KRC Genk is a top-tier competitor in Belgian football, known for its relentless competitive spirit and its commitment to nurturing young talent. Since its founding in 1988, this relatively young club has achieved remarkable success, with four national titles, five Belgian Cups, and 18 European qualifications under its belt. Yet, KRC Genk’s story goes beyond the pitch. Deeply rooted in Limburg’s mining heritage, the club embodies a spirit of solidarity and resilience that resonates with its community. Every home game at the 22,500-seat Cegeka Arena offers not only electrifying football but also a strong sense of belonging. 

At KRC Genk, football is just the beginning. Through its Business Club, the club offers its partners and premium customers more than prime seats at the Cegeka Arena—it provides a blend of top-level football and hospitality. With around 650 members, the Business Club creates an environment where business connections thrive, offering access to excellent seats and invitations to up to 12 networking events each year. 

For those seeking to enhance their matchday experience, KRC Genk provides an impressive catering service. Approximately 1,000 premium customers enjoy three-course dinners prepared by Vandersmissen, the club’s catering partner, paired with champagne and a curated selection of wines. Customers can also opt for wine upgrades through their partner, Amy the Wine House, to further personalise their experience. 

Behind these operations is a team of three business unit managers: one focused on sales and two on hospitality. Their responsibilities include managing sponsorships, coordinating hospitality logistics, and organising business events. 

When KRC Genk reached out iXpole, they recognised that their VIP hospitality services needed a serious overhaul. Three critical challenges stood out: outdated tools, an overloaded sales team and inefficiencies in the upselling process that left revenue untapped. 

Outdated and inneffective tools 

As most other clubs, KRC Genk was relying on tools that were simply not tailored to the specific needs of premium hospitality. 

While the ticketing system worked well for general fan ticket sales, it lacked the capability to handle catering and hospitality reservations. Meanwhile, the in-house catering tool, developed in partnership with the caterer, had become outdated and increasingly difficult to maintain. 

These limitations forced staff to rely on cumbersome manual processes, creating inefficiencies and complicating coordination between departments. 

Administrative Overload 

The inadequate tools placed a heavy administrative burden on the hospitality team. They spent much of their time responding to emails, manually booking reservations, and updating spreadsheets to keep track of customer preferences. This workload reduced their capacity to deliver top-tier service and disrupted the smooth execution of matchday experiences for VIP guests. 

Barriers to Effective Upselling  

Upselling premium options, such as wine upgrades, was a labor-intensive and inefficient process. Staff struggled to track matchday orders, which often led to invoicing errors. 

Furthermore, the limitations of the existing systems restricted the club’s ability to offer a more diverse catering selection. This shortfall hindered their ability to improve customer satisfaction and generate additional revenue 

KRC Genk decided it was time for a complete overhaul of its VIP hospitality management processes and tools. The old in-house system and the fan ticketing platform were replaced with iXpole. Positioned at the core of all premium catering operations, iXpole became the foundation for managing everything—from configuring catering options to selling hospitality services and automating matchday operations. 

Configuration of Hospitality Options 

Working closely with iXpole staff, KRC Genk and its catering partner set up all premium hospitality processes in the iXpole Back-Office. They created distinct hospitality locations corresponding to the different restaurants in the stadium. Each location was further customised with specific tables and defined seating capacities. 

The system also manages various menus, complete with descriptions for online sales, pricing details, and VAT rates.  

To simplify the upselling process, the team added multiple wine options, including both packages and “à la carte” selections. All items were configured with clear pricing, descriptions, and visuals to ensure a smooth integration into iXpole’s online sales channels. 

Catering Sales 

All catering sales are now registered within iXpole. Both the KRC Genk sales team and the catering partner have access to the tool. 

For Business Club members who sigend up for premium hospitality on a seasonal basis, the KRC Genk sales team registers “hospitality subscriptions” in the iXpole Back-Office. This ensures Business Club members are automatically assigned hospitality for each game. 

For matchday sales, two options are available:

-Business Club members who don’t have hospitality on a seasonal basis can order per game. They place their orders on the VIP Portal. 

-The KRC Genk sales team can also decide to put catering options up for to non Business Club members. To do so, they will use a VIP Booker, some sort of e-commerce website, designed specifically for the sale of premium services.. 

Matchday Operations 

To provide all premium customers, whether they ordered catering or not, with the best possible experience, KRC Genk decided to segment its customer base. This clear segmentation allowed the club to tailor communications and automate processes for each group effectively. 

Segmentation 

For its hospitality-related communications, KRC Genk categorises its Business Club members into three distinct groups: 

• Members with a standard dinner reservation. 
• Members with a standard snack menu. 
• Members without any catering arrangement. 

Communication 

For each of the segments, the Club has created a series of pre-configured emails in the iXpole Back-Office. For every match, iXpole now automates the email communication around catering reservations: 

• Ten days before matchday, Business Club members are informed that they can initiate their catering reservations on the VIP Portal. 
• Five days before matchday, a reminder is sent to those who haven’t placed an order, along with a notice about the reservation closing date. 
• Four days before matchday, members who still haven’t placed an order are informed that the reservations are now closed for that game. 

Process Automation 

Together with the iXpole consultants, the KRC Genk business unit managers reviewed and optimised numerous processes. The end goal was to ensure a more efficient and enjoyable matchday experience for the Business Club members. 

Here is an overview of some of these processes that were optimised: 

Table Plans 

A couple of days before the game, the sales administration team and the caterer create the table plans for each hospitality location, ensuring optimal seating arrangements. 

Once the table plans are final, they are configured in the iXpole Back Office, linking every ticket to a specific seat at a table. 

VIP Entrance 

At the VIP entrance, hostesses no longer rely on printed lists. Tickets are scanned using the VIP Desk scanners, which immediately display the assigned hospitality location. This allows staff to guide VIP guests more efficiently. 

Catering Preparation 

To streamline kitchen operations and ensure accurate preparation, the caterer uses different lists, which the iXpole Back-Office generates automatically: 

• The Kitchen List provides an overview of the meals to be prepared per kitchen. 
• The Catering Reservation List details the number of guests per table at each hospitality location. 
• The Catering Invoice List summarises the total number of menus served per location, allowing the caterer to invoice the club accurately. 

Previously, catering reservations were managed and invoiced by the caterer, while seat reservations were handled and invoiced by the club. 

With iXpole, all matchday-related services are now centrally managed within a single system, creating a win for all parties involved. The premium customers can now manage all their VIP hospitality needs in one place—the VIP Portal—and receive a single, consolidated invoice covering all services. For the club, this centralisation ensures full control over its relationship with Business Club members, allowing for consistent communication and a unified customer experience. Meanwhile, the caterer benefits from a significant reduction in administrative tasks: he no longer needs to handle individual reservations, send invoices to multiple customers or follow up on payments. Now the administration is limited to simply issuing one single invoice directly to the club. 

Matchday Consumptions: The Table Sheet 

To further enhance their premium experience, KRC Genk allows Business Club members to upgrade their hospitality package with premium wine options. They can order this upgrade either upfront, while placing their order online, or they can even decide on the matchday, when seated at their table. 

To streamline this process, the caterer generates Table Sheets. These Table Sheets are automatically generated by the iXpole Back-Office and placed on each table by the catering staff before the start of the catering shift. Each Table Sheet is personalised per table and serves 2 purposes: firstly it will give an overview of any upgrades ordered upfront; secondly it can be used as an order form for upgrades ordered during the meal. 

At the end of the meal, the waiter and the Business Club member will jointly confirm the upgrades, allowing the waiter to collect the payment for the upgrades. 

The following day, the catering staff will input all sold upgrades into the iXpole Back-Office and marks them as ‘Paid in full’. This data is then sent by iXpole to Microsoft Dynamics, allowoing the latter to automatically generate an invoice to be sent to the Business Club member. 

The entire process ensures accuracy and a seamless financial process from order to payment.