TCS London Marathon
We are proud to have catered for the London Marathon for the third year in a row, delivering a spread of delicious and nutritionally-fuelling food and drink at the Finish Line VIP hospitality tent for Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).
The high-end networking area is situated right on the Mall, overlooking Buckingham Palace and the finish line. It provides a space for guests to eat, drink, and connect, as well as accommodate recovering runners. The viewing structure, which runs along the final length of the course, allows spectators to get close to the action and cheer on the runners in their final few steps. This year was extra special for Social Pantry as our CEO & Founder Alex and Workplace Partner Tilly also took part in the race, so the team were watching and whooping from the sidelines.
In the first year, we created a 26.2 mile menu, sourcing items from just meters away from the marathon’s course. For the second year, we created lavish food stations, one of which was a live pasta-making station, where Social Pantry chefs cooked an array of fresh pasta dishes throughout the afternoon for guests who were looking for a post-run carb-load.
This year, throughout the two-day event (which includes Saturday’s ‘mini-marathon’ and Sunday’s main marathon), we fed 2,000 guests a circulating supply of canapés and bowl foods from breakfast and brunch, to lunch and desserts. The menu was designed with both spectators and runners in mind, meaning not only was every dish seasonally focussed, made with minimal waste and packed with flavour, it was also filling and nutritionally beneficial to those recovering from the run.
You can read more about the dishes we served, below.
The Menu
From breakfast and brunch, through to lunch and desserts, we made sure every craving was covered for exhausted runners, spectators and supporters.
After starting the day with freshly baked pastries and fruit, we served a selection of hearty brunch favourites in canapé form, including Smoked Salmon Bagels with Cream Cheese, Capers, Dill & Lemon; Potato & Celeriac Rosti with British Tomato & Cured Egg Yolk and Vegan Cinnamon French Toast with Vegan Muscovado Mascarpone & Seasonal Fruit Compote. We then followed with a lunch spread of canapés and bowl foods, all of which had been designed with the needs of the runners in mind – filling, flavoursome and nutritionally beneficial. These included Sticky Soy Salmon Skewers with Coriander Mayo & Pickled Ginger; Artichoke Arancini with Red Onion Chutney & Crispy Tarragon; Oyster Mushroom Bao with Fermented Plum Sauce, Pickled Cucumber & Spring Onion; and Chicory, Goat’s Cheese, & Romanesco Salad with Seeded Crackers.
Guests were kept happy and refreshed with a range of soft drinks from Punchy, coffee by Social Espresso and sparkling wine for those looking to celebrate. And to ensure everyone ended the day on a high – exercise-induced endorphins or not – we provided the sugar rush with a dessert station full of crowd-pleasers like our squidgy Double Chocolate Brownies; Mini Lemon Meringue Pies; Salted London Honey Tarts with Fig Jam; and Apple Cake with Caramel Ganache.
It’s been an amazing event… we have made a massive impact, in London, in TCS and in the industry, and that’s not me saying this, I’m going by the responses from some very senior people at TCS and the industry, some even said ‘best TCS event ever’
