What is your philosophy when it comes to preparing food for a meeting, conference, or other live event? Commitment is number one for me. Once you’re committed, you need to deliver.
What should meeting planners know when it comes to working with you and your F&B team? The time challenges, and why information is needed, to allow the food-and-beverage team to coordinate and execute successful events. For the most part, members of the [F&B] staff gather the information. By the time we get it, within three to four weeks of the event, we have an idea of which way we’re going.
What are some new trends in event-based F&B that you’re particularly excited about? Local sustainability is the prime example. The G-20 [Summit], which we did last year, was a very successful event. The local [product] we brought in was maple ice cream; that went very well with the group.
What’s your favorite dish to make for meeting attendees? Our trademark—Lamb Rack.We sear and roast it. That’s an item that we do for between 20 to 2,000 people. Serving it medium-rare is part of the challenge in doing it, but everybody raves about it. It’s timing, and working closely with the maître d’ and the people that manage the room. And if there’s a delay, we delay the process in the back of the house. Organizing and being on time—that’s the key thing.
What are some creative ways for meeting planners to stretch their F&B budgets? That’s a difficult question for me.You’ve got to work the menu as you meet with [planners], based on their budget, and you try to get the best value for the dollar.We do very well, for the
most part. Sometimes it’s difficult, but we still try to meet them somewhere along the line. If there’s sufficient time, you can do pre-buying well in advance, where you try to maintain the price in the marketplace. You do events buying, and it actually saves money for both parties.
CHEF FERNANDES’ MENU
Hors d’oeuvres Roasted Ratatouille Tart Ontario Goat Cheese Thunder Bay Gouda & Parsnip Pancake with an Ontario Apple Compote
Ontario Beef Sliders with Hothouse Tomatoes, Balderson White Cheddar, and Crispy Shallots
Dinner Cold Smoked Ontario Trout Rosette with Green Asparagus and Lamb’s Lettuce drizzled with a Henry of Pelham Cuvee Catherine Vinaigrette
Ontario Lamb Chop Roasted with Legends Winery Estate Pinot Noir, Mushroom Brioche, and “Stacked” Root Vegetables
Maple & Vanilla Bean Ice Cream with a Tulipe of Ontario Strawberries
Suggested Wine Pairings Stratus White Cave Spring Cabernet Merlot
Test Time: Here’s how to earn your CEU hour.
Once you finish reading this CMP Series article, read the following material: “Portion Power” and “Portion Power, Part 2,” Meeting Management: F&B columns from the October and December 2009 issues of Convene, at http://bit.ly/jdS9aE and http://bit.ly/luVfLP. “Food and Beverage Arrangements,” a chapter from Professional Meeting Management, Fifth Edition (PMM5), available at the CMP Series link below. To earn one hour of CEU credit, visitwww.pcma.org/convenecmp to answer questions about the information contained within this CMP Series article, the previous Convene articles, and the PMM5 chapter.
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