Wilfrid Spronk on changes to the Olympic Park gastronomy

CEO of Olympiapark München GmbH, Wilfrid Spronk, explains the upcoming takeover of the Olympic Park’s gastronomy by the E.ON subsidiary Arena One as follows: “First of all, on behalf of the Olympic Park team, I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude to Hermann Haberl and the various teams of employees who worked in the Olympic Park following the Olympic Games. Haberl-Ga¬stro¬nomie and the Olympic Park became synonymous with one another in the years after 1972. Without Haberl-Gastronomie, the Olympic Park would not be the international event centre that it is today. Events such as the Davis Cup games at the end of the 1980s, the Compaq Grand Slam Cup in the 1990s and the two Champions’ League finals in 1993 and 1997 would never have been attracted to the Olympic Park without the internationally renowned catering offered by Haberl-Gastronomie. The Six-Day Race could only be a success because of the imaginative approach to the catering for this event by Hermann Haberl – carried out in part with a significant personal financial commitment. Nationally and internationally, the catering in the Olympic Park has been operating at a very high standard over the past 30 years. One of the primary factors in this was the decades of experience possessed by Haberl-Gastronomie. The support provided to the activities in the Olympic Park from the first moment of post-Olympic use through to the present day has been characterised by a level of commitment far in excess of the contractually agreed services. The objective of attracting more and more events to the Olympic Park and participating jointly in the events has brought about an especially personal business relationship. Hermann Haberl’s heart beats for his Olympic Park above all else, and this has made many things possible. The improvisational skills that so impressed many national and international colleagues in terms of making up for the failure of the Olympic planners to consider gastronomical requirements is one of the “positive features of the brand”. The Olympic Park team is looking ahead to the planned cooperation with the E.ON subsidiary Arena One with the intention of following on smoothly from the successful cooperation with Hermann Haberl and his teams that has been enjoyed to date. We are very pleased that the experienced Haberl team will be available to us in future as well and will offer a guarantee of quality. Particularly in terms of the gastronomical infrastructure, the Olympic Park is going to have to take some important decisions in terms of modernising the Olympic Hall, the new Small Olympic Hall and other construction work. It will only be possible to push these through in extremely close cooperation with a caterer that is committed to the Olympic Park. We are confident that Arena One – fully aware of these challenges – will approach this cooperation with the appropriate levels of power and effort. With this in mind, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Hermann Haberl, his family and his team once again for the close cooperation in many aspects. I am very much looking forward to a successful future with Haberl staff under the flag of Arena One.”