Warwick Conferences, the collection of meeting venues based on the University of Warwick campus, took its new, fully serviced catering van on the road to London last week to showcase its award-winning food offer to event bookers.

 

As part of the London road trip, the van took pride of place on the Warwick Conferences stand at International Confex, which took place 1 – 2 March at Olympia London. This was the first time an exhibiting conference venue had utilised a catering van as the focal point of their stand at the show. As well as offering complimentary teas and coffees, brownies and champagne, the team were on-hand to provide visitors with a flavour of the new approach to food now on offer as part of Warwick Conferences’ refreshed and improved offering.

 

In addition to this, it was an opportunity to speak with visitors and potential clients about how the van can add a unique element to all kinds of events that are taking place up and down the country.

 

Rachael Bartlett, Head of Sales and Marketing at Warwick Conferences, said: “This was the first time we had utilised the van for a specific industry event and we are delighted with the response we had. The van proved to be a hit at Confex with visitors keen to hear about the new investment and how it could be used as part of their upcoming events, as well our new approach to food and service delivery. We’ve already received over £200k worth of enquiries and considerable interest has been generated in both the van and our newest venue, The Slate.”

 

The catering van also made an appearance at Battersea Evolution on the evening of Friday 3 March as part of the M&IT Awards. Situated outside the entrance, the team were s a welcome sight providing complimentary bacon rolls, tea and coffee to attendees from 10pm – 2am as they left the venue following the awards event.

 

Rachael adds: “As part of the activation at the M&IT awards, our fantastic catering team provided departing guests with tea, coffee and bacon rolls from the van. This activation was the perfect opportunity for us to raise awareness of not just the fact that the van can be hired for events, but that we can also now go directly to clients to give them a flavour of the Warwick Conferences experience and our award-winning catering. In recent weeks we have visited clients including ArrangeMY Group in Worcester and Capita in Swindon.

 

“The inclusion of the van as part of our stand at Confex and the activation at the M&IT awards have both gone a long way in raising awareness of our new offering, as well as generating genuine excitement around what we can make possible at Warwick Conferences.”