A source is a source, of course. But when it comes to hotel menus in 2008, simply saying that ingredients are locally sourced might not be enough to satisfy guests’ increasingly green expectations, especially for banquets, meeting breaks, weddings, and other events.

“Any kind of name recognition increases sales,” says Mark Rottman, director of catering, InterContinental Chicago. Rottman and his staff noticed this trend about a year ago and started incorporating the names of Chicago and Midwest-based vendors that supply organic, natural, locally grown, or cruelty-free products for use within their green event menus, giving the customer a brand name factor that translates into additional sales.

“Those menus account for about 50 percent of our event business now. A year and a half ago, it was around 10 percent,” Rottman says.

THE NAME GAME
Some of the primarily local and regional suppliers the hotel promotes on its green event menus include:

• Red Hen Bakery, Bittersweet Pastry Shop, and Green City Market in Chicago
• Leslie Cooperband’s Prairie Fruits Farm near Champaign, Illinois
• Ernst Farm in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Mick Klug Farms in southwest Michigan
• Green Acres Farm in North Judson, Indiana
• Tallgrass Beef Company in Sedan, Kansas, owned by former Chicago newscaster and A&E host Bill Kurtis

“When people hear those names, they make a positive association and know exactly what they’re getting,” Rottman says.

WIN-WIN
The shift to green menus was a natural one for the InterContinental Chicago. The property was recently Energy Star certified, scoring 88 out of 100 points in the Environmental Protection Agency’s rating system for assessing energy and water consumption (www.energystar.gov). The InterContinental’s high rating placed it within the top 12 percent of energy-efficient buildings in the country. There are further plans to install an energy-saving roof and plant a garden for culinary use.

Even though an environmentally conscious mindset permeates the property, using and promoting local vendors is also cost-efficient due to seasonality, purchasing agreements, and labor savings.

“When we put certain foods on a banquet menu in the past, it was really expensive to get large quantities if they weren’t in season,” says Tamas Vago, director of F&B, InterContinental Chicago. “Now, items almost always have to be in season for us to use them.”

Featuring suppliers on the menus can also help the hotel maintain preferred customer status, locking in competitive pricing agreements and providing a steady stream of the best inventory. In return, customers see the brand name and may seek out the source on their own, giving the vendor additional sales.

“Guests see Bittersweet Pastry Shop, for example, and say, ‘I like this. I can go buy this product myself.’ That’s another draw with showcasing a Chicago connection,” Rottman says.

By using Bittersweet and Red Hen Bakery, Vago says his staff doesn’t have to spend time making bread and desserts for large functions, while the customer perceives added value through the brand names. “Their products are really good. I started using them long before I realized they were green. It fits very well with what we’re doing now.”

From a beverage standpoint, the food and beverage staff hasn’t found any organic Chicago wineries to promote, but they do pair Chicago chocolates and Midwest-sourced cheeses with organic and biodynamic wines from other areas.

BREAKING AWAY
For meeting breaks, the hotel has begun using menu items as part of the break décor. New setups include the raw ingredients used to make finished products, such as wheat stalks in a basket or grains in a vase to accompany a bread display.

“As the green movement gains strength, I see a trend in the décor being the food itself,” says Rottman. “There are more and more products and services we can incorporate into green events, and the customer will see it all.”

The hotel is negotiating with a Michigan farm to provide an exclusive supply of produce that would enhance their green event menus and give the InterContinental Chicago more options to expand its locally sourced, brand name success. “Green events will grow,” says Vago, “because everybody understands using local products won’t go out of style.”

Michael Costa is industry relations editor for HOTEL F&B.