THE FRESHEST INGREDIENTS If Broadwell and cfsa Executive Director Roland McReynolds don’t sense much flexibility, they move on to another property. “That’s what happens 100 percent of the time, because we don’t want the venue to call up their wholesaler or distributor and say, ‘Switch out the regular chicken breasts for organic, and we’re done,’” Broadwell said. “Our attendees expect very high- quality food, locally sourced and organic. They expect us to say the chicken came from this farm, and they more than likely know that farmer. The expectation is that some of the cel- ebrated farms and foods end up on the menu. They would be disappointed if nothing that was familiar to them was served.” Broadwell and McReynolds hit the jackpot when they
walked into the sales office at the Sheraton Imperial Hotel and Convention Center in Durham in February 2011. “We said we wanted to talk to food-and-beverage and assure ourselves that they are on board. So they came to the meeting and sat down with us,” Broadwell said. “The food-and-beverage director [John Walsh] was very supportive. Essentially he said, ‘I agree with what you’re doing and I’m a big supporter personally, so I’ll do everything I can to help you.’ He really came through and helped us make it happen. And the chef was fantastic to work with. When you get both of those people on board, that’s
really a great situation. You’ve got to have the cooperation of both. That’s a key part of our negotiation.” The two parties ultimately agreed on a per-person, per-
meal “service charge” for the property to prepare and serve the food that cfsa sourced. “This is typically difficult for hotels, because they are in uncharted territory,” Broadwell said. “There is concern that they won’t meet their profit goals. But if the hotel wants our business bad enough, they will venture into this uncharted territory.” And uncharted territory it was for the Sheraton. “But with
markets changing, you have to think outside the box to bring business in,” said Teresa Palmieri, the hotel’s director of sales.
“And it didn’t hurt that there were quite a few rooms over the weekend. We are not a big weekend destination since we’re in a business park. We do a lot of associations on weekends, so it worked out well. It was also a relatively short-term booking. We started negotiating in February, they signed in April, and the conference took place in November.” Once the contract was signed, it was time to start planning
the menus and purchasing the food — for 3,700 buffet-style meals (two seated lunches, one seated formal dinner, three breakfasts, and one beer/wine reception) along with another 1,600 people for breaks. Enter Kris Reid, an executive chef
Well Fed “Our attendees loved the food,” said CFSA’s Fred Broadwell,
“and appreciated all of the effort that went into sourcing and preparing it.”