THE organisation which kept Commonwealth Games athletes and spectators fed and watered has revealed details of the massive operation.

City council arm's length group Cordia was responsible for providing the catering at 10 venues across the city from mid-July until the end of August.

To achieve that, they recruited 458 new staff and more than 300 Cordia employees were seconded from other areas or used holiday time to volunteer.

In total, they catered for 415,000 spectators and 200,000 athletes, officials, families and Clydesiders.

Most venues provided catering facilities from 6am until 11pm and as part of the deal, 90% of all the food on offer had to be sourced from Scotland.

That included 200,000 pieces of shortbread, 500,000 bottles of water, 8000 battered haddock and chips and 35,000 beef burgers made with 100% Scottish meat.

According to bosses, the food and drink operation at the Games went smoothly with no food incidents or accidents and a staff turnout of 99.3%.

Cordia's efforts have now been recognised with the award of a gold at the CIS Excellence Awards for its recruitment, training and retention of staff during the sporting spectacle.

The organisation was also praised for using 315,000 fully compostable cups and and containers.

Lynn Norwood, Cordia’s head of people development’, said: “We’re extremely proud of our entire team’s performance during the Games. It was a fantastic time for the organisation and we’ll all remember it for many years to come.

“Adding to these achievements was the ability to be able to recruit and retain so many staff, who are now playing an important role in the overall organisation.

“We also focused on developing each member of staff’s skill-set, providing training which they’ll be able to take with them whatever direction their careers will follow.

“Overall, this was a massive operation but a hugely successful one, largely due to the hard work and dedication of the team which we had.”

One employee who was recruited in advance of the Games was Ellie McKinnin, 17, who was studying professional catering at City of Glasgow College.

She applied for a position in Cordia after the organisation hosted a Games recruitment open day in the college.

Ellie was taken on to work as a waitress in Scotland House where she met many of the athletes.

She is still working as part of the team in the City Halls and works shifts at weekends while continuing her college course.