BH Live is a major player in the UK’s event hospitality market and a leading brand in the social enterprise sector.
This year, the trust carried off the top prize for Specialist Dining Experience at Bournemouth’s Tourism Awards, and was a finalist for the Creative Concept of the Year.
Hospitality is one of the core business areas and revenue is projected to top more than £8 million this Spring – up 60% since it was launched in 2011. The latest financial results secures the position as a leading provider of hospitality services in the region.
Hospitality-led events now account for 32% of BH Live’s total revenues, boosting the surplus available for the trust to invest in its social objectives of getting more people more active and taking part in cultural events, and supporting the local economy through business tourism.
Through partnerships with Bournemouth Borough Council, Portsmouth City Council, Fusion Lifestyle, Lighthouse and GLL, BH Live manages Terrace cafés and bars at more than 35 sites in Bournemouth, Portsmouth, London and the Home Counties. These include the iconic venues of Copper Box Arena and London Aquatics Centre in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The Terrace serves refreshments to an estimated 1.6 million customers a year.
Meanwhile, BH Live’s own brand of banqueting and fine dining has attracted prestigious clients such as Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics, JP Morgan, AFC Bournemouth, Bauer Media and TechCrunch Disrupt.
“We have developed a unique business model to attract new partners across and beyond the region, looking to outsource catering to an expert, like-minded service provider. Thanks to our diverse venue portfolio, broad market reach, supplier network and expert in-house teams, we are able to generate strong margins while maintaining exceptionally high standards,”
says BH Live Chief Executive, Peter Gunn.
“This is a working, collaborative business model, shaped, created and tested in partnership with our clients and suppliers. We’ve created a new way for not-for-profit distributing organisations like ours to attract more customers into their venues and generate more surplus to invest in services for their community.”
In 2015, BH Live appointed a group executive chef and dedicated regional managers to bring fresh focus to its event and retail catering services to transform them into unique and unforgettable dining experiences.
The hallmarks are exciting and original menu design, with locally sourced ingredients chosen for provenance, flavour, looks, quality and sustainability. Every event is approached as a one-off, branded project, taking a fresh approach to food and menu design, theming and customer service.
“We encourage our hospitality team to explore extraordinary possibilities with the client to make their event extra special,”
says BH Live Head of Hospitality, Alex Robertson.
“We’ve steadily grown our creative and technical skills in the kitchen to experiment with new ideas in food design, techniques, processes and presentation, paying particular attention to how a themed, one-dish success can be scaled up and perfectly replicated for hundreds of customers and guests. Winning Bournemouth’s Tourism Award for Specialist Dining Experience is testimony to our unrivalled excellence in this growth market.”
BH Live has already had a strong start to the year with two leisure centre acquisitions across Dorset each with retail catering opportunities. Through further partnerships, it continues to explore new opportunities to expand its reach with further announcements expected over the next 18 months.
For more information about BH Live and its hospitality services visit bhlive.org.uk/hospitality.
-ENDS-
For more information about BH Live, please contact:
Elizabeth Symmons, BH Live PR & Corporate Communications Executive
E: elizabeth.symmons@bhlive.org.uk
Notes to Editors:
About BH Live Hospitality
BH Live Hospitality is the catering division for BH Live, providing award-winning services at leisure and cultural venues in Dorset, Hampshire, the Home Counties and Greater London.
About BH Live
BH Live is the South Coast’s leading operator of leisure and event venues – a social enterprise that designs and builds engaging experiences to inspire people and enrich lives. With almost 3 million visits a year and £35 million turnover, the organisation is changing lives – placing it at the heart of the UK’s growing social economy.
In 2014/15, BH Live more than 400 shows, sold over half a million cultural, sporting and entertainment tickets, clocked up nearly 2.2 million leisure centre visits and welcomed 93,000 conference and exhibition delegates which contributed an estimated £37 million to the local economy.