Amadeus, the NEC Group’s retail, conference & banqueting, and hospitality caterer has strengthened its Senior Management team with the appointment of Tony Baldock as Operations Director. Tony brings with him over 35 years of experience in the catering industry and will use his knowledge and expertise to support the growth of 48% achieved by Amadeus since 2011/12.
Before joining Amadeus, Tony spent much of his career with the Compass Group UK and Ireland where he was involved in the bidding, mobilisation and project management of a number of high profile contracts with clients such as Sainsbury’s, Asda and B&Q.
He also worked as Executive Vice President of Leisure and Retail Sales for Compass Group Canada looking after Stadia, Hospitality, Fine Dining, Event Catering and most recently, he launched his own catering company with a group of catering consultancy specialists.
Managing Director of Amadeus, Kevin Watson, said, “Since 2011, Amadeus has won a substantial amount of new business which has resulted in our operating profit increasing by an impressive 48%. We have been looking for a candidate that will be able to support this level of growth to maximise profits and with Tony’s wealth of experience, we are confident that we have found the right person. He has a proven track record in building and developing new business to deliver success and will prove invaluable to Amadeus and our clients.”
In his new role, Tony will focus on increasing average transactional value, continuing to deliver the Amadeus Service that Sells programme and controlling labour costs.
Amadeus
Amadeus is the NEC Group’s retail, conference & banqueting, and hospitality caterer. Amadeus has almost 40 years’ experience catering for the NEC Group’s 3.5 million visitors, at more than 750 events a year, across its world class venues (the NEC, ICC, LG Arena and Barclaycard Arena). With more than 600 staff, including 75 chefs, the Amadeus team has won more than 640 awards for quality and innovation in catering.
In addition to its home venues, Amadeus currently operates at over 15 major ‘meet’ and ‘visit’ external events and venues, including The Scottish Open, Tatton Park, Cadbury World, Dudley Zoo, Stoneleigh Abbey, Stratford Riverside, Library of Birmingham and Camden Council. Amadeus utilises its Oak Kitchen restaurant brand and new MADE café concept in many of the venues, and also manages more than 60 outlets for retail partners JD Wetherspoons, Starbucks, Subway, Pasty Presto, Jimmy Spices and DP Coffee.