Giving Back By Barbara Palmer

Take Away

Do Bee Do Bee Do Why are so many hotels breaking out in hives?

When a friend suggested to Executive Chef Myk Banas that he install beehives on one of the rooftops at theChicagoMarriottDowntown,a46- story, 1,200-room property swarming with guests, where Banas directs food-and-beverage operations, the idea seemed a little, well, dangerous. ButBanas—whois socommittedto usinglocal-

ly grown and raised ingredients that the hotel restaurant cures itsownbacon—wasalso intrigued. “You can’t get much more local than up on your own roof,” he said. And, as Banas discovered, whenproperlymanaged,urbanbeekeeping is so safe that Chicago Mayor Richard Daley had an apiary installed on top of City Hall.

ofhoneyfromsixhives last year,anduses the sweet, sticky stuff in numerous dishes, including salad dressings, soups, meat, poultry glazes, pastries, breads, and desserts. At the Chicago Marriott, Banas serves honey at the breakfast buffet, anduses it tomakeRooftopHoneyWheatbeer, which ison tap at the hotel’s bar. In addition to expanding the hotels’ use of

homegrownfoods, the hives provide habitat for bees, the number of which have declined precipitously aroundtheworld in recent years,duetowhatscien- tists term“colonycollapse disorder.”Theexactcaus- es remain unknown, but the phenomenon has been linked to weather and pesticides,amongoth-

The rooftop hives provide habitat for bees, the number of which have declined precipitously around the world in recent years.

Solast year, the hotel added 200,000 Italian hon-

eybees to a ninth-story rooftop, joining a growing number of beekeeping properties in themeetings and hospitality industry. (And since then, Banas notes, there hasn’t been a single bee-vs.-guest inci- dent.)Manyof those apiaries coexist with rooftop gardens—as at the Chicago Marriott,where the bees pollinate the herbs and vegetables grown by hotel kitchen staff. Similarly, the Fairmont RoyalYork inToronto

addedbeehives toalong-establishedrooftopgarden in 2008, Executive Chef David Garcelon said, after staffmembers were struckbythenumber of insects that found theirwaythere.Thegarden “is 14stories abovedowntown,surroundedbysteelandglassand concrete,”Garcelonsaid. Itwasamazing“to see all the insects that find that little patch of greenupthere —ladybugs and butterflies and honeybees.…We thought:‘We could have ourownbees.’” TheFairmont harvestedmore than400pounds

er things. “It’snosecret that bees have had a rough go of things,” Banas said.Manypeople, he added, don’tknowthat in the United States, bees pollinate most of the plant food we eat. In a small way, the urban hives are helpingto maintainthe bee popula- tion, Banas said, as well as to pollinate trees and flowers indowntownChicago, because bees forage in an average three-mile radius around their hives. At the Fairmont Royal York, the bees have

becomepart ofagardentourforguests, saidMelanie Coates,aToronto-based regional director of public relations forFairmontHotels&Resorts,whofound the bee project—andthebees—so fascinating that she became a licensed beekeeper. Coates lends her expertise not just toFairmontRoyalYork staff,but also to anyone with an interest in beekeeping. The best thingaboutenvironmentalinitiatives like the bee- hives is that “it is notatrade secret,” Coates said. “It is something youwant to share with others—and hope that people will catch the spirit.”

ON_THE_WEB: Listen to a podcast about the Fairmont Royal York’s honey harvest — featuring beekeeper Melanie Coates and Executive Chef David Garcelon — at http://tiny.cc/6rMPO. Watch a beekeeper-narrated video about beehives on the six-acre roof of the Vancouver Convention Centre at http://tiny.cc/vJT1L.

22 pcma convene March 2010 ILLUSTRATION BY ROBERT HANSON

Hive Society “I’man officeworker, not a farmer,” said Melanie Coates, bee- keeper and Toronto- based regional public- relations director for Fairmont Hotels & Resorts. But Coates’ workwith the hives at the Fairmont Royal York gives her a “very fulfilling connection with nature.”Bee soci- ety also offers some- thing of amirror. “I’m standing there looking at the beehives, and looking at the sky- scrapers [filled with people]… and it’s the same thing,”Coates said. “There arework- er bees and drones, and the queen, the guiding strength of the hive. It’s similar to a corporation; there are a lot of parallels.”

Barbara Palmer is a senior editor of Convene.

Giving Back is a new department sponsored by Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, www.fairmont.com.