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From Greasy Vans to Ottolenghi: How Food & Beverage Is Transforming Events · Event Industry News Podcast

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Hello everybody and welcome along to the Event Industry News Podcast with me,
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James Dixon, wishing you all a very good morning, afternoon, or evening,
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whenever or wherever you tune into today's podcast from.
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And on today's podcast, gonna be talking all things F&B,
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hospitality, how it's shaping
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how events are actually created, curated,
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how the public's kind of demands and
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requirements when they go to events now is shaping how events are actually
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delivering and dealing with that particular aspect. I'm going to be talking
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to somebody today who knows all about that because it is very
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much at the heart of what they do as a business. I'm delighted to say
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that my guest on the podcast today is Hugo Campbell. Hugo is the co-founder of
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Together. Hugo, a very warm welcome to the podcast. Welcome along.
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Great to be here. Thanks for having me, James. Not a problem at all.
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And, um, I'm quite excited about this. You know, I consider myself a bit
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of a foodie. Um, you know, I, I love you know,
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going to events and getting something decent to eat and to drink.
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I love the fact that we have so much more choice available to us now
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when we go to any type of event, not just, you know, music-related event but
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a sporting event. Now hospitality at any kind of event,
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um, now is, is so much better than it was. As I remember
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going to football in West London as a boy when you had a, a really
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rubbish burger van parked on the corner of the street selling some sort
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of greasy nonsense with a few fried onions on top. Um, before we get into
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sort of the nitty-gritty of, of, of, you know, what we're going to be talking
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about today, tell us a little bit about yourself, Hugo, and, uh, particularly what Together
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is as a business. Absolutely. And firstly, it's really great to
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hear you saying that you're a foodie because essentially the reason that Together exists
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is because more and more people in the world are becoming foodies
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day by day, which is what we always love to hear. And that means,
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uh, what's essentially the reason as to why Together is where it is. So we
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curate the F&B at a range of different types
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of events, many corporate events, um, private parties,
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but then also live events. So that means festivals,
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for example, the Isle of Wight, Wilderness, um,
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Crystal Palace, um, uh, so Palace Bowl Presents recently,
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as well as at a number of stadia. So I've just
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come back from the Hill Dickinson Stadium in Liverpool where I was over the weekend.
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We work at Kent Cricket Ground as well as
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a number of other football clubs. And what we try and do across all the
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events we work on is elevate the F&B, so the food and
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drinks across all the events we work at, to put them in line
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with changing expectations in the world around what people want from
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their F&B. So fundamentally, food, drinks,
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quality associated with it are becoming far more important to people,
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and Together's job is to make sure that people are getting the food
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that they want at events. If you don't mind me asking, what was your
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own background prior to founding or co-founding Together?
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Yeah, so I'm going to go back a little further on this because
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prior to my actual first job, because my co-founder and I knew
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each other when we were young. We actually ran a music blog together as teenagers,
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which was essentially to get us free tickets to festivals.
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So we were obsessed with the events world,
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particularly with music festivals. We're from Oxford, so we obviously
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went to Reading, Truck, but we tried to go to as many as we
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possibly could and, you know, blag tickets essentially. So our
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love for events kind of really started there and actually was sort of in those,
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in that kind of those music blog days. And we were obsessed with getting
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on the barrier 4 hours early to catch a band that actually probably only 20
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people are gonna watch anyway. But then I went
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on to be a journalist. So I worked for The Independent for 2 years.
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That was food adjacent. I mean, I wrote a lot of articles
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about restaurants and food trends, which was great,
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but that was essentially my background before I started Together.
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So kind of came into it as a huge fan of the,
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burgeoning street food scene in London and across the UK,
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but without too much of a background in the events world.
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So, you know, you obviously, as you're well aware, have to learn a lot about
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this world. But there was— the passion was there for the industry from
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when I was much, much younger. So it was always been a joy.
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Yeah, well, it's great. And I think it's always really important to frame not just
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somebody's sort of business, but their own background as well, because I think it often
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tells a story about, you know, why people are doing what they
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do now when they founded businesses. And your own background,
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obviously, uh, with the music blog will have given you no doubt
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lots of experiences of going to, you know,
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venues, but also to festivals, to all sorts of different types of music events,
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and probably seeing the full range of food and beverage options in
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those early days as a music blogger. Absolutely. And I think
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it's really good to, uh, it's given us a very good sort of frame
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for how food at events has evolved or changed over
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the years. So, you know, I can look back on, you know, I think the
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first time I went to a music festival would have been around 2004 and was—
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I've been going regularly since then. So, you know, despite the fact that I wasn't
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directly working in the events industry, year on year we've been able to track how
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food trends, the way that people are,
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you know, talking about consuming F&B at events has changed
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throughout that. So yeah, we've always kind of, uh, had exposure to the industry even
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before we were in it. And I suppose one thing to sort of, you know,
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mention very early on in today's episode is, is that,
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you know, good F&B at an event—
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let's take a festival as a, as an example, right? It's not
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just about giving the— well, it is about giving the,
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the, the attendees, the customers what they want
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in a changing world where people's demands and expectations
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for quality is so much better now. But this— what a
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lot of people forget is, is that has a huge knock-on effect financially for events
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now as well. By getting the F&B element of it right
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and improving the spend per head that you're getting from those customers,
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instead of just— instead of them seeing food as just something that they, they need
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to have, you know, twice or 3 times a day just to keep them sort
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of energized for whatever event they are, by making it an integral part of the
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offering, they're actually having a big financial benefit to their own event, aren't they?
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Absolutely. And it's no news to anyone that the festival industry
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is struggling at the moment in some regards because of the rising costs
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of goods and services that are attached to it. Food tends
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to be the second biggest area that
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organizers are making money from after ticket sales. Now, it's not
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always the case. Maybe some events have big sponsorship, et cetera, but food
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tends to be number 2. So it's really important for organizers to consider it
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as not just something that high-quality food means
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your fans are more likely to come back year on year, but also as a
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direct revenue driver and also one that you can look to grow year on year.
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Think about how you're improving it. And that's, you know,
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a big part of why organizers are working with Together is because we take quite
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an analytical view. You know, obviously the curation and the quality is a really important
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part of it, but the other half is an analytical view of you
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know, what sells to what crowds, what suppliers to put
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where, what, um, you know, how can a supplier create their
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own breakfast offering that's going to mean that they are able to kind of expand
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their service hours throughout a day, etc. You know, there are 100
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small ways in which you can always be looking to improve the F&B offering at
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any event. And, um, you know, part of our service is being experts
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in all of them. Yeah. What I'd love to ask is, is how the,
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the actual manifestation of the food offering is presented to
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audiences now. Because again, I use festivals as an example,
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but we, uh, it— people will instantly think of,
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you know, a line of food trucks and you go up and you get handed
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it and you kind of maybe find a bit of grass to perch on,
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you eat standing up. How is the actual manifestation of
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the F&B offering changing in terms of how it's presented to customers
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and what options there are? Are we seeing things like pop-up restaurants, places where you
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can actually go and sit down and sit at a table now to have,
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you know, food at a festival, you know, even if
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it's in areas like a VIP area or a glamping area. How is it
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actually manifesting itself and how has that changed? Yes, I'm going to give you 3
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quick examples of events we've worked on recently that I think between them
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give a really good overview of how the presentation
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is changing. So it's worth saying that At
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all festivals and events, there is always going to be a place for high-quality
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street food. You know, hopefully it's got great areas to sit
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and covered so you can, you know, enjoy it. But now with events, we are
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looking to sort of see how we can elevate that option and provide alternatives
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for people as well. So we did, we worked
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at a brilliant festival recently called Love Supreme, a jazz festival
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down in Glynde in Sussex, and we partnered with
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Ottolenghi. Uh, so with Yotam Ottolenghi to set up
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a pop-up restaurant on site there. So there were,
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I believe, 9 sittings, about 60, um,
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uh, about 60 guests at each one who pre-booked the meal,
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and that completely sold out across the, the 3
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days of the festival. So that was a really, really popular option. It helped
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that, uh, Loyal Khanna was the headliner of,
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uh, that night and gave a direct shout out to
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Ottolenghi. Wow, that was a nice touch for us to feel
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like we were working with the headliners themselves. So that
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was good fun. But it was a really good example.
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We're doing something similar at the Long Road Festival. Oh yeah,
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partnering with a barbecue restaurant there as well
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for a similar setup. At the Isle of Wight Festival,
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so example number 2, we partnered with a number of local
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suppliers. So a local tomato business, garlic business, and cheese
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business. We set up an area called the Taste of Isle of Wight. Now that
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wasn't much a difference in terms of style, but what
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it was was sort of aligning the offering there
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with local provenance, which to a lot of, you know, people who let's
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say would identify as foodies or young people who whom
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really think provenance are incredibly important when they think
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about food, that was just creating an area
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that was aligning itself with, with kind of local produce.
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And that was a really big hit there. So it was a whole area
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of the, of the, of the food that was just dedicated to Isle of Wight
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suppliers. We're looking to expand that next year. It was a really, really great spot.
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And then More recently, uh, we worked on Two
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Weekends Ago, a brilliant festival close to Oxfordshire. We worked
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with the festival to set up a secret area. I say see
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in slightly inverted, uh, we wanted as many people to find it as,
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as possible. Shop. We had a, um,
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a noodles, uh, supplier who was in there called Noods,
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uh, and a, uh, um, and a great area
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But it was accessible through what looked like a phone, a photo booth.
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So, wow. You know, it looked like a, and it looked
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pretty visually stunning outside. It had neon lights around it saying the
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Slurp Shop, but it looked like it was a photo booth. So you went in
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there and then suddenly this whole new world would open out with food
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supplier, bar, a DJ, and generally just sort of great
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vibes as well. You know, a load of sort of lanterns around
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it as well. So it was sort of this whole new area, you know,
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kind of, The best thing about festivals is often discovering those sort of
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nooks and crannies that you, uh, that kind of, uh, people start talking
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about and then people are going and looking for them across the site.
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So working, uh, from a kind of creative production perspective was really,
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really cool. And I think, you know, those are 3 different examples,
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but they are kind of symbolic across, across them all as to how
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people are approaching, you know, the food at their events and trying to make
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it more original, a bit more exciting,
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creative, you know, bring in kind of local produce to it
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as well. So I think between those, they kind of really sum up how festivals
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and events are kind of really thinking about how to improve F&B at the moment.
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You use the phrase creative production elements, um, a few
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moments ago, and it's important that we touch on that. So, you know,
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for clarity, are you just dealing with the food and beverage side of things,
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or are you also, as to gather dealing with that creative production as
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well? Where does it sort of begin and end for you guys, or is there
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no kind of, you know, beginning, ending? Are you willing to sort of take on
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that whole concept for a client if they want you to? So I think part
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of the issue with F&B has been that it hasn't dovetailed with other elements
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of an event, right? And I think we come from an, uh, it's worth saying
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one of the first major events that we worked on was Secret Cinema. I don't
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know if you know, but of course every single
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element of the production has to align, you know, the F&B has to
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align with the film that's taking place. And I think that kind of thinking
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has followed us, you know, since on every single event that we've worked on,
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you know. Um, the phrase that we use is experiential,
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you know, your experience at an event,
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everything should feel like it's, um, uh,
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across the same thread. And I think that means that food
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and drink has to dovetail with the production, really think about how
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it fits into the overall event. We just worked on doing the bars at
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Boomtown, which I think is probably just about the most extreme
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example of, you know, bars which are— I was looking at
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some of the images from them recently as well, sort of literally strapped to the
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trees in the, on the festival site. So they're really
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thinking about that production side of things and You know, they're kind of— when you
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start thinking about these things separately, which has often been the case, you know,
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at events, then, you know, you start seeing irregularities.
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People start feeling like they're out of the immersive world. You know,
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there are some, you know, festivals where that's perhaps some events where
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that's more important than others. You don't necessarily need to make people that
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are a fan zone at a football game feel like they've gone to a completely
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another world. But, you know, it's really important that everything feels like
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it's creatively thought through. And it's just adding, you know, we think about it
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as adding to the overall experience of the day, not just providing
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them with good quality F&B. It all is, you know, your,
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your kind of experience of an event is across the full day. Food is a
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part of that, but we want it to fit into the rest of it.
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And you mentioned, it moves us on nicely because you mentioned earlier
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on in today's podcast the Hill Dickinson Stadium where you've been at over the weekend.
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For, for sort of non-football fans who are you know,
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people don't follow football who are listening or watch the podcast, Hill Dickinson Stadium
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is the home of Everton Football Club, newly constructed and opened
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last season. Um, I've not been there yet, but I've seen all the photos,
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and it is one of these absolutely— looks to be beautifully
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designed modern stadia in the same sort of mold
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as the, as the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, where the whole sort of offering
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to the fan was considered, you know, from the very, very earliest
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concepts of, of the, the architectural drawings of the stadium, as I understand it,
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you know, the, the fan experience is
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what ultimately sort of molds these new sports stadiums that have been
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constructed. And that moves us in nicely to something that I want to talk about
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today, which is a report that, um, is available from Together
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called The Changing Face of Fandom: Why the 90-Minute Match Is No Longer Enough.
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And I, I had a, a, you know, a scan through this before our recording
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this morning, um, Hugo, to have a little look. And, and I thought,
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and I was— found myself nodding and kind of even on a scan read
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agreeing and, and kind of nodding. Um, I,
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I guess not in approval, but just I kind of think, yes,
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all of this makes complete sense now and does, does move into it.
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Sports is, is a huge part of the events industry that often
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gets overlooked as an event. Um, I think we sometimes
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take for granted that going to a football match on Saturday, every time
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a stadium opens its doors to a football match in at
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any level, they are hosting and running an event. And with
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the cost of matchday tickets as they are nowadays, particularly at the
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Premier League side of things, fans no longer just want to turn up at 5
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to 3 and disappear at 5 o'clock and just have that 90-minute experience.
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It is vital now that stadiums and clubs offer that
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wider offering. And I guess that, that must be where you guys are coming in,
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you know, with Everton and at the Hill Dickinson Stadium. Absolutely.
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And yeah, just to, you know, uh, go back to what you're saying,
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the Hill Dickinson is a beautiful example of how to construct a really
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effective modern stadium. From the walk down through
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the docks as you see the stadium, from the atmosphere as you're kind of
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going into it, everything has been really, really well considered. And,
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you know, we see ourselves as providing, you know, as I was to go back
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to the last point about the full experiential day, we're providing just one part
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of that whole experience for the fans. But,
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um, the way that we describe it is that, you know, uh,
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as a sort of modern third space being your, your football ground,
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where fans— football fans are probably
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just about the most loyal people in the world and will go rain,
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shine, ticket price, etc. They will continue
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to go and watch their football club because they love it so much and it's
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a huge part of their identity. But that doesn't mean at the same time
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that they're not subject to the same changing tastes as the rest of the country.
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And so, you know, football fans go to the football ground because they love it
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there, and we want to create the environments that mean that they're happy to spend
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more and more time there. Uh, so, you know, part of that is just great
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F&B, of course, you know, bars where you're not queuing for
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too long to get a drink. Really high-quality food that people are aware
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that they can come and get something there before the game, um,
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after the game, spend more time there. But essentially,
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football fans— you mentioned earlier that kind of, um, uh,
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I'm not sure which football club you're referring to in West London going to watch,
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but you said that about the kind of burger van, and that is the,
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uh, that is the traditional view of food at football games. And, you know,
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there's nothing— I, I actually think there's, you know, always going to
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be space for that smell of frying onions on your way to a football game.
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I think that, you know, that has its own place. But what we want to
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provide is somewhere where fans can come and get something that's really, really special before
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the game. You know, they see it the first game of the season,
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and then over the rest of the season, they're happy to come to the game
19:36
an hour earlier, have that, you know, last drink at the ground before,
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stick around for another drink afterwards, you know, while public transport,
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um, um, kind of, um, empties out a little bit. So it's,
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it's really sort of a win-win for everyone involved. And, you know, like festivals,
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F&B is now an increasingly important part of how stadia
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and, uh, are making their money at,
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uh, on match day. So, well, it's, it's important that we acknowledge, you know,
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the revenue side of things again in, in sport. You know,
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I, I've, I've long been a critic of, of football
20:10
at all levels for its inability to sort of monetize the fan
20:14
on site. Um, you know, and that might seem ridiculous. People say,
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oh yeah, have you seen the prices of football shirts? And a pint is X,
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Y, and Z. But, you know, football fans that
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go to matches regularly, your average season ticket holder, will go out at
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lunchtime on a Saturday. They will go to a couple of pubs, or they have
20:33
their— they will have their regular meeting place. They are geared up to spend money
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on a match day, not just on the ticket itself.
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And if a club can get its offering correct and
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bring some of that revenue into their pockets instead of, you know,
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other businesses, that's good business all round. We shouldn't shy away from that.
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And that's ultimately why clubs are building these new stadiums
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and taking this focus, isn't it? Is, is to actually bring in some more of
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that money from, you know, competing— let's be honest, competing businesses— and
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bring that into the club's revenue streams. Oh yeah, and I think that's,
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uh, something that's important to recognize. But also I think, um, there is
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this sort of, um, view of a football fan, I think,
21:13
potentially across, um, the industry, is someone who has maybe
21:17
quite stubborn match rituals, um, which are hard to break. And to
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a certain extent, there are elements of that that are true. People love going to
21:24
the same pub before a game, after a game, you know, they have their rituals
21:28
that may have been around for some time. But, you know, that's not to
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say that, um, you can't create new ones and it just takes some
21:36
time. And also, you're not necessarily trying to break those rituals. If someone is going
21:39
to a pub, what you're saying to them as well is you could just— if
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you leave that pub half an hour early and come to the stadium,
21:46
not only will you probably be in less of a rush, you can have that
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last drink there. And likewise, at the end of the game, rather than
21:53
running straight to the pub again, maybe stay at
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the stadium for some food, for an extra drink, before you head off back
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to the back to the, um, to where you've kind of traditionally
22:03
gone to. So it's not necessarily saying you're trying to break the traditions or break
22:07
the rituals, it's just, it's just adding a kind of, um, softening element
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to, uh, um, how you kind of go about your hospitality,
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um, over the day. And one thing that's mentioned in,
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in your report on the changing face of fandom,
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um, I'm just looking at referencing chapter 3 here, youth audiences,
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um, second screens, sports fans, Gen Z, you know We,
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we spoke and you— we alluded there to sort of the traditional loyal fan
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that has their rituals, but we need— it's vital that
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we acknowledge that there is a new generation of fans coming through who want to
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develop their own rituals, who have new tastes, who might just not
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want just a pint of lager or a pint of bitter or a pint of
22:47
Guinness, uh, when they go to the football match. They might want different beverage
22:51
options. They might have a glass of wine afterwards at 5:30 on a nice sunny
22:54
afternoon when the season's just kicked off. Um, and so there is
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an opportunity as well in events, in sports,
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to, to allow a new generation of attendees,
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a new generation of fans, whoever they may be, to create their new—
23:08
their own experiences and their own rituals by improving these offerings.
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Now, this is something I'm, I'm really, really passionate about because I think there is,
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um, there's always been a view about, uh,
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Gen Z that comes from older generations that maybe this generation
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is a bit always referred to as sort of the sober generation,
23:28
or, you know, I've seen the word sort of monastic thrown around quite
23:31
a lot, but actually I just think that's not the case at all.
23:35
And in a really good way, I think Gen Z watch, go to
23:39
more live sport than any generation beforehand. They go to more festivals than any generations
23:45
beforehand. I think it's about close to 70% of Gen Z
23:49
go to a festival. Every year, which is considerably more than millennials and far
23:53
more than generations previous. And when they go there, they are
23:57
willing to spend money, but on quality goods. So they
24:00
want to have good food and they want to have good quality drinks.
24:04
The drinking side's an interesting one because Gen Z drink
24:08
essentially exactly in line with inflation, right? So they,
24:13
as simple as the fact that in real terms, they will they are
24:17
earning less money, uh, because of the economic conditions that they exist in,
24:20
and they drink exactly in line with that. And it just means that, you know,
24:24
what you talked about, uh, with that comment about a glass of wine is a
24:28
spot-on way of looking at it, because actually it just means that they have a
24:31
more diverse taste. They're a bit more, you know, if they are going to be
24:34
spending money on it, they want it to be something that is probably of
24:38
a high quality and with a decent range of options. Because the other
24:42
side of it is that I think food and drink. I think food in particular,
24:47
it's a real pillar of their identity. And I'm specifically
24:51
talking about Gen Z here where, you know, as a millennial myself, the,
24:55
I think of the pillars of your identity as being kind of the music you're
24:59
into and the clothes you're wearing. And to an extent, the kind of subcultures you're
25:03
part of. These are the sort of pillars of who you are as you're growing
25:05
up. And I think what's really changed with Gen Z is that the food
25:10
that you love and the restaurants you're into or the chefs you like and food
25:14
you cook is now one of those pillars. And that's a kind of naturally instinctively
25:18
understood thing around that generation, which I think a lot of people haven't necessarily,
25:22
of different generations, haven't got their heads around. So when Gen Z are
25:26
kind of thinking about food, they're thinking about it in a completely different way
25:30
to generations before. It's sort of as part of your identity.
25:34
So yeah, they are more discerning but happy to
25:37
spend on high quality. Well, I, you know, I,
25:41
I kind of see that firsthand. I have 2 sons, they are 20
25:45
and 23 years old, and their food tastes are
25:49
miles ahead of where I was at the same age.
25:52
Um, you know, that they have, uh, you know,
25:55
developed palates. And again, you know, I enjoy cooking, so, you know,
25:59
I, I've, I've always sort of exposed them to,
26:03
you know, different food types and everything. But culturally, I see all
26:06
their friends the same. They like going to different places to have different food experiences.
26:10
One of them's on holiday in Greece at the moment and is, you know,
26:13
sampling all the local wines and, and the different cheeses
26:16
and, and sending me pictures all the time. Part of their social media
26:20
sort of daily interaction is sharing photos of food and drink.
26:24
That is part and parcel of a modern sort of— so you look at anybody's
26:28
social media feed and you, you know, more often than not you're going to see
26:32
some sort of food offering, whether that's a video or a photo. So,
26:35
you know, you've only got to look at that to see how tastes pardon the
26:40
pun, have changed, particularly that generation. I think they're a huge driver
26:44
in what we're talking about today. Why events and why sports
26:48
idea of changing is, is because of those younger people. And I think it's important
26:51
that we acknowledge that rather than this sort of constant, um, oh, they don't drink,
26:55
they don't spend the money. I think they do, but it ties in exactly with
26:58
what you're saying. They just do so in a more discerning way, a slightly
27:02
probably more educated level than somebody who's like me in their mid-40s would
27:06
have done at the same age. Well, I think that's it. And, you know,
27:08
I'm going to go back to my own experience, and I'm, I'm, I'm 34,
27:11
so I'm, um, you know, uh, sort of in
27:16
between, uh, you and the— you and, uh, your, uh, your, your children.
27:20
Uh, so, and my experience of going to festivals was— and
27:24
events was, you know, you bring your own baked beans because that's
27:28
the cheapest way of doing it, and you're not going there for the food.
27:31
It wasn't what you necessarily thought about back then. Now that
27:35
has changed in a really brilliant way where the food is going onto
27:39
the posters for festivals. So, you know, of course
27:42
that's a, yeah, that's a bit of an extreme example from our side,
27:46
but also just the names of the street food suppliers will be
27:49
going onto the main posters for festivals so people can look
27:53
up what food is gonna be there and actually make their decisions on the festivals
27:56
that they go to based off the food options that are going to be there.
28:00
Um, and this is, you know, of course you always have that at food festivals,
28:04
but this is just for music festivals as well. Yeah. So I think that's a
28:08
really important distinction. It is. Um, I,
28:11
I'm, I'm, I could go on on this conversation for, for forever really,
28:15
because it's, it's a subject that I, you know, you probably gathered, you know,
28:18
just from talking to me today, you know, I'm quite, I'm quite sort of passionate
28:21
about, and I've got my own opinions on it as well. But I'd love to
28:24
sort of, when we talk about trends in the industry,
28:27
it's, it, trends is a word that's used a lot in the events industry for
28:31
any sort of number of subjects. But I don't think that the phrase trends
28:35
is, is more relevant than it is with food and drink.
28:39
I think we, you know, you've only got to look at how brands pop up
28:43
and develop. And remember the sort of the boom in Magnas and Bulmers kind of
28:46
15 years ago? They came from nowhere, and within a year everybody was drinking it.
28:50
And then you get these new brands popping up. So food trends is, is,
28:54
is a big thing. I'm curious to ask you, and it might seem an obvious
28:57
one to ask, what are your own sort of thoughts on food trends? Where are
29:01
you seeing things moving at the moment? Who have been the sort of the big
29:03
sort of developing brands or food types this year
29:07
particularly? So I would say that the events world moves
29:11
in a slightly different, not necessarily different
29:15
pace, but, you know, at a, in a different way to the world of hospitality
29:20
and restaurants, etc., where actually when people go to events,
29:23
they want to have, they are going to
29:27
experience high-quality food But also it tends to be comfort
29:31
food regardless of what that might be. Healthy options, really important.
29:35
But, you know, events where people are doing, you know, 20,000 steps in a
29:40
day, you want to have food that's going to fill you up. So actually
29:43
what we're finding is things like Greek as an example, you know,
29:47
gyros, souvlaki wraps are becoming increasingly popular because they're something
29:51
that, you know, it's not a burger or fried chicken or pizza, the kind of
29:54
traditional options that have always been really popular at events. It seems
29:58
a little bit healthier, but it's also very, very filling.
30:02
You know, things like bao have
30:05
always been very popular at events as well. So,
30:08
you know, it's not like— I don't think you quite have the same
30:12
speed of change as you might do within, let's say, the restaurant industry
30:16
or perhaps even sort of street food markets. The events
30:19
world is focusing on food that, you know, you know is going to be popular
30:23
with attendees at a festival. And I think
30:27
so Greek, I would put as a very good example. I think
30:31
if you go back and look at events which you might have a slightly more
30:35
traditional view of what the food might be. So if
30:39
you think about football and you think about the pies,
30:42
fish and chips, burgers, actually now if I'm looking at the fan zones we're
30:46
doing, some of the most popular options are Greek, but then also things like
30:50
Indian food, Mexican are becoming increasingly popular
30:54
there. And I think it's just the fact that people at pretty much any event
30:57
now are willing to expand their palates. I don't think there are too many
31:01
people around now who, you know, aren't willing to go somewhere and try something
31:05
a little more interesting than what would have been, you know, seen as that classic,
31:09
you know, fare 10, 15 years ago. So actually, I'd say the overarching
31:13
trend within the events industry is just organizers
31:17
and punters just embracing diversity of cuisine, and that's a really,
31:20
really positive change for sure. Embracing diversity of cuisine,
31:24
I love that. That's a great line to wrap up today's episode on embracing diversity
31:29
of cuisine. And for the record, Hugo, the team that I was
31:32
referring to in West London as a boy with the burger van on the corner
31:35
was Queens Park Rangers. Uh, I make no apologies for it, and I would
31:39
absolutely love to have a stadium of the quality of the Hill Dickinson.
31:43
Sadly, we are constrained by having houses on 4 sides or
31:47
3 sides and a school at one side. So we could only dream of having
31:50
the type of stadium that, you know, clubs like Everton and Tottenham have
31:54
got in order to be able to do that. Um, but yes, for the record,
31:57
that's who I was referring to. Well, the first game I ever
32:00
went to was 1998, Oxford United QPR
32:04
at the Manor Ground Stadium in Oxford, uh, and it was 4-1 Oxford.
32:08
I'm, uh, I'm pleased to say— I'm sorry. Well, listen, well,
32:11
don't apologize at all. You know, I've, I've elected from
32:15
a young age to support a mediocre team, and I'm comfortable
32:18
in my own footballer supporter skin that, you know, we have
32:22
neither annoyed anybody, upset anybody, or done really anything of
32:25
note in the time that I've supported them.
32:28
So there's a way to wrap up today's podcast just by letting everybody
32:32
know you have no cause to rib me over my football, uh,
32:36
allegiances because we've never really done anything to upset anybody
32:39
at QPR. Um, my guest today on the Event Industries Podcast has
32:43
been Hugo Campbell, uh, co-founder of Together, talking everything about,
32:47
uh, food and beverage. Um, Hugo, I'm gonna, I'm gonna you
32:50
for the website so that people can get in touch, but then I'm also going
32:53
to sort of make sure that we get a link out to this report.
32:55
So let's start with that. If people want to find out more about you guys,
32:59
where do they go? Where do they— what do they need to do? It's just
33:02
togather.com, um, or you can look up Together Events
33:06
on Instagram, and it's just Together on LinkedIn as
33:09
well. Fabulous. And the report that I've referenced,
33:13
uh, Why the 90-Minute Match Is No Longer Enough: The Changing Face of Fandom,
33:17
How do people— can people get hold of that? Is that something that if somebody
33:20
goes to your website, can they download it from there? So right now
33:23
they can't, but we're just very close to launching a new content hub
33:27
where you will be able to do that. So, uh, I'll, uh, I'll share it
33:31
afterwards on, uh, on our, on our LinkedIn, but I will, uh, uh,
33:34
I'll let you know when that's available. Fabulous. Well, my advice to anybody
33:38
listening today or watching today then is, is follow Together on their socials,
33:42
make sure that you go to the website And then you can keep an eye
33:46
out for that content hub as and when it's available and get hold of this
33:49
because it's a really interesting read. It's one of those reports that I like
33:53
because it's easy to digest, it's very simple, it's laid out nicely. So yeah,
33:57
just a little sort of nod to that, Hugo. You know, it's really
34:01
good to see something like that being put together and really good that sports stadia
34:08
is being highlighted as part of the events industry because as I said earlier
34:12
on in today's chat, I think it's it's often overlooked in favor of, you know,
34:15
when we think of events, things like music festivals, concerts, you know, even trade
34:19
shows, things like that. And arguably there are thousands and thousands of
34:24
events happening at 3 PM every Saturday afternoon during the
34:28
football season, and they play just as big a part in the overall
34:31
events industry as any music festival. So yeah, it's great that
34:35
you've highlighted it with this report. Thanks very much. Our pleasure.
34:39
No, it's really, really great to talk and, um,
34:42
great questions. Yeah, no problem at all. And just a couple of little
34:46
things before we sort of wrap up properly today. Um, as always, I give a
34:49
shout out to a few bits that Event Industry News are up to. Um,
34:52
there's always the latest news features and special supplements available on
34:56
eventindustrynews.com along with the supplier directory.
35:00
If you work in the events industry and you're looking for a product, a service,
35:03
or a supplier the chances are that you will find it within the supplier
35:07
directory on eventindustrynews.com, a really,
35:10
really comprehensive resource for anything that you may be looking for to
35:15
run your event. Also on the website is of course video versions of
35:19
all of our podcasts, so if you've started today's journey by listening to the podcast
35:23
on your audio platform, please do make sure that you take a few minutes to
35:26
head over to eventindustrynews.com to check out everything I've just mentioned along with the video
35:30
versions. If you've started your journey there today by watching us on the website,
35:34
thanks very much for doing so, but please do make sure that you go in
35:38
the opposite direction, find us on your audio podcast platform,
35:40
make sure that you like and subscribe to the podcast so that you get all
35:43
of the latest episodes, which brings us neatly and nicely to
35:47
the end of today's Event Industry News Podcast. My thanks once again to
35:51
Hugo Campbell from Together for joining us, and we'll see you all next week on
35:55
the next edition.