31May2018

Improving F&B fan experience through partnership at the Aviva Stadium

Martina Flood, Head of Catering & Operations at Aviva Stadium, on how they were able to improve fan experience through partnership and how to approach the different fan profiles regarding hospitality.

Hospitality fan profiles

Aviva Stadium mainly hosts football and rugby events, both fan segments have their own needs.

 

Football Hospitality Guest

Rugby Hospitality Guest

50%-60% informal dining e.g. finger food/buffet style service

Geared toward corporate businesses

15%-20% traditional sit down meal

60% traditional sit down meal

 

Research concluded that F&B is an intrinsic part of the matchday experience. Fans want to get food and drinks quickly and with a good service. Therefore, all of the food kiosks in the Aviva Stadium have live cooking facilities, the ability to see chefs preparing food freshly for the fans and partnership with different qualitative F&B suppliers.

Importance of branding

Furthermore, she explained the importance of branding to deliver great fan experiences. Good F&B is not enough anymore for today’s fans. They want to receive the food in a quality environment and as efficiently as possible. This helped to raise awareness around the stadium and it pushed the kiosks to work better and create new campaigns.

Results after the campaign were very positive. The stadium had a 25% increase in average kiosk sales compared to the year before. November 2016 food sales made up even 15% of total sales. In 2017, this percentage increased to 18%. A good example is their pizza kiosk. The product has never changed, only the branding. An increase of 41% has been noticed because of branding which makes this very important for fan experience. 

RapidQ app

In 2013, the stadium launched an application. The ‘Click & Collect’ app, now named RapidQ, enables fans to buy F&B cashless. Fans can order, choose a collection time and pay for their order in advance through the app with their debit/credit card. This allows fans to save on cash, faster service and savings on payroll in general. 

“Results have been noticeable since the introduction of the app. The app has been downloaded over 9,000 times on iOS and Android. Furthermore, there is a high ordering, on average 2,5 orders per customer. The average spend has been increased from €13.28 (after queuing) to €17.25 through RapidQ.”

Future steps to improve F&B at Aviva Stadium

  • Continued movement toward cashless with plans to trial full cashless kiosks/bars
  • Grow the use of the pre-order app
  • Continue to stay ahead of food trends
  • Digitising tariffs and the use of this technology for fan engagement
  • Focus on the guest
  • Developing partnerships: with their clients, stakeholders, hospitality agents, suppliers, technology partners, etc.  


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Posted on 31/05/2018 in: