Hotel Cuisine & Menus: July 18, 2007

Surf 'n' Turf Hits the Mark
Lower food cost drives “The Flavors of the Northwest” menu at Interstate

Many menus are driven to change by the seasonality of ingredients, the creativity of the chefs assembling them, or customer feedback. Another factor that is arguably the most important, but the least glamorous, is food cost.

“One of the highest selling items that we have in our hotel restaurants is a filet mignon, and the cost of filets over the past two years has just gone through the roof,” says Don Stanczak, senior food and beverage executive, Interstate Hotels.

The solution, according to Stanczak, was to use smaller portions of beef (from an 8-ounce center cut to a 4-ounce medallion) and fill the gap by allowing customers to mix and match with less expensive seafood. The result is “The Flavors of the Northwest.”

“We found in our studies that most customers see a combination of steak and something else as being of greater value. In reality, it’s actually lower food cost,” says Stanczak.

Stanczak says a major inspiration for the structure of the menu can be traced to an American restaurant staple.

“I think it’s a spin-off of the popular steakhouses. It’s the ability to pick your side dishes and order exactly what you want to eat, as opposed to being held hostage by the whims of a chef,” says Stanczak.

Interstate used award-winning food photographer Tim Turner (who has snapped pictures for cookbooks by Charlie Trotter, Jacques Pepin, and Rick Tramonto, among others) to create a fresh, clean look that coincides with the season.

“I think it’s a better summer promotion...most people think about seafood in the summer because they cook outdoors more,” says Stanczak.

Interstate also took into consideration the power of third-party branding to raise the authenticity factor for customers, by adding an “Alaskan Seafood” logo next to the entrees. "I think hotels tend to use a higher quality product, and anytime we can tell the customer that we’re doing that, it’s an advantage,” Stanczak adds.

The Taste of the Northwest promotion runs through October at 33 Interstate-managed properties in North America.

Hotel F&B recently interviewed Robert Gioia, executive chef, Sunset Sam’s Fish Camp at the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center in Kissimmee, Florida, and asked him about his Floridian/Caribbean-themed menu, how express menus can turn tables at lunchtime, and the one menu item he can’t be without.

Hotel F&B: What is the menu concept at Sunset Sam’s Fish Camp?

Gioia: It’s all Key West themed, or Caribbean themed, so our menu, the best that we can, reflects that. It’s 80 percent seafood, and we have some chicken, beef, and pork. We have salsas, fruits, mangos, papayas, and things of that nature to go with it.

Hotel F&B: What are your influences when you’re creating your menus?

Gioia: I try to get the influence from the guest. I touch tables, I walk the dining room every lunch and every dinner. And try to engage the guests on how they like things.

I also have my wife and two young daughters, and we like to eat out. I try to do comparative analysis with other restaurants while I’m there. We also have very talented chefs in this hotel. So we have a food and beverage meeting once a week and we’ll pass along articles or maybe a new menu item that we want to taste. And then, of course, recipes I may have seen in books, I’ll play with those.

Hotel F&B: What menu innovations are you working on?

Gioia: I’m working on an express menu right now, because we still have the challenge of when a group breaks or they have to hit a meeting extremely fast, we have to adjust our menu according to the in-house forecast, just so we can handle the output.

I’m working on trying to market this as an express lunch, so if they have a meeting in 15 minutes, we’ll guarantee a 15 to 20 minute lunch for them. We’ll probably offer a choice of two appetizers, two entrées, and one dessert.

Hotel F&B: What’s one item on your menu that you can’t be without?

Gioia: At dinner, that would be our fresh fish selection, called the Dayboat Selection. A great selling point with our fish is that it’s all from Florida waters or the Caribbean area.

The guest can have a different sauce with it, and we can cook it grilled, broiled, blackened, or bronzed. We offer about eight different fish on that part of the menu. That’s the majority of our sales right there.

[click here to view Sunset Sam's Fish Camp
lunch and dinner menus in PDF format]

Major League Menus
Holiday Inn Select aims to win with new Sporting News Grill

Question: What do sports and hotel restaurants have in common? Answer: Success based on numbers.

At Holiday Inn Select’s Sporting News Grill in Dallas, Texas, a sports-themed menu is scoring big when it comes to sales.

“We’ve gone from a maximum of about 25 covers to about 125 covers in the evening. Nearly all of our customers used to go out to the name restaurants. Now we can offer them something here that’s quite unique,” says Jeremy Millar, general manager, Sporting News Grill, Holiday Inn Select, Dallas-Love Field.

Not Just Another Game

The Sporting News Grill has what you would expect in a sports bar: 12 plasma-screen TVs, comfortable seating, and a full bar. But the food is the wildcard with guests.

“We are accommodating [varied preferences] in the evening. If you want to come in and have Buffalo wings and a beer, that’s great. If you’re a guest who’s staying in the hotel for two nights and you’d like to get a good quality steak, we do that as well,” says Millar.

[click on image to enlarge]

Some features on the menu include:

Meat cooked on a mesquite wood grill (instead of a gas grill).
A flexible look that can be modified to include local interests, like a Dallas Cowboys theme.
A special breakfast version that is available in the morning, as well as a room service menu.

“We opened in September [2006] and [since then] we’ve changed about nine different items on the menu. We can do what the palate is in the area and what people like. They love it, and they love the concept that goes with it,” says Millar.

All-Star Pedigree

The association with the Sporting News, a legendary sports magazine that published its first issue in 1886, gives the Sporting News Grill a level of authenticity with customers that helps bring them through the door.

“It’s a great fit for a hotel brand because you have guests who are in a new city, often by themselves. The sports-themed restaurant gives them a way to connect with other people over a common interest,” says Mark Snyder, senior vice president, brand management, Holiday Inn in the Americas.

[Sporting News Grill menu in PDF format]

[Sporting News Grill breakfast and room service menus in PDF format]

Pairing Italian wine with Italian food is a culinary staple in many hotels around the world. So when the Rosen Centre Hotel in Orlando created their second “Vine and Dine” event around an Italian theme, they knew they’d have to incorporate their own personal ideas and touches to make the experience unique for guests.

“We took a very traditional Italian menu and did it a little bit different,” says Fred Vlachos, restaurant chef, Everglades Restaurant, Rosen Centre Hotel.

Chef Vlachos says he deconstructed familiar dishes and rearranged ingredients to heighten the flavor and presentation from what guests might have been used to.

“With the saltimbocca, I took the sage and put it into the sauce, then I fried julienned prosciutto and topped the meat with that to give it a different look,” says Vlachos.

Another twist was a specially garnished carpaccio. “I did a mustard aioli, which is something that’s not usually seen with carpaccio, and a fennel confit," Vlachos explains. "I also added capers, but I pan fried them first. It intensifies the flavor a little bit."

As for the wine pairings, the F&B team at the Rosen Centre tasted several wines with samples from the menu two weeks before the event to make sure the flavors were seamless. The result was positive feedback from customers.

“One of the guests said he never really liked Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio. But when he paired it with the carpaccio, it gave him such a crisp finish that now he’s back to buying Santa Margherita at home,” says Ben TenEyck, food and beverage director, Rosen Centre Hotel.

Rosen Centre Executive Chef Michael Rumplik (left) and Everglades
Restaurant Chef Fred Vlachos. Click on image to enlarge.

More than 35 people paid $65 each to enjoy the Italian-themed Vine and Dine. Those at the Rosen Centre say the promotion has been so successful this year, there are plans to move it from a quarterly event to once a month in 2008.

The next Vine and Dine is scheduled for August and will feature cuisine and wine from the American Pacific Northwest.

“Renewal is a core concept of Hotel Indigo. We are trying to create a dynamic environment, something that’s constantly changing. Seasonality in the menu keeps playing back to the brand’s roots,” says Jim Anhut, regional senior vice president, brand development, InterContinental Hotels Group.

Instead of turning the entire menu upside down every three months, Hotel Indigo focuses on one seasonal item across different applications, to maximize food cost and efficiency.

“To get out of the box of, ‘What’s our special tonight?’ we say, ‘This is the seasonal special,’” says Anhut.

For the current summer menu (click here to view a PDF of that menu), crab cakes are the featured item, and they are the main ingredients in three dishes:

“I think we’ve got some excellent plating presentations,” says Sue Morgan, vice president, franchise food and beverage, InterContinental Hotels Group. “I really want to start incorporating an incredibly delicious soup on the seasonal menu as well,” she adds.

The crab cakes and many other items on Hotel Indigo’s menu are created off-site by Cuisine Solutions and shipped frozen. They are then cooked on an order-by-order basis in a TurboChef oven.

“All we need to do is rethermalize and present. I don’t have someone in the back preparing a bunch of food product in anticipation of how many people they’re going to serve, because they can do one order at a time,” says Anhut. “I can serve 40 or 50 covers a night with one person in the kitchen,” he adds.

One of the major influences on Hotel Indigo’s menu concept comes not from the kitchen, but from the checkout counter.

“Retail is constantly evolving and changing. The displays are always different. Sometimes it’s music, and all the time it’s merchandise. Food is our merchandise in the Phi Bistro and the Golden Bean,” says Anhut.

Hotel Cuisine & Menus Newsletter: July 18, 2007 Click here to subscribe»

Hilton's New Hues Color-coded menu system lets guests have it all Guests at the more than 500 Hilton hotels worldwide can now follow more than their appetites to breakfast. “You just follow your color,” says Shawn McGowan, senior director, food and beverage, Hilton brand performance. The Hilton Breakfast Program, rolled out at the end of April, focuses on a color-coded menu system with different hues assigned to different types of foods: Low-fat/low-calorie = lavender High-energy = red High-fiber = green Low-cholesterol = blue Indulgence = yellow Hilton hired a registered dietician to analyze 200 common breakfast buffet items and put them into one of the five categories above. Hilton then assigned a color to each category in a pie-chart format with each color a different “piece” of the pie, and a menu was born. “We’ve had tremendous feedback on it,” says Meredith Quarnstrom, vice president, food and beverage operations, Hilton Hotels. *International Roots* According to McGowan, the color-coded breakfast was already in place at a handful of Hilton international properties. A Hilton executive observed it in the Caribbean and decided it needed to be a global brand standard. In addition to the menus, Hilton is rolling out new equipment and graphics packages for breakfast that will help standardize the program at every property. This includes logoed coffee cups by Oneida and an “anchor” color similar to the color of orange juice. “It’s a great bright color. When you walk into the dining room, you definitely know something’s different because of the bright colors tied together, from the graphics on the buffet to the tabletops,” says Chad West, regional director of Hilton supply management, Hilton Hotels. Up to Speed Each property is expected to put a minimum of 80 Hilton-approved items on their buffet, but they also have the flexibility to add regional food as well, such as chorizo in the southwest or crawfish in New Orleans. “We’re challenging them to put out the most abundant food that they can get for their price point in the market, so when people come to our Hilton breakfast, there’s a wow factor,” says McGowan. The Hilton Breakfast Program rollout will continue through September with employee training at individual properties. [click on images to enlarge] Related editorial links ¨ Wyndham's new signature breakfast program. http://www.hotelfandb.com/biol/may-june2007-wyndham-breakfast.asp ¨ Embassy Suites' updated breakfast space and menus. http://www.hotelfandb.com/biol/jan-feb2007-embassy-suites.asp Surf 'n' Turf Hits the Mark Lower food cost drives “The Flavors of the Northwest” menu at Interstate Many menus are driven to change by the seasonality of ingredients, the creativity of the chefs assembling them, or customer feedback. Another factor that is arguably the most important, but the least glamorous, is food cost. “One of the highest selling items that we have in our hotel restaurants is a filet mignon, and the cost of filets over the past two years has just gone through the roof,” says Don Stanczak, senior food and beverage executive, Interstate Hotels. The solution, according to Stanczak, was to use smaller portions of beef (from an 8-ounce center cut to a 4-ounce medallion) and fill the gap by allowing customers to mix and match with less expensive seafood. The result is “The Flavors of the Northwest.” “We found in our studies that most customers see a combination of steak and something else as being of greater value. In reality, it’s actually lower food cost,” says Stanczak. Stanczak says a major inspiration for the structure of the menu can be traced to an American restaurant staple. “I think it’s a spin-off of the popular steakhouses. It’s the ability to pick your side dishes and order exactly what you want to eat, as opposed to being held hostage by the whims of a chef,” says Stanczak. Summertime Splash Interstate used award-winning food photographer Tim Turner (who has snapped pictures for cookbooks by Charlie Trotter, Jacques Pepin, and Rick Tramonto, among others) to create a fresh, clean look that coincides with the season. “I think it’s a better summer promotion...most people think about seafood in the summer because they cook outdoors more,” says Stanczak. Interstate also took into consideration the power of third-party branding to raise the authenticity factor for customers, by adding an “Alaskan Seafood” logo next to the entrees. "I think hotels tend to use a higher quality product, and anytime we can tell the customer that we’re doing that, it’s an advantage,” Stanczak adds. The Taste of the Northwest promotion runs through October at 33 Interstate-managed properties in North America. [click here to view the Flavors of the Northwest menu in PDF format] Related editorial links ¨ Receiving Seafood http://www.hotelfandb.com/blog/?p=57 ¨ Dealing with a Portion Problem http://www.hotelfandb.com/blog/?p=46#more-46 Caribbean Flair Menu innovations at Sunset Sam’s Fish Camp, Gaylord Palms Hotel F&B recently interviewed Robert Gioia, executive chef, Sunset Sam’s Fish Camp at the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center in Kissimmee, Florida, and asked him about his Floridian/Caribbean-themed menu, how express menus can turn tables at lunchtime, and the one menu item he can’t be without. Hotel F&B: What is the menu concept at Sunset Sam’s Fish Camp? Gioia: It’s all Key West themed, or Caribbean themed, so our menu, the best that we can, reflects that. It’s 80 percent seafood, and we have some chicken, beef, and pork. We have salsas, fruits, mangos, papayas, and things of that nature to go with it. Hotel F&B: What are your influences when you’re creating your menus? Gioia: I try to get the influence from the guest. I touch tables, I walk the dining room every lunch and every dinner. And try to engage the guests on how they like things. I also have my wife and two young daughters, and we like to eat out. I try to do comparative analysis with other restaurants while I’m there. We also have very talented chefs in this hotel. So we have a food and beverage meeting once a week and we’ll pass along articles or maybe a new menu item that we want to taste. And then, of course, recipes I may have seen in books, I’ll play with those. Hotel F&B: What menu innovations are you working on? Gioia: I’m working on an express menu right now, because we still have the challenge of when a group breaks or they have to hit a meeting extremely fast, we have to adjust our menu according to the in-house forecast, just so we can handle the output. I’m working on trying to market this as an express lunch, so if they have a meeting in 15 minutes, we’ll guarantee a 15 to 20 minute lunch for them. We’ll probably offer a choice of two appetizers, two entrées, and one dessert. Hotel F&B: What’s one item on your menu that you can’t be without? Gioia: At dinner, that would be our fresh fish selection, called the Dayboat Selection. A great selling point with our fish is that it’s all from Florida waters or the Caribbean area. The guest can have a different sauce with it, and we can cook it grilled, broiled, blackened, or bronzed. We offer about eight different fish on that part of the menu. That’s the majority of our sales right there. [click here to view Sunset Sam's Fish Camp lunch and dinner menus in PDF format] Major League Menus Holiday Inn Select aims to win with new Sporting News Grill Question: What do sports and hotel restaurants have in common? Answer: Success based on numbers. At Holiday Inn Select’s Sporting News Grill in Dallas, Texas, a sports-themed menu is scoring big when it comes to sales. “We’ve gone from a maximum of about 25 covers to about 125 covers in the evening. Nearly all of our customers used to go out to the name restaurants. Now we can offer them something here that’s quite unique,” says Jeremy Millar, general manager, Sporting News Grill, Holiday Inn Select, Dallas-Love Field. Not Just Another Game The Sporting News Grill has what you would expect in a sports bar: 12 plasma-screen TVs, comfortable seating, and a full bar. But the food is the wildcard with guests. “We are accommodating [varied preferences] in the evening. If you want to come in and have Buffalo wings and a beer, that’s great. If you’re a guest who’s staying in the hotel for two nights and you’d like to get a good quality steak, we do that as well,” says Millar. [click on image to enlarge] Some features on the menu include: Meat cooked on a mesquite wood grill (instead of a gas grill). A flexible look that can be modified to include local interests, like a Dallas Cowboys theme. A special breakfast version that is available in the morning, as well as a room service menu. “We opened in September [2006] and [since then] we’ve changed about nine different items on the menu. We can do what the palate is in the area and what people like. They love it, and they love the concept that goes with it,” says Millar. All-Star Pedigree The association with the Sporting News, a legendary sports magazine that published its first issue in 1886, gives the Sporting News Grill a level of authenticity with customers that helps bring them through the door. “It’s a great fit for a hotel brand because you have guests who are in a new city, often by themselves. The sports-themed restaurant gives them a way to connect with other people over a common interest,” says Mark Snyder, senior vice president, brand management, Holiday Inn in the Americas. [Sporting News Grill menu in PDF format] [Sporting News Grill breakfast and room service menus in PDF format] Vine and Dine Italian menus with a twist in Orlando Pairing Italian wine with Italian food is a culinary staple in many hotels around the world. So when the Rosen Centre Hotel in Orlando created their second “Vine and Dine” event around an Italian theme, they knew they’d have to incorporate their own personal ideas and touches to make the experience unique for guests. “We took a very traditional Italian menu and did it a little bit different,” says Fred Vlachos, restaurant chef, Everglades Restaurant, Rosen Centre Hotel. A Hit Menu Chef Vlachos says he deconstructed familiar dishes and rearranged ingredients to heighten the flavor and presentation from what guests might have been used to. “With the saltimbocca, I took the sage and put it into the sauce, then I fried julienned prosciutto and topped the meat with that to give it a different look,” says Vlachos. Another twist was a specially garnished carpaccio. “I did a mustard aioli, which is something that’s not usually seen with carpaccio, and a fennel confit," Vlachos explains. "I also added capers, but I pan fried them first. It intensifies the flavor a little bit." As for the wine pairings, the F&B team at the Rosen Centre tasted several wines with samples from the menu two weeks before the event to make sure the flavors were seamless. The result was positive feedback from customers. “One of the guests said he never really liked Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio. But when he paired it with the carpaccio, it gave him such a crisp finish that now he’s back to buying Santa Margherita at home,” says Ben TenEyck, food and beverage director, Rosen Centre Hotel. Rosen Centre Executive Chef Michael Rumplik (left) and Everglades Restaurant Chef Fred Vlachos. *Click on image to enlarge.* Supply and Demand More than 35 people paid $65 each to enjoy the Italian-themed Vine and Dine. Those at the Rosen Centre say the promotion has been so successful this year, there are plans to move it from a quarterly event to once a month in 2008. The next Vine and Dine is scheduled for August and will feature cuisine and wine from the American Pacific Northwest. [click here to view the Rosen Centre’s Italian Vine and Dine menu] Change of Seasons Indigo's seasonal menus complement brand personality When the weather changes outside, the menus change inside Hotel Indigo. “Renewal is a core concept of Hotel Indigo. We are trying to create a dynamic environment, something that’s constantly changing. Seasonality in the menu keeps playing back to the brand’s roots,” says Jim Anhut, regional senior vice president, brand development, InterContinental Hotels Group. A Simple Switch Instead of turning the entire menu upside down every three months, Hotel Indigo focuses on one seasonal item across different applications, to maximize food cost and efficiency. “To get out of the box of, ‘What’s our special tonight?’ we say, ‘This is the seasonal special,’” says Anhut. For the current summer menu (click here to view a PDF of that menu), crab cakes are the featured item, and they are the main ingredients in three dishes: Seasoned Lump Meat Crab Cake for an appetizer. Mixed Greens with Crab Cake for a salad. Lump Crab Cakes for an entrée. “I think we’ve got some excellent plating presentations,” says Sue Morgan, vice president, franchise food and beverage, InterContinental Hotels Group. “I really want to start incorporating an incredibly delicious soup on the seasonal menu as well,” she adds. Low Volume, High Efficiency The crab cakes and many other items on Hotel Indigo’s menu are created off-site by Cuisine Solutions and shipped frozen. They are then cooked on an order-by-order basis in a TurboChef oven. “All we need to do is rethermalize and present. I don’t have someone in the back preparing a bunch of food product in anticipation of how many people they’re going to serve, because they can do one order at a time,” says Anhut. “I can serve 40 or 50 covers a night with one person in the kitchen,” he adds. What’s In Store One of the major influences on Hotel Indigo’s menu concept comes not from the kitchen, but from the checkout counter. “Retail is constantly evolving and changing. The displays are always different. Sometimes it’s music, and all the time it’s merchandise. Food is our merchandise in the Phi Bistro and the Golden Bean,” says Anhut. The Hotel Indigo seasonal menu will change from summer to fall in September.		Hotel F&B home In this issue: Change of Seasons Indigo's seasonal menus complement brand personality Vine and Dine Italian menus with a twist in Orlando Major League Menus Holiday Inn Select aims to win with new Sporting News Grill Caribbean Flair Menu innovations at Sunset Sam's Fish Camp, Gaylord Palms Surf 'n' Turf Hits the Mark Lower food cost drives "The Flavors of the Northwest" at Interstate Hilton's New Hues Color-coded menu system lets guests have it all Editor: Michael Costa Publisher: Jeanne Bischoff Sponsor Hotel Cuisine & Menus Vendors, you can showcase your products in Hotel Cuisine & Menus. For information on pricing and banner options, please call Jeanne Bischoff at 847-551-9956 or email jbischoff@hotelfandb.com. Hotel F&B National Editorial Advisory Board Brian Abel Corporate Director Outlets, Westin Hotels Terry Bickhardt President/COO, Waterford Hotel Group Elizabeth Blau President, Elizabeth Blau & Associates Pete Boyd VP F&B, The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino Hans Brinkhoff F&B Consultant, Holland America Line Paul Daly Asst VP F&B, Hyatt Hotels Giorgi DiLemis VP F&B, Gaylord Hotels Matt Engels VP Hotel Operations, Red Lion Hotels Steve Enselein VP, Catering and Convention Services, Hyatt Hotels Richard Faeh Corporate Executive Chef, Starwood Hotels George Goodrich Corporate Director F&B, Red Lion Hotels Steve Hedberg VP Operations, Carlson Hospitality International Menze Heroian VP Food & Beverage, Tishman Hotel Corp Jean-marc Jalbert VP F&B, Sofitel Hotels Niki Leondakis COO, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants Bart Mahoney VP F&B, Bellagio Resort, Las Vegas Tobias Mattstedt VP Restaurant Development, MGM Grand Sue Morgan VP Franchise F&B, InterContinental Hotels Vito Palmietto Corporate Director F&B, JQH Hotels Meredith Quarnstrom VP F&B, Hilton Hotels Gus Sader President/CEO, Hospitality Asset Services Fernando Salazar VP F&B, Wyndham Worldwide Hotels & Resorts Roger Taylor VP F&B, Columbia Sussex Corporation Matthew Von Ertfelda VP Restaurants & Bars, Marriott International Inc. Brian Yost VP Development, Harrah’s Doug Zeif VP F&B, LXR Luxury Resorts *Are you and your employees receiving Hotel F&B* magazine? Click here for a free subscription.** Available to qualified hotel F&B professionals.
**Hotel Cuisine & Menus is published quarterly in affiliation with Hotel F&B Magazine and HFB Online (www.hotelfandb.com). © 2007 Hotel F&B Magazine, Hotel Forums LLC**