Freemans Event Partners: The whole package

Already a leading player in the events industry across the UK and Europe, Confex member Freemans Event Partners is now setting its eyes on the global stage…

When we catch up with Freemans Event Partners, it’s slap bang in the middle of events season and their busiest time of the year.

“We’ve just wrapped up with Formula One and we’re now gearing up for a contract at the Olympic Games in Paris,” says Justine Tommey, head of group marketing.

To put it simply, the Gloucester-based company is a multi-service event partner, so a one-stop shop for event-based food and beverages.

A family-owned business, the Confex member aims to enhance the customer experience at a huge variety of UK and European events and festivals, reaching more than 25 million people each year.

Offering flexible event solutions ranging from food and beverage villages through to brand activations, on-site tech and payment solutions, end-to-end wholesale and logistics and even workforce solutions, Freemans Event Partners works closely with event venues to make all aspects of the supply chain work just a little bit smoother.

With long-standing contracts with prestigious names such as Silverstone, Wembley Stadium, Twickenham Stadium, Cheltenham Races and Lord’s Cricket Ground, it’s clearly doing something right.

HISTORY

Freemans Event Partners is virtually unrecognisable since its inception. Founded by Stephen Freeman Sr in 1975 with a solo fish and chips outlet at Neath fair, the company has grown at a staggering rate.

Justine recalls a time she asked Stephen how the company grew to be the industry-leading phenomenon it is today: “He told me that one day, many years ago, his friend asked him to help out at a car event taking place in Ledbury. Stephen agreed and made more money in one day than he usually made in a week and he immediately spotted an opportunity for growth. He then went into WHSmith and bought every magazine he could find about motorsport and he wrote to every single event mentioned within the magazine to pitch his services!”

Now with a focus on the opportunity of sporting events, Stephen established early on that his USP and business model was the ability to provide a wide range of food and beverage outlets for events while simplifying the process for each venue and ensuring they would only need to liaise with one person, rather than individual outlets.

“The business began as a concessions model and it developed and grew every year with Stephen acting as a manager for those independent traders while increasing his contacts across the industry,” Justine continues.

“In 1982, we signed Silverstone and we’ve now had that contract for more than 40 years, with several changes of CEOs and MDs along the way and we’ve managed to retain it.”

Nearly 50 years on from its inception, Freemans Events Partners now provides a huge range of bespoke catering solutions to a wide variety of events – with several hundreds of outlets making their way to some venues and a small handful to others. These have included providing all food-to-go at the Queen’s Birthday Celebrations in the grounds of Windsor Castle as well as concerts, festivals and other celebrations.

As the foodservice division has grown, so have other areas of the company including its procurement logistics arm. While the team supplies food, drink, bars, catering units and concession areas from the busy head office in Gloucester for some events, for others it’s a totally different set up.

At Silverstone, one of its biggest events, the company has its own warehouse on site where it houses a dedicated logistics department as well as storage and walk-in freezers and fridges, chilled units, forklifts and low loaders. From here, the team delivers to all 400 outlets on the same day or the beginning of the next, processing orders 24/7.

FARM TO FORK

As the foodservice arm of Freemans Event Partners grew, Stephen turned his attention to quality and provenance.

Justine explains: “Stephen had all of those independent traders on site, but how could he guarantee the quality of the food and drink they were providing? He wanted to be able to understand and control the full journey of the food he was providing, from farm to fork.”

This move enabled even further growth for the company and helped strengthen relationships with venues. Both BRCGS accredited and AA Grade, controlling the whole supply chain means that the team are able to make sure all storage and distribution is completed to the highest quality.

With a core line up of food guaranteed to delight consumers, the foodservice arm of the business also allows the team to tailor the food offering to the customer demographic of each event.

“Each event is quite different,” Justine says. “Lord’s Cricket Ground, for example, has a very premium offering. You’ll have the classics such as fish and chips but you’ll also have poke bowls, tacos and bao buns.

“However, the audience at MotoGP are far more interested in traditional food such as pizza, burgers and hot dogs. We also like to stay agile with our offering. Formula One’s customer demographic has recently changed and it now attracts a lot of families and young people, so we’ve diversified our food offering to match.”

Freemans Event Partners prides itself on the breadth of its menus, featuring culinary delights from across the globe. From Malaysian noodles and chicken katsu to authentic curries and pasta, there really is something for everyone. Dietary requirements such as vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free and lactose-free food are all catered for, too.

Offering this extensive range of cuisines is only possible due to a seriously impressive logistics operation. Understanding the complexities of venues is critical says Tim Hobbs, director of wholesale and FMCG retail.

“It is vital that we understand the ins and outs of every single venue and event site we operate at, ensuring each outlet is placed in the optimum location and access for deliveries is made as straightforward as possible,” he says.

“Our team works tirelessly to ensure that all of our outlets are well-stocked and our on-demand, same-day delivery service means that even the most unexpected logistical challenges can be overcome.”

GREEN THINKING

In addition to acting as problem solvers for venues, sustainability is also high on the agenda at Freemans Event Partners.

“We aim to take that headache away from venues,” says Justine. “Because we work with so many venues, we have intel from right across the industry, so we’re in a unique position to be able to advise on a range of things.”

Carbon labelling is just one aspect that the company is hot on and educating both internally and externally to pass on knowledge that will help others reach their sustainability goals too. By working in partnership with Klimato, Freemans Event Partners can calculate the carbon emissions of every menu item on offer, which means that the millions of guests across the year’s events can clearly see the carbon impact of their food and drink choices.

Justine explains: “It’s not as straightforward as you might think. For example, many would assume that poke bowls are sustainable because they’re vegetarian but actually the rice farming culture is very carbon heavy so it would receive a very high carbon score. Research like this helps us to develop and adapt our menus by working closely with our sustainability team and foodservice team.”

The team continually reviews its menus in order to update recipes that score highly, switching out ingredients or cooking methods to make the dish more sustainable, which will lower the carbon footprint of the entire event.

At events, there are no single-use plastics, with bamboo cutlery and decanted drinks and the team is exploring the option to use hydrogenpowered generators rather than those powered by diesel.

It’s not just at events that environmental impact matters as the head office aims to become a ‘centre of excellence for sustainability’. Moving to paperless and digital, alongside investing in solar panels and electric charging points, means the company’s commitment to sustainability is clear to all.

BRIGHT FUTURE

Now headed up by CEO Stephen Freeman Jr who came aboard in 1994, the ship continues to be steered towards a successful future with the founder’s son at the helm. Since starting at the company 30 years ago, Stephen Jr’s main focus has been European expansion and he now sets his eyes further afield towards the international stage.

The company is also on the cusp of launching its payment brand, Fast Efficient Payments (FEP), with the ambition of unifying the customer journey. This opens up all manner of options for both venues and Freemans Event Partners, such as offering customers the chance to pay more when they purchase their ticket in return for an all-inclusive deal, allowing them to access all food and drink across the whole weekend.

“The joy of being part of a family-run business is that there is always so much energy and new ideas floating around. We’re definitely looking to work on more events across Europe and the rest of the world,” says Justine.

While Stephen Freeman Sr’s days of running a solo fish and chip van at a fairground may seem a distant memory, as chairman he is actively involved, visiting the office most days ensuring his vision to deliver excellent food and beverages and making it easy for the venue remains critical to the future of this incredibly exciting business.

FREEMANS EVENT PARTNERS FACT FILE

Clients include Silverstone Circuit, Twickenham Stadium, Lord’s Cricket Ground, Wembley Stadium, the European Tour, the Jockey Club and Badminton Horse Trials, as well as events including Formula One and Moto GP British Grand Prix, Six Nations, Cheltenham Races, Ryder Cup, Commonwealth Games, the Ashes and the FA Cup.

The business provides food and beverage solutions from individual outlets to food and beverage villages for large-scale events, full procurement chain, a complete wholesale and logistics supply chain, end-to-end payment technology, workforce solutions, global commercial partnerships and consumer brand activations.

Confex events Foodservice Freemans Event Partners Justine Tommy logistics Stephen Freeman Jr supply chain sustainability Tim Hobbs