Perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that the hotel company that invented the Power Breakfast more than 30 years ago should be among the first to offer a new twist on morning meals for groups. When meeting groups convene at any of the 18 Loews hotels in North America, they will find a breakfast that is more than eggs, bacon, and toast. Sure, the classics are available, but so are items like Oatmeal Brûlée, Frozen Hot Chocolate, Huevos Rancheros, and Potato Latkes.

According to Ellen Burke Van Slyke, Corporate Creative Director of F&B for Loews Hotels, the company completely overhauled its banquets and catering program in 2007. “Restaurant trends have been all over the place during the last five to eight years,” she says. “But banquets… they’ve just stayed the same. We wanted to give groups something they would be thrilled with, while at the same time creating consistency across the company.” As food and beverage is integral to the Loews brand enhancement strategy, the pressure was on to come up with something out of the ordinary.

Thus was born the “non-banquet banquet.” Whether it’s breakfast, lunch, or dinner, groups start with the basics and can then opt for what Loews calls Chances to Enhance. For breakfast, that means starting with a Classic Continental breakfast and adding on from there with Tempting Twists and Uniquely Local offerings. The add-ons, however, are just one aspect of the non-banquet banquet’s novelty. By developing a room setup filled with multiple stations, interactive food preparation opportunities, comfortable dining tables, and informal servingware, Loews creates a homey environment for groups to meet and mingle.

BREAKFASTS, BANQUETS, AND THE BRAND
When Loews F&B executives started pondering a new menu, they looked closely at what guests were looking for when it comes to breakfast. According to Shelene Coward, director of catering and conference management at the Madison in Washington, D.C., travelers tend to fall into one of three categories. “First, we have people who are on a health kick. They want healthy, low-fat items. Then, there are those who figure they are traveling and need energy. They want a stick-to-the-bones breakfast that can tide them over for most of the day. Finally, there are those who follow special diets, such as diabetics or those who need to eat gluten-free. We are trying to appeal to people in all of those categories.”

An important consideration in developing the concept was how the service would align with the brand image. According to Corporate Chef Marc Ehrler, “Each Loews property looks very different. As we have evolved, providing an experience that embraces the Loews style has been essential. We thought about how we can give a Loews sense of place that is consistent across the brand, while at the same time letting each property be uniquely local.” One way to accomplish the mission was through the design of a new food service for groups that included an emphasis on regional cuisine and ingredients.

Ehrler, based out of the Loews Ventana Canyon in Tucson, Arizona, says the non-banquet banquet was a natural outgrowth of the company’s philosophy to serve guests with a sense of fun and comfort. “We didn’t want to be stuffy,” says Ehrler, “so we dispensed with chafing dishes and put out serving vessels similar to what you would see on the family table. And we decided to take old American classics and turn them into something fun, all while using high-quality ingredients.” At Ventana Canyon, new spins on old classics include a breakfast pizza topped with green tomatillo salsa, cheese, eggs, and chorizo, and the Banana Split, a split banana smothered with berries and vanilla yogurt and topped with granola.

ON THE MENU
Each Loews hotel offers the same Tempting Twists. The small plates include the Banana Split, Oatmeal Brûlée, and Loews Frozen Hot Chocolate. But each hotel differs in its selection of Uniquely Local items. For example, at Loews Lake Las Vegas, a local dish is the Elvis Slider, a peanut butter and banana filled brioche, battered, grilled, and served with pecan maple syrup. In the City of Brotherly Love, there’s a Build Your Own Philadelphia Cheesesteak, Egg, and Cheese Sandwich. At the Madison in Washington, D.C., Maryland Crab Cake Hash is the local specialty.

Another key element of Uniquely Local is sourcing ingredients from area farmers. The Madison works with farms in Virginia and Maryland to procure its breakfast meats, eggs and dairy, while in Tucson, Erhler works with Native American farmers to acquire unique commodities such as saguaro syrup, squash, and mesquite flour.

The interactive elements of Loews non-banquet banquet also make meals come alive for guests. Among the interactive stations at breakfast (all Chances to Enhance) is a juice bar where fresh custom combinations are shaken to order and served in martini glasses. Selections include everything from orange juice to pomegranate and carrot juices and wheatgrass. All are high antioxidant elixirs designed to lessen the side effects of life on the road. Caffeinated beverages are available at a separate station, where French press selections include a choice of Organic Rainforest or Kona coffees.

Build Your Own food stations can also add local quirkiness to the morning menu. At the Regency in New York City, guests can build their own bagels with various cream cheeses and salmon. At Loews Coronado Bay outside of San Diego, guests can create breakfast burritos or huevos rancheros.

VALUE FOCUS
According to Coward, meeting planners are seeing great value in the non-banquet banquet. “Planners are always challenged with having to meet all of the dietary needs of their groups. Normally, that means making costly special requests to the hotel. At Loews, we take all of their needs into account so they don’t have to think about it. In the end, even though this service is a little more expensive, the value is there, says Coward, “because we’re adding the creativity in advance so the planner doesn’t have to. And a breakfast that stands out in the eyes of meeting participants is a good reflection on the planner.”

Chef Ehrler hails the non-banquet banquet as a great success from the standpoints of profitability and customer satisfaction. Regarding the latter, he points out that “serving a good breakfast is so important. After all, a good, healthy breakfast experience can get your day off to a successful start.” Thanks to the non-banquet banquet, more and more Loews guests are starting their days on the right foot.

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