London has been on the home straight towards the creation of a memorable 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games since the spectacular handover from Beijing in the summer. The culmination of this marathon undertaking is now just three years away, representing one of the most unique opportunities that UK businesses - and the fresh produce industry - has seen in a long time.
Millions of people will descend on the capital for the Games - all needing to be fed - and once the Olympics have been and gone, it is hoped that the regenerated part of east London will make up a brand-new community and become a hub for restaurants, bars and cafes.
But with confusion surrounding some of the details and expenses straining to stay within the £9.3 billion-plus budget, criticism is never far away.
So what will the massive spike in demand over the Olympic events mean for the industry? Will growers and suppliers of all sizes be able to get in on the action? And not least, how can fresh produce businesses make the most of opportunities once the Games have been and gone?
For now, it seems there could be more questions than answers, but the industry is already gearing up to make the most of the openings that could come its way.
Rosie Boycott, chair of London Food, is set to meet the Olympic organisers this week, to make sure that some of the main issues surrounding food supply do not slip off the agenda.
The recruitment process for a head of foodservice and catering for the event is underway and, when this is completed in the next few weeks, it is widely expected that this side of things will really get going.
The Games will present a unique opportunity to highlight the relationship between physical fitness and healthy eating on a world stage, especially since the bid pledged to create the greenest Olympics ever and promised to provide “local, seasonal and organic” food at the event. The likes of Coca Cola and McDonald’s may make up the big sponsors, but the Olympics - with their emphasis on health, fitness and athletics - are sure to have a strong and positive food agenda.
It is down to the fresh produce industry to make the most of this massive opportunity, to reinforce its 5 A DAY message and to make inroads to supplying the many restaurants, bars and cafes that will spring up in the regenerated area of London.
By the time of the 2012 opening ceremony, more than 100,000 people will be working to deliver the Games, both on site and throughout the supply chain. Some 1.3 million meals will be eaten over the four-year construction phase and around 14m meals will be needed over the 60 days of the Games - equivalent to approximately two per cent of the number of school meals served in the UK each year.
The 2012 event will be prepared and staged by two organisations, both of which will award contracts on a wide range of products and services, as and when they are ready.
The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) is a government-funded body that has taken charge of building the venues and infrastructure, subject to EU procurement regulations. Its work will run alongside that of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG), which is responsible for staging the event, funded in the main by the private sector and covering goods and services from sports equipment to catering. The majority of these contracts will be handed out this year.
The work of both bodies is underpinned by six priority themes, ranging from the practical - design and accessibility, employment and skills, equality and inclusion, healthy and safety, as well as sustainability - to what the event could mean for London in the long term, with its legacy.
Each organisation will manage its procurement separately, but - we are told - with fair and sustainable principles and processes.
The top-tier contracts will be listed on CompeteFor, which publishes Games-related contract opportunities. This online service aims to ensure the transparency of London 2012 contracts by building a business support network that develops and grows throughout the delivery process, as well as enabling a range of businesses to benefit from the London 2012 investment.
There are expected to be more than 50,000 contracts procured in the lead-up to the Olympics through the supply chain and in related work, ranging from construction in the first phases, to all manner of things, including the supply of food throughout the event - for both athletes and visitors - and beyond, to make the most of the legacy.
Most of the opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses are likely to come from further down the supply chain but, it seems, once the ball gets rolling, only those who are ready for it will be able to make the most of these.
It will be essential to assure businesses of all sizes that that there will be a level playing field for supply contracts. Those on the ground are already lobbying to make sure that all levels of contracts are listed on CompeteFor, to ensure the Games are kept transparent and accessible to businesses of all sizes.
But perhaps the outcome that will have the most impact on the fresh produce industry will be the substantial regeneration left behind in the wake of the Games.
The Olympic Park will be transformed into the largest urban park to be created in Europe for more than 150 years. The canals and waterways of the River Lea will be cleaned and widened. The new area, which will be connected to the Thames Estuary to the south and the Hertfordshire countryside to the north, will feature native species and restore wetlands.
The Olympic Village, where competitors will stay throughout the Games, will be converted into homes for key workers, such as teachers and nurses. A further collection of houses built in the Olympic Park will help generate more than 9,000 homes.
All together, this will make up a thriving new community of more than 40,000 new homes, complete with shops, restaurants, bars and cafes, and all the business opportunities that go along with that.
The industry is keen to ensure that the government honours its pledges on the delivery of the Games. These promises were reflected in the publication of part of the Mayor’s London Food Strategy, Healthy and Sustainable Food for London, in 2006, which noted that “the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games will bring an array of food-relevant opportunities, ranging from meeting the dietary requirements of athletes, through to highlighting London’s world city status in terms of the diverse cuisines available in the city, to the promotion of regional food for spectators at Olympic events”.
A report from lobbying body Sustain, the Soil Association and the New Economic Foundation published in 2007 calls on the government and sponsors to meet their promises by serving 75 per cent unprocessed, 50 per cent locally sourced and 30 per cent organic food and drink.
“A focus on food should be a high-profile element of the regeneration agenda allied to the Olympics,” said Jim Sumberg from the New Economic Foundation, to mark the release of the Feeding the Olympics report. “There is a real opportunity to create a unique legacy that combines thriving local economies and improved wellbeing.
“It also benefits that local food businesses are included in the Games to achieve the much-hailed regeneration benefits. There is a real potential for locally owned businesses, run by people from diverse backgrounds, to work together to supply catering for the Games, but organisers must ensure they have relevant information and support to enable them to bid for contracts.”
Ben Reynolds, network director at Sustain, is keen to make sure that the Olympics do not turn into a missed opportunity for the fresh produce industry. “Getting food into LOCOG’s strategy has been a huge priority,” he tells FPJ. “The big boys will be supplying the Games, but LOCOG is not bound by EU regulations so it can specify where food is from or make sure a certain percentage is sourced from local or regional suppliers.
“LOCOG has made broad commitments that it cannot go back on. In terms of fresh produce, we would like to see as much home-grown product as possible, because when you go to any Olympic host country, it shows you what it can do - we should make sure that what can be produced in the UK is sourced from the UK.
“We need to make sure that all contracts are put up online, or it could be that most of your readers will not get a look-in,” he continues. “There is every chance that, bar the main contracts for the big caterers, other contracts won’t be put out there and that is not good enough.
“What we want is for the Olympics organisers to put their foot down early on and tell us how it is going to work. What they need to do - and we can help them with this - is to bring together suppliers and tell them what they need to work towards. The sooner we get the caterers confirmed, the sooner relationships can be built with suppliers and the sooner we will know if we are on the right track.”
Others are more optimistic about the role that the Olympics will play in boosting the food industry, both in the short and long term.
David Smith, manager of markets at the City of London Corporation, oversees New Spitalfields Market, right on the border of the Olympic area, as well as meat and fish markets Smithfield and Billingsgate. He is looking forward to the potential business that the Games will bring, but is clear that more preparation and co-ordination is needed from this year.
“I think there will be opportunities for all the markets in London, not just fresh produce, but meat and fish as well - it will be about foodservice in its widest form,” he says. “The government is encouraging small and medium-sized enterprises to get involved throughout the supply chain, and these will buy from the markets.
“There is a real opportunity for Spitalfields and we are trying to harness that. We are trying to establish links with LOCOG, which will run the Games themselves, and we are already in touch with the ODA, which is looking after much of the legacy work. Now is the time to start focusing on what we need to do, even though the 2012 Olympics are still three years away.
“In the meantime, we have to take a pragmatic view of healthy eating and accept that we are not going to change consumer attitudes in three weeks,” Smith continues. “But what we are keen to push is that there are healthy alternatives, and we want to give visitors a real choice. This is what we want to talk about with the ODA because, at the moment, its concept for catering is not entirely clear and it has not yet got its ducks in a row. This is one of the things that will be considered now that construction is well underway.
“I think there is a real chance for everyone to benefit, across the board - there is a role for everyone, but it will be demand-led by the catering outlets of every kind in and around the Olympic site, when the Games are on and after.
“There are already at least 10,000 people working on the site and they need to be fed. There are already business opportunities out there, but I think the real opportunities will come in the three weeks of the Games and beyond.
“However, these opportunities will be demand-led. As far as we are concerned, the majority of the opportunities will come from the legacy thereafter. We are trying to fix meetings to see how we can help our own people and those associated with the markets in what we call the city fridge. This is the right time for us to start thinking about what we can do - those organising the Olympics need to tell us what we want and we need to show them what we can do.”
The important thing, for now, is for the fresh produce industry to keep banging its drum to make sure it is seen and heard as the Olympic organising bodies shape their plans and policies.
“The agenda is very much on our side,” says Smith. “Now we have to capitalise on the enthusiasm of the gold medals at Beijing and the huge number of athletes that will come to London in 2012, to continue to push the healthy-eating message.
“We are going to work very closely with the tenants of Spitalfields so that we can find the right avenues in the ODA and LOCOG and make the most of the opportunities on their doorstep.”
Chris Hutchinson, chairman of the New Spitalfields Tenants’ Association, admits that the traders have so far been “a bit remiss” in getting their information together, but insists that the £500m a year market will soon gear up to make the most of the Games. He is confident that there will be opportunities for wholesalers to supply small and medium-sized foodservice suppliers who, in turn, will supply the larger catering companies overseeing the event.
“The Olympics will see a substantial amount of eating and drinking and, of course, there will be an amount of fresh produce that will be used,” he says. “We will be doing our very best to back the Games, not just for the financial gain - because in just three weeks, it might not be that great - but because we want to raise awareness and make sure people know that we are here.”
The traders at Spitalfields are keen to see the creation of a composite market on their east London site, with fish market Billingsgate and meat market Smithfield moved to the same site. This initially seemed a possibility following the Games, but it has since been decided that the playing fields next to Spitalfields will be used as a coach park throughout the event and then the site will be restored to its original state, as grassland.
Even so, traders are looking forward to seeing how the Games will leave the area. “The legacy, as such, could be quite interesting,” says Hutchinson. “The regeneration of east London would be good for our customers, and so good for us.”
But a number of concerns have already been raised, with many questioning whether the supply chain will be able to cope with the massive peak in demand over the Games themselves and the difficulties that smaller firms might face in the Olympic supply chain.
“This kind of scale was always going to be a challenge, but we have to remember that the businesses that will win the contracts will be used to it,” says Reynolds. “The main thing is that we want to make sure that there really are opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses - they have to have the confidence to invest in increased production in the run-up to the event and this will come if they build up trading relationships with those involved.
“Another thing that they will have to bear in mind is what they will need to do to comply with these contracts. We do not want businesses to fall down in areas in which they could have been given warning - for example, on the type of insurance they need - so we need to start up communication now.”
Nigel Jenney, chief executive of the Fresh Produce Consortium, speaks for the industry when he says he is confident that the London 2012 will provide a “fantastic” opportunity for the fresh produce industry, both in the run-up to the event and in the longer term, especially in terms of the wider promotion of healthy eating. “As the nation focuses on this showcase of physical fitness, the industry’s Eat In Colour campaign will seize the opportunity to reinforce the link between physical fitness and a healthy diet,” he says.“People in the UK are not eating enough fruit and vegetables to maintain a healthy diet and, without a dramatic change in eating habits, it could take another 25 years for consumers to meet the recommended 5 A DAY. We hope that the Olympics will leave a lasting legacy for people of all ages to enjoy fresh healthy produce and to take up 5 A DAY.”
It is clear that the Olympics will offer some real opportunities for the fresh produce industry, but it could be the case that only the boldest companies will have the chance to get involved and make the most of the Games. The important thing, it seems, is for businesses to start thinking about what they can offer and how they can deliver for the 2012 event, right now.
CATERING JOINS THE COMPETITION
David Burns, managing director of national foodservice supplier Fresh Direct, shares his views on how the Olympics will impact on the catering trade.
Let’s be under no illusion: in the run-up to the 2012 Olympics and subsequent Paralympic Games, the lion’s share of any profit will go to the construction and transport industries. However, there may be limited spin-offs for our industry through the need to supply food to an enlarged workforce engaged in the organisation and construction of the venue and possibly to supply new, Games-inspired restaurant and hotel ventures opened in the lead-up to the event.
The provision of more than 12 million meals and refreshments to athletes and officials, the workforce, media and VIPs - not to mention the millions of spectators within the space of a few weeks - does sound like an attractive prospect to me, and I am sure most others in the fresh produce sector would agree.
I am sure all fresh produce suppliers will raise their game to cope. It will be a highly competitive time, with foodservice companies eager to improve their turnover and profile. But given that foodservice is one of the most complex and critical operations required for the Olympics, the main contract winners are likely to be large, fully accredited companies with a proven track record in bulk handling, quality control, transport logistics and customer service. Smaller operators may struggle to reassure pressured organisers that they have the wherewithal to manage on such a scale.
The main beneficiaries will be based in, or strongly linked to, London. Events are mainly and deliberately concentrated in the capital, but out of necessity some are located on the South Coast - sailing for instance - and even as far away as Glasgow, for the early rounds of the football tournament, so there will be a small regional trickle-down effect.
We have a strong customer base in south-east England, so even if we remain passive we would still experience an upsurge in sales as our clients become busier. By actively assisting our event-catering customers with their tenders, however, we hope to see a strong improvement in turnover for the duration of the Games.
Specialist event caterers are likely to have a short-term bonanza, while restaurateurs in the Home Counties should profit from swollen visitor numbers. The food markets and wholesalers that supply them should benefit directly as a consequence. Ironically, restaurateurs elsewhere in the country fear a slump in turnover, if evening TV coverage proves irresistible in the case of potential British success, particularly in the high-profile track-and-field events.
There will be opportunities for us to get the healthy-eating message out there, but it will not be easy, especially as the burger chain where clowns eat will once again be the official restaurant of the Games, with full sponsor rights including use of the Olympic rings in global marketing efforts and exclusive sponsorship opportunities with the national 2012 Olympic teams. In an ideal world, such global icons as Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps should be placed above the exploitation of junk food peddlers and be associated solely with the promotion of healthy eating, and maybe - just maybe, it would gain ‘coup’ status among youngsters, with a long-term positive effect on their eating habits.
But we have to be realistic in terms of the legacy that the Games will leave us. From a consumption perspective, the Olympics are unlikely to change eating habits in the long run, based on the success of UK athletes in the Beijing event last summer. Are we all consuming more fruit and vegetables now simply because of the British success in the China Olympics? I don’t know if anybody is looking at their wage packets, household bills and the current economic climate and thinking, Olympics 2008 - we must buy fruit and veg. Unfortunately, other factors soon wipe out the memory, such as a recession, fuel prices, a crashing sterling and the rising cost of fresh produce and food generally.
However, in many ways it is an unknown - none of the younger generation can speak from the experience of hosting an event of this magnitude and the subsequent effect on the population. There is a marvellous opportunity to target younger people for sure, but only if the message from the top shows a real desire to promote healthy lifestyles.
Unless we can successfully portray success on the track and a correlation to healthy eating, we will be fighting the huge corporations such as McDonald’s and Coca Cola. For sure, every walkway, every flag, every billboard will be fighting against the humble 5 A DAY campaign.
However, in terms of life after the Olympics, the fresh produce industry should be able to take advantage with respect to its supply to foodservice before, during and after the event, especially through hospitality and the overall uplift in catering and tourism that will no doubt lead up to the Games.
Post-2012, no doubt we will have the legacy of the Olympic Village itself - and let’s hope we don’t have another Millennium Dome on our hands - but I do believe this time that the legacy has far more to offer than the poorly thought-out long-term plan for the dome.
Geographically, it has more to offer in terms of general commerce and access should benefit massively in terms of the improved transport infrastructure, and a significant number of long-term jobs should be created once the Games have been and gone. No doubt, both retail and leisure opportunities will present themselves.
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