Australian Turf Club continues to operate business as usual during Omicron outbreak

A proven COVIDSafe plan and expansive indoor and outdoor multi-purpose spaces has allowed the Australian Turf Club to continue operating business as usual during the Omicron outbreak - bringing in 58,000 people to the Summer Festival of Racing, alongside various other meetings and events.

The state-of-the-art WINX Stand at Royal Randwick (pictured above)has hosted numerous events since opening the doors in December. The venue is designed for conferences, gala dinners, exhibitions, and other boutique to large-scale celebrations and has adapted to the capacity restrictions and health order changes, by utilising the two-storeys and open-air terrace to accommodate up to 4,000 pax cocktail style.

Australian Turf Club (ATC) has attributed the success of the summer season to the quality of the dedicated ATC team which boasts 280 permanent and 1,300 casuals across all venues.

Louise White, ATC Senior Business Development Manager notes that promoting a new venue during the pandemic has not been without its challenges and advises “for our team, it’s about looking beyond the right now, and ensuring the opportunities are still there. The question on everyone’s lips right now is ‘How can we make it COVID-safe?’ and having a great solution to this, has been a key element in our business development.

“We are well-versed in this area and work closely with a number of suppliers on rapid antigen testing stations and extra safety measures in all our venues.

“Get Local this week was such a fantastic chance to connect face-to-face once again with the business events industry and share details about our new WINX Stand, but more importantly, what our team can do to provide solutions to keep our clients and their events safe.” 

Kate Ross, ATC Event Manager faced 44 events over the summer with last minute changes and possible restrictions and shares “this is what being an event manager is all about, we are problem solvers and need to find the safest way to hold events. We’re lucky that WINX Stand has so many indoor and outdoor spaces to accommodate guests and really make the clients feel safe and comfortable.”

Warren Jackson, Executive Sous Chef, ATC, tackled challenges which even the largest supermarkets are struggling with - supply shortages.

Jackson highlights “as a venue we serve hundreds to thousands of people throughout the week, from hosting events and functions to our summer race days with various food offerings in our retail cafes, bistros and five-star restaurants.

“The one thing our team can’t face is letting down our regular customers and guests by not being able to feed them! We have faced many challenges recently in the food industry – staff shortages, bad weather and in particular COVID-related issues. Because of this, we have focused on working more closely with our excellent local suppliers to source fresh ingredients that are in high demand, adapt and change menus when required at the last minute, whilst always maintaining great quality produce and high standards across all of our food areas”. 

ATC are passionate about continuing to operate as a COVIDSafe business and their continued efforts to run these events as safe and efficiently as possible has been met with great success.