Lancashire Cricket has onboarded Sodexo Live!, a global leader in hospitality services, as the club’s first-ever official culinary partner.
Sodexo Live! is a worldwide leader in sports and leisure hospitality services, and this new five-year partnership will enable the firm to provide an upgraded premium hospitality and event experience at Emirates Old Trafford. The arrangement also covers the delivery of meals for conferences, events, and hospitality.
The brand intends to create an efficient casual workforce of about 150 people from Greater Manchester and the North West region, benefiting the local economy and community. The cuisine will be managed by Sodexo Live! executive head chef Andy Hare, as well as Emirates Old Trafford head chef Nic Ashurst, who has been working at the stadium for 37 years. Both will work together to expand the club’s culinary offerings.
Together, Sodexo Live! and Emirates Old Trafford, which has had a £75 million makeover over the past 15 years, will present innovative and varied meals that will improve the eating experience for both conferences and hospitality hosted at the location.
Daniel Gidney, Chief Executive at Lancashire Cricket, said, “I would like to welcome Sodexo Live! to our family of partners as The Official Culinary Partner of Lancashire Cricket and Emirates Old Trafford. Sodexo Live! is a worldwide hospitality brand, with a proven track record of enhancing the culinary experiences across sports venues, conference centres and global events. Over the past 12 years we have quadrupled in size and our scale now requires an enhanced platform to really focus on the next stage of our growth. We know there is an increasing demand for varied, creative and distinctive menus that are tailor-made for different audiences across a range of events that we hold at Emirates Old Trafford.
“We believe Sodexo Live! has the expertise and vision to make a real difference to our food offering and enhance the whole event experience across cricket, conferences and concerts at the venue. This is a partnership that is incredibly exciting and we’re really looking forward to working with the team in the coming years to support us achieve our ambitious growth aspirations.”
Claire Morris, CEO Sodexo Live! UK&I, commented, “We are absolutely delighted to partner with Lancashire Cricket and Emirates Old Trafford. This collaboration represents a fantastic opportunity to bring our food expertise in event catering and hospitality to one of the most iconic global venues located in the North West of England. Furthermore, we feel incredibly proud to be selected as the Club’s first ever Official Culinary Partner in its 160-year history. We thank Lancashire Cricket for putting its trust in us as our Experience Makers plan to deliver a standout service.
“We are committed to creating an exceptional stadium experience for fans and visitors, ensuring that every match day and event is memorable for visitors regionally and from across the world. Our team is eager to begin this exciting journey and contribute to the continued success of Lancashire Cricket and Emirates Old Trafford.”
Additionally, new menu items with a regional flair will be offered, utilising products from nearby suppliers in Greater Manchester, Lancashire, and the North West.
The core value of Sodexo Live! is social impact, and the company will engage with socially responsible businesses like Change Please and Half the Story Biscuits to make a difference via its culinary offerings. A well-known coffee company, Change Please engages with the homeless to provide them with training and jobs so they can begin over. In a similar vein, Half the Story Biscuits employs people who have previously been homeless.
Sodexo Live! sponsors some of the world’s most well-known and prominent sports clubs, events, and stadiums. In the United Kingdom, it has partnerships with Fulham, Brighton & Hove Albion, Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest and more. Globally, it provides events to the French Open, the Tour de France, and the Miami Open, and stadiums in the United States such as the Hard Rock Stadium (home of Miami Dolphins) and the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, which will host Super Bowl LIX in 2025.
