Inside Principality Stadium’s New Matchday Hospitality
Let’s be honest. Stadium food doesn’t always have the best reputation. You go for the rugby, the music, the atmosphere, not necessarily the standard, overpriced, greasy food. So when I was invited to the Principality Stadium to preview the brand new hospitality and concourse offerings (in partnership with Aramark UK), I was definitely curious.
Seared Rump of Welsh Lamb
I went in expecting the usual stadium gloss. But after chatting with the team at Aramark UK I was pretty shocked, they seem to have had a proper, considered rethink into the world of hospitality, featuring local ingredients and a few practical fixes that actually felt like they might matter on a busy matchday. The stadium’s new partnership with Aramark UK is being sold as a “new era”, exploring better quality, fairer prices and a stronger nod to Welsh suppliers, and to be honest, on first taste that brief largely holds up.
For their new Hospitality menu, we got to try their new seared rump of Welsh lamb, which was exactly the sort of matchday hospitality dish I want to see. Generous portions, well seasoned and paired perfectly with a lamb faggot, braised barley, neeps and tatties. It felt like a roast you’d happily queue for in a local restaurant, which is the whole point of doing hospitality right. Opposite it, and unexpectedly my favourite dish of the day, was the slow-roast Delica squash.
This didn’t feel like the usual “token vegan option” and I came away convinced this should be a headline choice. Slow roast squash with silky butternut purée, nutty braised barley and crisp, salty rainbow kale for texture. I never go for the vegan option when lamb is on the menu, but this genuinely surprised me. I’d order it again in a heartbeat.
Slow Roast Delica Squash (Ve)
Dessert was just incredible. A bittersweet dark chocolate crèmeux with a Penderyn whisky-poached pear finished the meal on a grown-up note, while a few more playful Welsh touches like a Wickley chocolate rugby ball and a jammy Red Dragon doughnut from Planet Doughnut gave the tasting character and a crowd-pleasing factor for families and casual fans.
I’m not usually a doughnut person (controversial, I know), but this wasn’t your standard, overly sweet stadium sugar hit. It tasted really fresh, and properly made. Yes, press days are always going to showcase things at their best, but if that’s the standard being set on matchdays, then I’m seriously impressed.
The concourse menu has also had a refresh. Classic staples like Celtic Welsh pies remain, but they now sit alongside more varied options: Salt & chilli chicken tenders topped with a Chippy Lane-style curry sauce (a deliberate nod to Cardiff’s late-night scene), samosa chaat, nachos and hot dogs. There’s a sense of the city in these choices, a cheeky local reference here and there makes the concourse feel more Cardiff than a canteen.
There’s also clear attention to value. A locally crafted pie and a pint will cost £13.50 (choose chunky steak, chicken or parsnip pie, with a pint of Guinness, lager or cider). That price point matters, it’s competitive for matchday territory and, crucially, not laughably premium.
A big strand of the core messaging is celebrating contemporary Welsh food and giving local operators real opportunities. The trader residency model, with Mac Daddies announced as an early partner is exactly that, a route for independent businesses to grow inside the stadium rather than being sidelined by national chains. For Cardiff, that civic angle matters, making the stadium feel part of the city’s hospitality ecosystem.
Bittersweet Dark Chocolate Cremeux
This new relationship with Aramark is billed as an operational partnership focused on delivering higher-quality food at fair prices while keeping service fast and efficient. Practically, that showed in chef-led dishes during the tasting and the retail menu choices on the concourse.
One of the clearest, non-glamour practical change really stood out to us. The new eBars, now installed on Levels 3, 4 and 6, feel like a smart addition. Self-pour pints and streamlined tech just make sense when you’re trying to get thousands of people served quickly. I tried a self-pour Guinness and, I have to say, it was fresh from the keg, perfectly chilled and ready within seconds. The quality of the pour was spot on, and if this helps shave down queue times on a packed matchday, it’s a win all round. See the eBar in action over on our TikTok.
So, what does this mean for fans? The promise is refreshed matchday and hospitality menus, premium sharing options, limited-edition collaborations and less time queuing. Meaning, more time to enjoy the game and the atmosphere. From the pies-and-pint bundles at reasonable price points to the plant-based dishes, the changes are intended to be felt at every turn, not just in the suite but in the stands too.
For now, my takeaways are simple. Try the Squash if you get a seat in hospitality; pick up the Chippy Lane-style chicken tenders on the concourse; and give the eBars a go if you’re short on time. I’ll be back on a full matchday to see whether the queues really shrink and whether the kitchen keeps this standard when the pressure is on, but first impressions are encouraging, smarter plates, proper nods to Welsh suppliers, and a clear effort to make the whole experience feel a bit more Cardiff, which I feel a lot of people will appreciate.
