Catering and facilities management provider Sodexo has rebranded its Centerplate hospitality services unit as Sodexo Live! as part of a plan to accelerate growth in Spain and the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.
The rebrand has been confirmed nearly four years after US-headquartered Centerplate was acquired by Sodexo. The French company said today (Thursday) that the unified brand will help Sodexo Live! to grow in Spain and the APAC region, whilst consolidating the provider’s positioning in North America, France and the UK – its three biggest markets.
Sodexo Live! will also focus on five priority business segments, spanning stadiums and arenas, conference and convention centres, global events, cultural destinations and airport lounges.
The team behind Sodexo Live! has previously designed and marketed hospitality packages for 15 NFL Super Bowls, five editions of the Rugby World Cup, more than 20 years of the French Open tennis grand slam and more than three decades of the Tour de France cycling race.
The company already operates in numerous stadiums worldwide, including the homes of French Ligue 1 football clubs Olympique de Marseille and Olympique Lyonnais, English Premier League football club Everton, the Miami Dolphins NFL franchise’s Hard Rock Stadium and the Seattle Mariners Major League Baseball team’s T-Mobile Park.
In May, Sodexo struck a 10-year deal to enhance ticketing, hospitality and conference facilities at Hampden Park, Scotland’s national football stadium.
Sodexo Live! will encompass 40,000 employees across 500 sites worldwide.
“Sodexo Live! is the affirmation of a new ambition, as we bring together our expertise related to sports, events and hospitality under a unified global brand,” said Nathalie Bellon-Szabo, worldwide chief executive of Sodexo Live!.
“More than ever, I am convinced that fans and guests worldwide are looking to find common links and embrace the human bond that comes from being there live.”
Szabo added in an interview with Forbes that a key goal is to raise awareness of the company’s range of services – spanning ticketing packages to non-gameday venue experiences and even merchandising – in addition to the provision of food and drink products and services.
“We want to be more visible about all the services we are doing,” she said. “We are doing food and beverage, everybody knows that, but we have other services.”
Image: Martin Le Roy/CC BY-SA 3.0/Edited for size
Share this