Report: AEV Catering Working Group, February 22 2017

The first meeting of the year for the AEV Catering Working group took place at the NEC on Wednesday, February 22, 2017, and was chaired by Paul Bate of the NEC, deputising for the group's chair, ExCeL London's Phil Wetz.

After welcoming two new members from Manchester Central and Ricoh Arena, Bate conducted the meeting through the formalities of apologies and the approval of the minutes of the last meeting, before going on to table the agenda items of the day.

Beginning with the discussion topics, the meeting revisited the question of inviting venue caterers to join the working group. The meeting endorsed the initiative, noting that venue caterers should be nominated by the venue and that they would be solely representing the venue, rather than their commercial interests.  Further discussion ensued on the topics of the group's LinkedIn presence and it's future objectives.

The meeting then shared its individual member news and a short food safety update from Sean Hopkinson from the NEC, before going on to agree on future agenda items and set the date for its next meeting on Wednesday, November 29, 2017.

The AEV's Kim Dance provided the only item of Any Other Business, informing the group that the date and venue of the 2017 AEV conference will be on Thursday, June 29, 2017, at The Vox, Birmingham, with an ice-breaker event the evening before. The AEV, she reported, has secured discounted hotel rates for the event, and asked group members to look out for further details to be released shortly.

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