Amadeus has made two new senior appointments reflecting the rapid growth in its event and venue catering portfolio.
Paul Bate (pictured) will take up the post of Operations Director for Amadeus’ ‘home venues’ – this includes managing the catering for four million visitors per year at the NEC Group venues (the NEC, the ICC, Genting Arena, Arena Birmingham and Vox Conference Centre).
A commercially minded leader with years of senior-level venue experience, Bate previously held the position of Catering General Manager at the NEC for six years. During this role he spearheaded a number of initiatives including the introduction of ‘The Edge’, a new customer retail concept, to the venue.
To date, £5.5m has been invested in rolling out the concept across the NEC’s 20 exhibition halls – a move which is delivering £0.5m profit per annum for Amadeus.
In addition, Peter Watson has been appointed Operations Director, External Venues – a newly created role reflecting the expansion of this side of the business. Peter brings with him a wealth of industry experience, having clocked up over 30 years in the hospitality business, including spending 12 years managing catering operations within the motorway services industry.
The role will see Watson manage a varied portfolio of venues for Amadeus, including Cadbury World, Belfast Zoo, Belfast Castle, Compton Verney, Library of Birmingham and the newly contracted Stratford Racecourse among others.
Alongside this, he will oversee Amadeus’ events arm of the business which sees the team deliver hundreds of private and corporate events each year including a number of high profile, internationally renowned sporting tournaments.
Kevin Watson, Managing Director of Amadeus, said, “We are excited to welcome Peter and Paul to the team – they join a diverse and committed board comprising some of the best talent in the industry.
'These two new appointments reflect Amadeus’ continued growth over the last five years – with the expansion of our team we aim to take Amadeus to new levels by increasing our reach and penetration into new areas of the leisure and retail industry.”
The appointments have been made following five years of impressive business growth under Managing Director Kevin Watson’s leadership. Since 2012, the company has evolved from a £25m – £47m business with a 239% growth in profit.