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Hotel Banquet & Catering Trends
Quarterly Special Edition: October 2009 Click here to subscribe» |
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Hot Rock HiltonInspired action station heats up groups at Hilton Minneapolis. Story and video by Michael Costa Most action stations derive their action from the movement of the cook behind the setup. But at the Hilton Minneapolis, the food itself is part of the “action” too—searing hot massage stones dropped into a cup of plantain broth, creating a mini volcano of boiling soup and steam. Once a cook removes the stone, guests can then take their cups to a nearby condiment station and add their choice of Mexican-themed toppings. It’s a simple formula with a big wow factor that’s been a huge hit with clients while helping to create an F&B identity for the property. In this video, Executive Chef Julian Grainger and other F&B staff detail their inspiration for the project and the back-of-the house teamwork necessary to pull off a “hot rock soup” station for groups. 
Ultimate Teambuilding Groups at Dolce Basking Ridge compete aggressively. By Michael Costa 
Imagine an Iron Chef-style competition where everyone in the audience is actually a participant racing against the clock to create a multi-course meal from scratch. Now imagine it all happening with up to 250 attendees in a hotel's outdoor courtyard. That's the setting for Dolce Basking Ridge's "Ultimate Feast."
“People are so into cooking now, and groups want to cook too, so that’s what inspired us to do this,” says Andy Christie, director of operations at Dolce Basking Ridge. “The feedback has been unbelievable, and it’s just a fun, refreshing environment, especially after a full day of meetings.” Christie says intense competition among co-workers is what really separates the Ultimate Feast from traditional F&B team-building. Because of downsizing at many companies today, “everyone is being asked to do a lot more with a lot less at the office, and that mindset has carried over directly to these competitions,” he says. Before the team-building begins, an “ultimate feat” of logistics and staffing is orchestrated behind the scenes. Dozens of butane burners, knives, pans, half-barrel grills, and more, are assembled to supply multiple workstations. Meanwhile, the raw ingredients needed for the menu are ordered and placed on a large community table for easy access during the event. Attendees are separated into teams of 10, and each is assigned a task—working a grill station, compiling the wine list, setting the table, making salad dressing, plating the appetizers— whatever the menu calls for, which focuses primarily on seasonal ingredients. Once the competition is underway, more than a dozen of the property’s F&B staff become involved, roving from station to station, making sure safety precautions and proper cooking techniques are used. Executive Chef Paul Bogardus is quick to point out, however, that employees stop short of doing the actual work for the client. “We coach and guide them, but we’re definitely not going to cook for them,” he says. “So if they go home hungry, it’s because they didn’t participate. This is team-building, and they have to participate for it to be successful.” Each team is given approximately 90 minutes to complete their tasks while being judged by Christie and Bogardus, who award points based on:
Christie says ultra-competitive attendees will even forage in the woods surrounding the property, looking for unique flowers or decorations for their tables in order to outdo their co-workers. Once time expires and the judging is finished, the food is placed into chafing dishes, and everyone sits down to eat from “The Ultimate Buffet.” The winners are announced after dinner, which Christie says, “keeps them in suspense” about which team did the best. Prizes ranging from gifts supplied by the host company to wines or gift certificates from the hotel are awarded to the victors. “It’s great to see how much they enjoy eating their own cooking. They’ll give each other high fives and say, ‘Wow, we did this one!’” says Bogardus.
Centralize and Conquer Washington Duke's breakfast service goes communal. By Howard Riell The Washington Duke Inn & Golf Club in Durham, North Carolina, is cutting costs and delighting guests by using rooms, equipment, food, and labor already on hand to make service less complicated. The challenge before was in serving a continental breakfast to different groups in each of the meeting rooms during the morning rush. Serving so many rooms at one time, says Don Ball, CPCE, the property’s director of food and beverage, “was just more complicated than it needed to be.” The solution came in introducing a communal-style continental buffet in the hotel’s large revolving break room, the Rotunda, and having as many of the in-house groups as wished to dine together.  A price differential was created: $14 per person in the Rotunda versus $18 in the private room. The menu offerings were the same, Ball adds, “whether people would have a private continental breakfast or walk 20 paces down the hallway to get breakfast,” so management decided to offer enhancements. A standard continental breakfast “is what everybody does,” he says, “seasonal fruit, pastries, bagels, muffins, jams, butter, juice, coffee.” In the Rotunda, however, yogurt, granola, and a warm breakfast item that rotates on a daily basis are offered. Another plus for guests is the chance to get out of their meeting rooms and socialize with different people. Guests have also said they appreciate the absence of food smells in the meeting rooms, which helps them keep their focus on work. Also, by taking food back to the meeting rooms with them, guests avoid being interrupted by staffers coming in to remove the breakfast and rolling units. It’s also more likely they’ll remain seated until the next break rather than sneaking over to grab more food within the room as before. The Rotunda has no seats. Says Ball, “It’s simply a kiosk kind of an experience. The guests grab their breakfast and go to their meeting rooms to sit and eat, so it’s really a grab-and-go concept. But the advantage is they have more food and more variety.”  The Rotunda’s equipment package is comprised “mostly of counter space with coffee urns like we would do anywhere else,” Ball says. “The one deciding difference is the rotational warm breakfast item every day, so there is a heat lamp with a chopping block underneath it. It might be mini-pecan rolls in a cast-iron skillet today, scones tomorrow, and chocolate croissants the next day.” Also on hand are built-in refrigerators for holding yogurt and milk. The change has helped drive repeat business, Ball adds. “Actually, the experience for the guests has been tremendous. They love the variety. They love having that additional hot item. They love the advantage we have—that we can spend a little extra on them with presentation because we’re focused on one place rather than multiple places.” Ball points out that it has proven far more efficient for the banquet team to service one area than different breakfasts in different rooms. Ball generally assigns two people in the Rotunda to manage the food and keep it stocked. “It’s very efficient,” he observes. “Our labor savings is in the 40 to 50 percent range.” Food cost has remained unchanged, even with the additional items, at 26 percent. Break into Character Marriott Hartford walking banana charms meeting-goers. By John Paul Boukis Are you really willing to go the extra mile to impress your corporate guests? Of course. So how about dressing up in a gorilla suit? That question caught the staff at the Marriott Hartford Downtown a little by surprise, too. But General Manager John Fraher didn’t just talk the talk. When the team got a little skittish about going ape for the new “Gone Bananas” break, he climbed into the gorilla gear himself. “No one wanted to do it at first,” Fraher acknowledges, “but after I broke the ice, everyone saw what a hit the event was. The staff is very much into it now that they know it’s fun, and attendees are snapping pictures on their cell phones to send home. Imagine the same routine every day as a banquet server—it’s hard to stay excited. So associates look forward to the costumed breaks now as a way to liven up their day.” The program sprang out of a desire to wow a bored meeting planner with something a little out of the box. “It really has to be a group of 40 to 50 or larger because of the cost of putting one on,” Fraher explains. “And you have to have enough people and enough time to break the ice. It’s for our corporate groups mostly—companies that tend to have three-day meetings. By the time the second or third day rolls around, everyone has that glassy look in their eyes. We started by offering these breaks as a complimentary upgrade to planners we knew. Our first was a monochromatic break, themed around the company colors or logo, and that was a big hit.” An insurance company with a red logo got treated to an all-red bonus break: cupcakes and sugar cookies with red frosting, bowls of red M&Ms, watermelon and other cut red fruit, designer red sodas and fruit punch, and fresh brewed teas and coffees served in red cups, all stacked on stainless, four-shelf, market-style presentation trays. The look was completed with red-draped cocktail tables studded with red napkins. “We then got together and came up with a few more interactive ideas we thought would be affordable and have some visual impact,” Fraher says. The Gone Bananas break involves a staff gorilla passing out drinks and pouring Bananas Foster syrup over ice cream. The theme swings on with freshly baked banana bread, banana cream pie tarts, chocolate-covered bananas on sticks, and even banana milkshakes. The Tropical Vacation break finds associates dressed in Hawaiian shirts and leis serving fresh island treats on kabobs stuck into a tree of fresh pineapples. And a New England-themed Hearth and Home break features a waitperson dressed as Granny in her rocking chair welcoming meeting guests into her cheery home. Her table is spread with fall and winter treats like warm homemade gingerbread with whipped cream, crisp apple tarts, Vermont cheddar cheese, apple cider, Vermont maple sugar candy, and cinnamon tea. “In this environment where some groups are challenged with the events they can have for lunches and dinners, they’ve been able to upgrade some breaks,” explains Robert Winchester, president/COO of Waterford Hotel Group, owner of the hotel. “We capture more revenue in the break area because of the limited spend they’re having in some other areas.” Fraher agrees, observing, “They need to have the meeting, but they’re under the microscope by CEOs and even watchdogs across the nation.” At only a few dollars more per person than a regular break, the planner gets great bang for the buck. For $14 or $15 per head, the meeting can make an impact without showboating. Winchester is sharing the success of the program with the rest of Waterford Hotel Group as a best practice with some regional variations. The hotels will also use the fun breaks as a free upgrade to win business in this competitive market. “We’ll offer to upgrade as value-added,” says Fraher. “In many cases, it’s a great way to get the planner’s attention. It’s all about getting people in the doors and maintaining the customer base.” And that’s success worth dressing up for.  FEATURED PRODUCTArtisan European Pastry Bridor is a worldwide leader in high-quality French-style frozen Viennese pastry, prepared according to baking tradition. Bridor products are simple for hotels to store and prepare. Additionally, its catalogue of over 30 bread products and 150 Viennese pastry items—including Pure organic-certified bread and pastry—offers hoteliers a large range of frozen products for all meals parts and outlets, including banquets, breakfast, lunch, snacks, tea-time, or refreshment breaks. www.bridor.com |
In this issue: Break into Character Marriott Hartford walking banana charms meeting-goers. Centralize and Conquer Washington Duke's breakfast service goes communal. Ultimate Teambuilding Groups at Dolce Basking Ridge compete aggressively. 
Hot Rock Hilton Inspired action station heats up groups at Hilton Minneapolis. 
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Hotel Banquet & Catering is edited by Michael Costa and Tad Wilkes and published in affiliation with Hotel F&B Magazine
and Hotel F&B Online (www.hotelfandb.com). To submit story ideas or images, contact Michael at mcosta@hotelfandb.com or upload photos or videos at www.hotelfandb.com/photos.asp.
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