities infrastructure Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) projects in the world. It is also Singapore's largest and flagship PPP project of this nature and won the PFI award at London in 2011. The Singapore Sports Hub will open its doors in April 2014. For more information, please visit the Singapore Sports Hub website: www.sportshub.com.sg

SOURCE Delaware North Companies