Sowing the seeds

Refreshing change at sporting venues both east and west

With the Commonwealth Games fast approaching, it is essential that our sporting venues are ready for this momentous event. One important aspect is the catering provision for both the public and the athletes themselves. So with just over one year to go, we are delighted that two of the official venues, the Royal Commonwealth Pool and Hampden Park, are focusing on this and have been successful in achieving healthyliving awards for their cafés.

When Vanessa Sanal was appointed by Edinburgh Leisure to deliver in-house catering at the Royal Commonwealth Pool, her vision was to create a healthier catering offering to be a great fit with Edinburgh Leisure’s vision of ‘Inspiring Edinburgh to be a more active and healthy city.’

Accordingly, she took the view that having fried food on the menu was not the right way to go. The Café Refresh kitchen had been newly fitted out with fryers and griddles, but so determined was Vanessa that there would be no fried food served, that she took the decision not to commission them. In fact, the fryers were never used and have now been sold on in the brand new state they were purchased and originally installed.

Vanessa explained: “A lot of customers remembered what the café had been like before the closure, but when they asked for chips and cheese we just said, ‘Sorry, we don’t offer that, but we do offer these alternatives...’

Creating Café Refresh was an exciting challenge and very rewarding, and achieving the healthyliving award has been amazing for us as a team.”

It is a similar story at Hampden Park in Glasgow where Prestige Scotland delivers the in-house catering. Nicki Thompson has been leading the team at the Museum Café to achieve the award.

Nicki explained: “The Commonwealth Games have definitely been a driver to working towards the award. But we are also aware that there is more of a shift towards healthier eating, so the award was a good fit.

Achieving the award has at times been challenging; in particular sourcing products and ingredients which are suitable for the award. But the team have embraced the change and found ways to overcome these challenges. We are chuffed to bits to have achieved the award.”

With both venues set to come under the spotlight during the Commonwealth Games in 2014, Vanessa, Nicki and their teams can be hugely proud of proving that expectations and eating habits can be changed for the better.

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issue twenty-six:
Summer 2013
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The healthyliving awardNHS Health Scotland - Scotland's health improvement agencyHealthier Scotland - Scottish GovernmentHealthier Scotland - Scottish Government