London Olympics 2012 – The Race to Feed a City

Athletes react after discovering there’s only 1 ripe peach left

With the London Olympics 2012 upon us, the world has been keeping a close eye on the news coming out of the Olympic village. With the heats being run, upsets caused and new records being created every day, you might think that we know absolutely everything there is to know about the London Games. Here at Delivery Hero, we decided to dig a little deeper to see if we could come up with some interesting and less-well publicized facts, and that’s when we came across a mind-blowing secret – how the organizers of the 2012 Olympics plan on feeding tens of thousands of athletes, officials, volunteers, press and an entire city…

The challenge of feeding the city during the Olympics is recognised as being the ‘largest peace-time catering operation in the world’ (barely taking the crown from Delivery Hero’s Christmas Party!), and after the problems that were experienced during the Beijing Games there was extra motivation to make sure that 2012 would set the standard. It looks like they’re up for the challenge – the numbers for the Olympic Village alone are fantastic – here are the estimates for just 4 weeks:

• 25,000 loaves of bread
• 232 tonnes of potatoes
• More than 82 tonnes of seafood
• 31 tonnes of poultry items
• More than 100 tonnes of meat
• 75,000 litres of milk
• 19 tonnes of eggs
• 21 tonnes of cheese
• More than 330 tonnes of fruit & vegetables
• 50 bazillion Supreme Pizzas

(Food Stats Sourced from London2012.com)

Ok – I made that last one up, but even the mighty Delivery Hero is impressed with that kind of output! It’s not just the sheer numbers that are impressive – all of this food has to be delivered and prepared at over 40 different venues around London, and at the same time the food has to be up to Olympic standards – all of these athletes have to keep their bodies in peak physical condition, so top nutritional standards have to be met.

All of the food is being sourced from sustainable suppliers, the portion sizes are optimized and there are vegetarian, kosher and gluten-free options available, making sure that all groups are catered for. It really is a huge operation and the amount of planning involved is a huge inspiration to all of us here at Delivery Hero!

Have you visited the Olympic Village or do you know anyone who will be attending the Olympic Games in London this year? What has been your experience of the food? We’d love to hear your opinions in the comments section!