There may be no medal ceremony, TV highlights or trending on Twitter about their performance at the 2012 Olympic Games.  But members of the Ecolab “Olympic team” – who have helped keep food safe, floors and surfaces sanitized and pests at bay for athletes, spectators and staff over the past two weeks –  will have every reason to go home with pride when the Games end on Sunday. By all accounts, their marathon efforts scored a winning performance.

Made up of U.K. employees from the Institutional, Kay/ Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) and Pest Elimination businesses, the Ecolab team has supplied products and services to customers charged with feeding, housing and safeguarding the health of hundreds of thousands of visitors to Olympic venues over the 16-day event.

Kay/Quick Service Restaurant (QSR): Stepping Up for McDonald’s

Long-time QSR customer McDonald’s had expected a large crowd at its four stores (one of which is the largest McDonald’s in Europe) and two McCafes on the Olympic grounds. But it hadn’t projected the size of the crowd that came, setting company hourly and daily sales records. Taken by surprise, the McDonald’s team immediately asked the QSR team to help. So instead of making planned daily visits to the stores to check dispensing equipment and sanitizer concentrations and to refill dosing units, the QSR team was enlisted to run back-of-house operations, including performing hourly clean cycles, cloth washing, cloth bucket set up, floor cleaning and training.  Team members increased their on-site presence two-fold to ensure coverage at the two large McDonald's restaurants between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. daily.

“Throughout all of this, the team has displayed the typical British Olympic mentality of making the best of a difficult situation and humor to keep going through the long and busy hours,” said David Breeze, account manager. 

Alan Kennedy, vice president and general manager, QSR, Europe, added, “The Ecolab team’s outstanding performance has not gone unnoticed within the stores and by McDonald’s management.”

Institutional: Keeping food safe with Sodexo and Aramark

The Institutional team worked with customers Sodexo and Aramark to help ensure the safety of food they served across Olympic Park and other sites. Team members delivered thousands of cases of cleaning and sanitizing product and packs of bottles, triggers and pumps for applying Ecolab solutions.  And like the QSR team, they also provided training – to 10,000 Aramark and Sodexo staff! -- in how to use Ecolab products effectively and efficiently.

After the Games began, Aramark’s Tamara Benson, site director at Weymouth, sent this message to National Account Manager Jamie Harrison: “I wanted to thank you for all the support your team has given us here. It has been fantastic.” 

Pest Elimination:  Protection for Olympic venues and London, too

Working under a contract with sports concession and construction company VINCI in partnership with the London Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games, Pest Elimination has provided pest protection across Olympic Village, various related sports venues and associated restaurants and spectator areas. Key to winning the contract: Ecolab’s sustainable approach to pest control, including poison-free rodent control, sugar-based wasp lures and the company’s new Stealth Fly Station.

In addition, to help protect London visitors and residents from bed bugs and other insects in hotel rooms, the Pest team placed Ecolab’s exclusive portable heat equipment, brought in from all regions in the U.K., in strategic locations across London. And to ensure that all customers had round-the-clock service, Pest field service representatives from across the U.K and Ireland have been stationed in London to provide customer support whenever and wherever needed.

“The team has performed stunningly well,” said John Houghtby, U.K. general manager, Pest Elimination. “The customer is extremely pleased with our service.”

“It has been a thrill for Ecolab to be part of the 2012 Olympics,” said Phil Mason, president of Ecolab’s Europe, Middle East and Africa sector.  “We commend our field teams for their hard work and phenomenal dedication to ensuring that our customers – and the customers they serve – receive no less than gold-medal service.”