Amadeus, part of the NEC Group, has announced plan to rebrand its 21 retail outlets to The Oak Kitchen name.
The rebranding exercise will be rolled out over the next three years and is expected to cost in excess of £1m.
The change will be inclusive of the company’s home venues, the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) and the International Convention Centre (ICC) Birmingham, with the aim to use the new identity as a model for future business.
The ICC has been the first venue to undergo the transformation from ‘Café Vite’ to ‘The Oak Kitchen’.
The renovated restaurant opened on Monday 21 January and serves a range of simple traditional hearty British dishes including award winning sausage and mash, hot pulled beef cooked in ale on a warm sour dough roll, British Beef, root vegetable and barley stew served with crusty bread and warming Yorkshire carrot and coriander soup.
Managing Director of Amadeus, Kevin Watson, said the new plans form part of the caterers plans to grow the retail arm of its business by introducing a recognisable and consistent customer-facing brand.
Watson: “We have recognised that the retail catering side of our business presents us with great opportunities for growth. Up until now the majority of our retail trade has been delivered via our home venues under the NEC Group, and has grown organically thanks to the high quality of our food and service delivery.
“Winning and delivering the catering contract for Olympic Park North at London 2012, as well as providing the catering at a number of other high profile events such as the Royal Horticultural Society's (RHS) Hampton Court, has really helped establish the Amadeus brand and our position within the industry.
“Building on this, we now want to establish ‘The Oak Kitchen’ as our customer-facing brand and develop a commercially viable retail model we can take to market. The brand recognition of ‘The Oak Kitchen’ will give our customers the confidence they are getting the same high quality food in any one of the venues we operate. ”
