The Beijing Olympics' organizing committee opened its Forum on
Food and Drink Provision last Friday, and an official told
attendees that bidding to provide food services at the
Games would be open to all, according to Chinanews.com on
November 28.
"The most important thing we care about is the capacity of the
enterprise," said Xiang Ping, under secretary of Games Services
Department of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the
XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG).
"We might accept two providers," she added, "We want to provide
an equal opportunity for companies from all over the world."
Xiang said that although many Chinese catering companies have
provided food and drink at the Asian Games and National Games, none
had undertaken a task as significant as servicing the Olympics
before.
She said there will be at least 100,000 people staying in the
Olympic Games Village, and the Olympic Media Village will be able
to accommodate 6,000 others.
This means caterers would need to be able to provide a
continuous and reliable 24-hour service for the Olympics for around
30 days, she said, followed by another 30 days' coverage for the
Paralympic Games.
Due to differing dietary habits, the Games Services Department
said traditional Chinese and western food would be provided
together, with western-style food making up about 70 percent of
menus.
Two days prior to the food provision forum, the Summit of Food
Safety Environment for the Beijing Olympics was also held,
according to the BOCOG's website, to help provide better technical
support during the Games.
The forum covered issues including international and national
food safety regulations, food supply and food inspection.
The BOCOG said it is currently drawing up food safety
regulations for the event.
(China.org.cn by Wang Ke November 30, 2005)