GIG help UKTI put the GREAT into Britain at China festival

Chesham, Bucks: March 12, 2015: Global Infusion Group (GIG), one of the UK’s leading catering, logistics and brand support companies, played a key role at a high-profile international trade event in Shanghai attended by HRH The Duke of Cambridge.

The Great Festival of Creativity was part of the UK government’s GREAT Britain campaign which aims to generate jobs and growth by promoting Britain as a world-class destination for trade, tourism, investment and education.

GIG Asia, part of Buckinghamshire-based GIG, was appointed by leading live events agency Innovision who are responsible for creating unique and iconic experiences for international brands and major organisations around the world, including UKTI.

London-based Innovision selected GIG as official caterer to the Shanghai festival, staged from March 2-4 2015, which supported British businesses looking to secure opportunities and growth in China. More than 500 world-leading UK companies in innovation, technology, design, film, education, healthcare, and luxury goods used the festival to reach the Chinese and global business audience to show how British creativity can help their businesses innovate and grow.

GIG Asia, which is based in Shanghai, was responsible for feeding 700 delegates each day who attended the three-day event and also catered a dinner for 120 guests hosted by Prince William. The company’s corporate events division GIG fyi (Feeding Your Imagination) took charge of the main event catering with menus designed by one of Britain’s leading chefs Angela Hartnett – a two-star Michelin chef at the famous Murano Restaurant in London’s Mayfair.

As well as creating the menu for the gala dinner, Angela coordinated all the bowl food served to delegates throughout the festival. GIG fyi also provided opening-day and closing-day cocktails at networking events for delegates.

Meanwhile another GIG division, Eat to the Beat, took charge of feeding scores of crew responsible for designing and creating the festival venue in the week-long build-up to the event, staged in Shanghai’s famous Long Museum.

The Duke of Cambridge's trip to China was the first since Queen Elizabeth and her husband Prince Philip visited China in 1986. The festival assignment was the first time GIG has been appointed to work with the UK Government in China. It follows the company’s award last year of the prestigious Queen’s Enterprise Award for International Trade in recognition of GIG’s global business operations.

Tony Laurenson, Managing Director of GIG, said: “This was a massively high-profile international event hosted by Prince William. As a company, we are immensely proud of our British heritage and it was wonderful to be able to showcase our own talent and creativity alongside so many major companies from the UK.”

About Global Infusion Group

Originally launched in 1984 as Eat to the Beat – an artist, production and crew catering business specialising in backstage catering services for music, entertainment, film and TV industries – the company has catered many of the biggest names in the entertainment world.

Eat to the Beat provides backstage catering support for international tours, major festivals such as Glastonbury and Reading, concert venues and TV and film locations. Additional divisions were added to the Eat to the Beat brand as the business evolved and diversified and now includes a bespoke corporate & private party planning, catering and event design division (GIG…fyi) in 1988; global sport and automotive event catering (GIG SPORT) in 2002 and a logistics and brand support division to promote predominantly food and drink products (…e2B…) since 1997. All divisions trade under the umbrella of Global Infusion Group which has its UK headquarters in Chesham, Bucks.

The company has catered functions at iconic locations such as Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street to the Great Wall of China and the more remote; the Ice Fields of Inner Mongolia. GIG were also on site providing catering at London 2012 and Sochi 2014 Olympic Games.
GIG has established international offices in California, United States, Qatar, Middle East and Shanghai, China catering across Asia and the Far East. It is soon to open a branch in Brazil to service the South American market. The group employs around 170 full-time staff world-wide supported by up to 3,000 freelance professional specialists to support the hundreds of global events and functions it works at each year. For more information about GIG visit: www.globalinfusiongroup.com

PAUL SMITH ASSOCIATES
12th March 2015