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DINNER IN THE SKY
entertainment companies. I own an amusement
company and a synthetic ice-rink company, my
partner Taj also owns an amusement company and he
owns one of the largest haunted houses in the mid-
West United States called Haunt Fest. We both have
existing businesses that we can pool some of our A
Team level staff to help the set-up and the operation
of the table.
We want strong continuity with the set-up and tear-
down crew, which has undergone training from the
parent company in Belgium. For our first few events
we brought the Belgian company over to continue to
single weld, bolt, shackle, cable – every one of these monitor and train during our set-up. That’s the
components of the table has been safety tested. We important thing – this is not a makeshift operation
have stamped engineering reports that state that all with fly-by-night employees, people who haven’t done
the specifications exceed the real requirements or seen this. We’re using the best people from both
needed. For example, the table itself weighs, with our companies with supervision from the
Above: Almost any function can happen
diners, seven tons. The crane that we use to perform manufacturer.
in the sky, including a mid-air wedding!
the lift is a 120-ton crane; that’s approximately a
sixteen-to-one ratio. That’s just one example of how
all he safety measures have been designed to
supersede any real requirements. Having the
engineering reports puts any risk manager who looks
at this at ease. It’s very well documented, very well
engineered, very well constructed which is
comforting for guests who want to purchase the
experience.
CI: Is the food prepared teppenyaki style, in the
air? Is the food good quality, or what a customer
might find in the average restaurant?
MG: The food is mostly prepared on the ground,
but may have some finishing touches put to it mid- CI: With the Coconut Creek Casino, how did
air. For example, we did an event at the Coconut their renting the table work? Was it tied in to a
Creek Casino in Florida where most of the promotion they were running?
preparation was done on the ground, but the MG: The Seminole Casino, Coconut Creek, rented
finishing touches, like plating the smoked caviar on the table from us for two days. It is a smaller casino
acrylic plates, or plating the dry-aged beef tasting with a reputation for very eclectic promotions.
which was a fourteen-day, twenty-eight day and forty Previously they had given away a trip to the edge of
five day dry aged beef; if they were doing crème space on board the Virgin Galactica, and have also
brulee they would finish the crème brulee mid-air. It done a program they called Black Gold, giving
is possible to have propane skillet cook tops mid-air if someone their own personal oil well, so the casino
the chef wants them. The food was amazing – real has a reputation for these funky promotions to
five-star dining and presentation – for instance we generate publicity. Whey they heard about Dinner In
used bricks of Himalayan sea salt with holes drilled The Sky Events, they thought it would be great
into them for the scallops, which were accompanied because they have a very high-end chef and are
by a perfumed spritzer that had vodka, lemon juice opening a new restaurant at the casino called The
and sugar in it. We did a smoked caviar with a Chef’s Table. They rented Dinner In The Sky from us
dissolving stone crab and mustard sphere, which was to promote this new restaurant, The Chef’s Table and
the equivalent of a thinly-sliced piece of stone crab also to wine and dine some of the casino’s VIP
that would dissolve in your mouth in the same sort of
way as those Listerine mint strips dissolve in your
mouth. It was just amazing. We served Iberico de
Bellota ham which is a very rare ham, with some
Spanish goat cheese called canarejal. We did a
‘rebirth by chocolate’ dessert, which comprised three
different chocolate desserts – it was over the top!
CI: What's your background coming into this?
How do you recruit and train staff for such an
unusual thing?
MG: Both my partner and I own event and
52 FEBRUARY 2009
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