Our Smart Summer

Over the course of two weeks in June, for the third year running, our Moving Venue team catered for 600 guests as part of the King’s VIP dining experience at Hampton Court Palace Festival. The annual festival showcases an exciting lineup of open-air concerts in the Palace’s iconic Tudor courtyard, and this year the guests were treated to performances by the likes of Grace Jones, Tom Jones, Kaiser Chiefs, Rick Astley and Bjorn Again. Moving Venue delivered a delectable three-course menu across a series of dinners to VIP attendees. The menu consisted of our popular Tuna, Furakake, Seaweed starter, followed by our succulent Beef, Beetroot, Squash main, and finished off perfectly with our exotic Mango, Coconut, Sunflower dessert. 

Moving Venue returned to France this year for the 54th Paris Airshow. We have been catering airshows across the globe for 31 years and this year we were delighted to return to Paris Roissy Airport to deliver the catering across a number of chalets, both for repeat clients and new. Over the course of the week, the team delivered the catering to 5 different chalets, serving a total of 3,256 covers. Our catering at the event encompasses breakfasts, lunches, snacks and conference catering throughout the day, and it is always a project that our team relishes in delivering. With international travel, staff coordination, supplier sourcing and the additional challenges that Brexit has brought us, our operations and logistics team drew on their vast experience and knowledge to seamlessly deliver beautifully presented, expertly curated dishes and flawless service, from the moment the show opened to the closing of the door. We are already looking forward to returning to Farnborough again next year.

For over 10 years now, one of the highlights of our annual calendar has been Royal Ascot, and this year was no exception. We were delighted to cater across both the Villiers Club and the Village Enclosure locations again this year. With the help of 300 staff a day, over the course of the 4-day event, and across both areas, we served 7,295 guests. The guests indulged in a range of delights, from a delicious three-course lunch and themed afternoon tea, to an exquisite lunch buffet and gourmet evening burger. They also enjoyed an impressive 1600 bottles of champagne! 

At the end of June, we were delighted to cater for another year at Lord’s during the Ashes Test Matches. Over the course of 4 days we served a total of 3,266 guests, who enjoyed a mixture of hot and cold breakfast items, a delicious 3-course lunch which was tailored to the particular day of fixtures, and a mouth-watering afternoon tea. 

To kickstart our July events, we were thrilled to host the 35th JP Morgan Corporate challenge at our flagship venue in Battersea Park, Evolution London. The JP Morgan Corporate Challenge is the largest corporate running event in the world, which encourages teams from 5107 different companies, of all capabilities, to participate in a 5.6km run. This year we provided the post-race catering for the London event, which consisted of grab-and-go buffet style food. Over the span of the two-day event, we served 11,615 covers, which, in true Smart style, was just a small hurdle to achieve before our weekend at Silverstone! 

Our most recent, and arguably biggest challenge this summer was the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Over the course of the weekend, we faced the huge operational feat of providing breakfast, lunch and dinner each day to an astonishing 16,000 guests, across three different areas, including Ignition Club, Icon and Pegasus. By the end of the 3-day event, team MV had served an astounding 47,715 covers. We had help from approximately 800 staff per day. The team consisted of agency staff, freelancers and members from all the different divisions of Smart Group including the MV Sales, Planning and Operations teams, Marketing, HR, Accounts IT, Smart Live and of course, the chefs, who all stepped up to help achieve this extraordinary accomplishment. We were delighted to receive some incredible client feedback and we look forward to delivering the same exceptional standards of catering in 2024.