The Championships, Wimbledon 2008 — Catering
About Wimbledon
Catering
  • Wimbledon is the largest single annual sporting catering operation carried out in Europe.
  • All catering carried out by Facilities Management Catering (FMC).
  • Public catering facilities include:

    Centre Court area

  • The new Wingfield Restaurant - waiter served lunch and afternoon tea.
  • The Café Pergola - both hot and cold meals together with a wine bar.
  • The covered Tea Lawn - hot drink, soft drinks, sandwiches, baguettes, cakes and some hot food.
  • The Long Bar - full range of draft beers, spirits and wines. On the opposite side are the famous Wimbledon strawberries and cream, champagne and Pimm’s bar, Dutchee sausage and freshly-baked pizzas.

    No.1 Court

  • The Food Village - traditional fish and chips, hot wok, pizza, Southern-fried chicken, light refreshments and strawberries & cream, together with the Village Bar.
  • The Conservatory Buffet - self-service restaurant.
  • The Aorangi Food Court - wide variety of hot/cold food and beverages.
  • The Aorangi Café - American-style burgers, draft beers, Pimm’s and light refreshments.

  • Strawberries and Cream

  • Usually Grade 1 English strawberries of the highest quality from the county of Kent.
  • From LEAF-registered farms. (LEAF is a charity promoting Integrated Farm Management balancing organic with chemical practices.)
  • Over 2,000 kilos (8,000 punnets) of strawberries consumed daily during the Fortnight
  • 28,000 kilos consumed during the fortnight
  • Served with over 7,000 litres of fresh cream
  • To ensure the utmost freshness, strawberries are picked the day before being served, arrive at Wimbledon at around 5.30a.m where they are inspected before being hulled.
  • Price for a portion of a minimum of 10 strawberries and cream at Wimbledon: 1990 - £1.60; 1991 - £1.65; 1992 - £1.65; 1993 - £1.70; 1994 - £1.70; 1995 - £1.75; 1996 - £1.80; 1997 - £1.85; 1998 - £1.85; 1999 - £1.75; 2000 - £1.80; 2001 - £1.85; 2002 - £1.95; 2003 - £2.00; 2004 - £2.00; 2005 - £2.00; 2006 - £2.00; 2007 - £2.00; 2008 - £2.25.

    Facts and figures

    About 1,700 FMC catering staff are required to operate these catering outlets and the quantity of food and drink served by them during the fortnight is huge:

  • 300,000 cups of tea and coffee
    250,000 bottles of water
    190,000 sandwiches
    150,000 bath buns, scones, pasties and doughnuts
    150,000 glasses of Pimm’s
    135,000 ice creams
    130,000 lunches are served
    100,000 pints of draught beer and lager
    60,000 Dutchees
    40,000 char-grilled meals served
    30,000 meals for FMC’s own staff.
    30,000 portions of fish and chips
    30,000 litres of milk
    28,000 kilos (112,000 punnets) of English strawberries
    23,000 bananas
    22,000 slices of pizza
    20,000 portions of frozen yoghurt
    17,000 bottles of champagne
    12,000 kilos of poached salmon and smoked salmon
    7,000 litres of dairy cream