International Events

World Scout Jamboree
Between 27 July and 8 August, Scouts from nearly every country in the world came to Hylands Park, Chelmsford for the 21st World Scout Jamboree - the highlight of the World Scouting calendar. Scouting celebrated its 100th birthday in 2007 and with over 26 million scouts worldwide the centenary of scouting is one of the biggest global celebrations since the millennium.

In an event that involved more people than the 2012 Olympic Games will, 40,000 Scouts camped, lived and worked together for 12 unforgettable days of celebration and international friendship.

Aidan Jones, Jamboree Manager, reinforces all the other positive feedback received during the event, “Now that the dust is finally settling following the outstanding success of the 21st World Scout Jamboree last summer, I feel the time is right for me to “put pen to paper” and formally record my sincere thanks for a job well done.

In organising an event lasting 12 days for more than 40,000 people from all over the world, there were many challenges which were far from a normal everyday experience, but the provision of a total of more than 170,000 meals in the camp restaurant and the supply of food for about 350,000 'meal days' were always going to be daunting. We are extremely grateful to Sodexo Prestige for completing this work to such a high standard and within the financial parameters that were set. The feedback we have received from those at the event has been almost universally positive and this represents an outstanding achievement, especially when you consider the huge number of countries that were represented.”

Rugby World Cup 2007
In 2006 Sodexo Prestige and the Mike Burton Group set up a joint venture company called RTH'07, charged with management of the sales and distribution of corporate hospitality and travel packages throughout the Rugby World Cup 2007.

This was a ground-breaking contract for an international event. The brief span three countries and 12 sports stadia, it was the first deal of its kind with total responsibility consolidated to one company; it was also hugely successful, and the results would lead to RTH'07 winning the contract for the next World Cup in 2011.

The Rugby World Cup is the third largest sporting event in the world, behind the Olympics and the Football World Cup. Last year's tournament was the most successful in the history of the sport in terms of sales of corporate hospitality and travel packages.

• 110,000 hospitality packages were sold; more than twice the number sold for the Rugby World Cup 2003 in Australia.
• Travel packages sold were more than double that of previous tournaments, hitting 185,000.
• The combined figure of 295,000 equated to more than a third more than the amount sold in the previous two Rugby World Cups put together.
• As a result, the company was selected to provide its services at Rugby World Cup 2011.