Arena One GmbH

Corporate Development

Arena One is an internationally active hospitality service provider for arenas, and large-scale sports and cultural events. Arena One’s clients, whether stadium operators or promoters, are always hosts who entrust Arena One with the catering and numerous other guest and event related services, from consulting and planning to the logistics and marketing of their location or event.

Our company was founded on the occasion of the Munich Olympic Games to provide VIP and guest catering services in the Munich Olympic Park – at the time, under the name of Haberl Gastronomie. In 2006, the company merged with the young enterprise, Arena One, which had been providing catering and hospitality in the Allianz Arena in Munich since 2005. Because of this, Arena one is the exclusive catering and hospitality service provider for the Olympic Park and Allianz Arena in Munich. Both these locations serve as the Bavarian base for the expanding company, and have decisively influenced the course of Arena One’s development.

After the 1972 Olympic Games, the Olympic Stadium became the home arena for FC Bayern Munich, and Haberl became its official catering partner. In 2005, Arena One followed the club into its new stadium, the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany's most modern football stadium. For nearly 40 years, now, this top European club has placed its trust in the hospitality expert’s quality and professionalism. In addition to its sports related activities, Arena One has, since 2005, taken over the running 32 high-quality company cafeterias for the E.ON Group. Over the last five years, Arena One has continuously increased its competence in the sports sector and catered to VIP areas at renowned events such as the BMW Tennis Open, the UniCredit Ladies German Open, and the FIS Alpine Ski World Championships, as well as the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Finals in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. In addition to this, the company partnered with the German House at the Olympic Games in Beijing and Vancouver and was the VIP caterer for more than 120,000 guests at three stadiums at the 2010 Football World Cup in South Africa. Arena One ends a successful year in 2010 by attending the VIP area at one of the world’s most famous international ice-hockey tournaments, the Spengler Cup in Davos.

Company Management

Since 2008, Frank Wassermann, a trained hotel manager, has headed the business operations of the Munich company. Alexander E. Gausmann, a graduate in Hotel Management, is in charge of the expanding business area of event catering.

The Philosophy and Law graduate Dr. Stephan Thewalt has been responsible for commercial direction at Arena One since 2007. As Authorised Officers, Rüdiger Schlingmann and Gunther Weigert are charged with overseeing the central corporate divisions within Arena One.

Personnel

Arena One has roughly 460 permanent employees. In addition to these, 36 apprentices are currently completing their training in different professional specialisations at the medium-sized company. The apprentices get to know all aspects of the restaurant and event business, from catering to large international events such as the World Cup in South Africa or the Olympic Games in Beijing and Vancouver to the home matches of FC Bayern Munich in Munich’s Allianz Arena or open-air concerts in the Munich Olympic Stadium. As a company that has seen dynamic growth, Arena One also offers a great variety of employment and career opportunities after apprenticeship is over.

Three Business Segments – More Than Just Catering

The demand for professional hospitality services has increased markedly in recent years. The expectations of hosts and guests at arenas, major sports gatherings, or customer events are changing. Arena One actively follows and shapes this process. If earlier it was simply enough to provide guests with food and beverage, catering has in the meantime become a fixed element in the stage managing of a social event.

The professional competence of Arena One experts as consultants and in implementation goes far beyond the classic concerns of catering. For example, Arena One brings a coherent and professional strategy to preparing an event in terms of equipment, atmosphere, design, catering, and corresponding infrastructure. Arena One not only thinks of itself as a simple supplier of food to stadiums and arenas, but also supports its customers with its own marketing initiatives, for example, by advising its customers on how they might use their premises most profitably.

Arena One divides its activities into three business segments: “Catering and Events”, “Catering and Arenas”, and “Catering and Business”. These three business segments mesh closely with each other and serve as a networking platform for existing clients and new business. In each of the three specialised areas, hospitality as event is conceptualised and executed to meet the highest standards.

Business Segment/Division: Catering and Events

Employees in the business division “Catering and Events” rise to the challenge of heightened demand for management competence in the hospitality business. Major international and national sporting events such as the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, which saw record numbers of as many as 14,000 VIP guests attending the finale at Johannesburg, or the FIS Alpine Ski World Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in February 2011, corporate events sponsored by international companies such as BMW, Allianz, E.ON or Generali, as well as large, gala dinners require the early participation of the Munich based company in laying the groundwork well before the actual event. In carrying out its work, Arena One adopts a comprehensive approach from consulting and conceptualisation to implementation and ensures that its clients present themselves in the best light, while turning their brand into an experience.

Business Division: Catering and Arena

The specialist division Catering and Arenas ensures the smooth flow of operations in the catering of stadiums and makes sure the sports halls are on a solid footing. Employees of this division possess years of experience and competence in public and VIP catering at both national and international locations. The core services provided by this business division comprise kiosk management in stadiums and sports halls, as well as hospitality in business areas. Service personnel well-suited to meet client needs, the highest quality food, and secure operational processes and logistics on location distinguish the services provided by Arena One – for example, in Munich’s Allianz Arena or the Olympic Hall.

Business Division: Catering and Business

Currently, Arena One operates more than 32 company cafeterias in Germany within the E.ON Group. Arena One produces daily more than 5,000 lunches and, in addition to this, caters for conferences, manages events, and serves up snacks between meals.

Restaurant 181 – Michelin-starred Restaurant in Munich’s Olympic Tower

An international cuisine, culinary flights of fancy, and an unparalleled panoramic view of Munich await guests in Restaurant 181, managed by Arena One in Munich’s Olympic Tower. In cooperation with star chef Otto Koch and his team of chefs including Jens Haedicke (181 First) and Henning Aldag (181 Business), the Munich company designed a restaurant within the “Business” and “First” areas. In November 2010, after only one year since the start of operations, the “First” was awarded a Michelin star. In 2009 and 2010, “Gault Millau”, the restaurant guide, awarded each area in Restaurant 181, located in in Munich’s Olympic Tower, 14 and 17 points respectively (Business / First). In the “First”, Otto Koch serves lovers of gourmet cooking international menus of the finest quality in a private and exclusive atmosphere for no more than 20 people.
Connoisseurs of fine food savour menus – in a small separate area with a private atmosphere – of up to twelve courses, and may look on, if they wish, as the star chef prepares his personal speciality “Tranchieren der Ente in der Luft“ (duck carved in the air). Products of the finest quality, exacting meal preparation, and that special Otto touch make a visit to the “First” an unforgettable culinary adventure. The “First” is open every evening from Monday to Friday and offers lovers of gourmet cooking Otto Koch’s well-known classics and contemporary flavours and aromas paired with traditional cooking at its very best.
In the “Business”, guests of Chef Henning Aldag enjoy traditional gourmet cooking while gazing over the roofs of the city – daily, midday and evenings. Restaurant 181 can be reserved for exclusive functions and events.

References

Arena One is the exclusive partner in Munich’s Allianz Arena and Olympic Park.

Allianz Arena Munich
Allianz Arena has seating for 69,000 guests, and also serves as an event location for trade fairs, company functions, conventions, and workshops on days when the football Bundesliga is not playing. Since 2009, Allianz Arena has served as home of the “SPONSORS Sport Venue Summit”. Arena One is a premium partner of this event and responsible for everything related to gastronomy, from catering for exhibitors and convention participants to the evening function.

Munich Olympic Park
In Munich’s Olympic Park, the hospitality specialist oversees kiosks in the Olympic Stadium and the Olympic Hall, and is responsible for planning and implementing food & beverage ideas as well as VIP events. The stadium holds up to around 70,000 visitors (without use of the interior), the Olympic Hall can hold up to 14,000 guests when used without seating. Moreover, Arena One operates the lakeside restaurant beneath the Olympic Tower with seating for around 450 guests and the 2010 newly erected “Beer Garden at Coubertinplatz” with capacity for around 1000 guests. In July 2010, the “Glass Cube” was also completed, with the Coubertin and Club Rooms at the Olympic Hall. The building, fully encased in glass, juts out on one side of the Olympic park with a view of the Olympic lake and the other side of the Olympic Hall. The location is available for use in conjunction with events held at the Olympic Hall or it can be rented exclusively. As of September 2011, the hospitality expert will be taking charge of another location: the “Small Olympic Hall”. This new event venue is being built on the Olympic Hall’s east side and will provide seating for 3,500 people when complete. Built underground, it will be accessible through a conical “incision” on the grounds that will run between the Hall and the Foyer, which acts both as a connecting path and an entrance area. Daylight is provided through the ambitious glasswork. In the future, besides trade fairs, conventions, and receptions, concerts will also be held here. Arena one is assuming responsibility for catering in the lower foyer level.

Record Number of VIP Guests Attend Final of Football World Cup in South Africa.

At the Football World Cup held in June and July 2010 in South Africa, project leaders were able to demonstrate their expertise and experience in the planning and execution of major events. During the four weeks of the tournament, the German company cared for a total of 120,000 guests in the VIP areas of three stadiums. The World Cup Finale held in Soccer City Stadium Johannesburg was – with 14,480 VIP guests – the single largest hospitality event in FIFA history. Sustained management, professional production and logistics, service personnel qualified to meet international standards and a joint venture with the local caterer “By word of mouth” helped this World Cup become a milestone in the company history of Arena One.

A special challenge: Spengler Cup in Davos

The Munich company was awarded the catering contract from 2010 to 2012 for the international ice hockey tournament, the Spengler Cup in Davos. Arena one provided catering for the first time in 2010 in the EISDome – a two-storey tent, each story around 1100 square meters – with around 5,500 guests over the six days of the event. Arena One is responsible for à la carte business on the ground floor as well as VIP hospitality on the upper floor, with 500 guests respectively for lunch and dinner. The challenge in Davos will also involve taking special logistical precautions, since the event location has already been cut off from transportation routes multiple times in its 85-year history due to massive snow falls.

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