- May 22, 2026
- Posted by: John
- Categories: Catering & Concessions, Industry News
Everton has won a major honour at the Football Business Awards 2026 for its new ‘Dock on 1’ hospitality offering.
The Club received the ‘Best Use of Technology in Football’ award after successfully creating a bespoke algorithm that delivered flexible dining for over 20,000 guests during the first season at Hill Dickinson Stadium.
Dock on 1 is a new type of premium membership that moves away from the traditional model, where guests dine in the same restaurant at every match.
Instead, it offers a more flexible approach, giving supporters and businesses access to a mix of fixtures and dining experiences across four different restaurants throughout the season.
These restaurants – Navigator, The Blue Line, Merchants and The Yard – each offer a different experience, from size to the dining style.
Ahead of the inaugural season at Hill Dickinson Stadium, the Club sold over 1,000 memberships, split across seven different tiers, with different allocation criteria for the number of dining fixtures, and across three match categories.
With Dock on 1 representing a unique, first-of-its-kind offering, there was no historical precedent, template, or established industry method to solve these complex dining options.
Everton therefore created its own system, deployed through an Alteryx workflow, to automatically allocate dining bookings across matches, membership tiers and venues. This ensured everything was fair, stayed within capacity limits, and worked smoothly at scale.
The 2026 SVB LIVE Conference & Exhibition – with a focus on elevating the live experience – is being hosted at Everton’s new Hill Dickinson Stadium on October 1st and 2nd, with an Opening Night Icebreaker at Liverpool FC’s Anfield stadium on September 30th.
Judges at the Football Business Awards 2026 said:
“This is good example of in-house capability driving efficiency and potential profitability, while also keeping the customer journey as a key part of the process. Dock on 1 is both a valuable and practical use of technology, flexible and considerate of members’ needs.”
Developing this innovative mechanism to deliver Dock on 1, and ensure a flawless first-season experience with fairness embedded by design, was essential to the long-term commercial success of this new membership category.
The system played a key role in making Dock on 1 a success in its first season. In total, the Club successfully managed more than 7,000 individual booking combinations, covering over 20,000 dining experiences across the four restaurants, all while staying within capacity limits.
Matt Gregoire, Food, Beverage and Experience Director at Everton’s Official Culinary Experience Partner, Aramark UK, said:
“Dock on 1 is one of the most complex hospitality memberships I’ve seen in football. Delivering each restaurant on a matchday would not have been possible without the bespoke allocation technology behind it.
“The algorithm gives our operations teams complete confidence in the bookings and membership data for every matchday, allowing us to plan accurately, trust the allocations, and focus on delivering a seamless premium experience across all dining environments.”
Kyle Cockett, Everton’s Head of Strategic Development, added:
“It feels incredible to win the award. A lot of work went into it and we are really proud of the effort that went in. It’s a new concept and the first of its kind, so it’s nice to get the recognition.”
Launched in 2012, the Football Business Awards celebrate the very best in football business and attract 500 attendees to the ceremony each year.
The judging panel is made up of Chief Executives of Football Clubs, Professional Football Associations & Grassroots Football Organisations, whose knowledge, expertise and experience gives them special insight into the challenges and demands of football business success.
Image: Main image features Kyle Cockett, Everton’s Head of Strategic Development, with the award, flanked by club colleagues and, right, host Mark Chapman.
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