Meeting News - July 7, 2008 - (Page 10)

Chef Talk Celebrity NYC chef is bringing top service to Atlantic City How will food and beverage at the Water Club differ from what’s offered at the BorgaAs hotels, and the travelers who sleep in them, have gotten increasingly sophisticated, it is increasingly ta, as well as from what is typically found at challenging for meeting planners to impress their other hotels? attendees and meeting sponsors. But in the food operations at Generally we are cooking the new Water Club, an 800more a la carte for the room resort that opened adjaevents since we are a smaller cent to the Borgata Hotel Casino property than Borgata (we only & Spa in Atlantic City, NJ, last have room for about 200 people month, there’s an effort to bowl for a sit-down function). That guests over without bells and means doing as much as possiwhistles. Instead, the objective is ble ahead of time and ﬁnishing to win loyalty by providing the dish on order. knockout service. Also, we have a concept called Presided over by legendary the “marketplace” which is a sort New York City chef and restauof a riff on the Les Halles area in rateur Geoffrey Zakarian, the Paris, where there are different victuals are still likely to dazzle. food shops all next to each other. Geoffrey Zakarian But, as he told MeetingNews, the We have eight or nine shops, Leading Chef success of the hotel’s food and or markets, each serving very The Water Club beverage ventures all depend on specific food, i.e. the cheese service delivery. shop, the bonbon shop, the charcuterie shop, and so on. We Your cooking style has been called modern pair each shop with a specific wine and guests with roots in French cuisine, and you have browse the different shops with the matched wines. publicly described it at “dynamic American.” Will It’s sort of a movable feast. Water Club guests see that in the food and beverYou have experience working with hotels age operations? on their food in terms of room service, at Yes. It is dynamic because it adjusts to the the Carlton and Chambers hotels in New York, needs of the customer, which is most impor- but I understand that catered functions, or bantant. It might sound simplistic, but the customer is quets, are new to you. What have you learned all we have, so whatever the customer wants, we can about how that works? generally do. Or, we’ll even come up with ideas that incorporate their needs and go beyond. Actually they aren’t that new to me but I’ve never done it for 800 rooms! It’s been a great learning experience. The challenge is to get special It’s very rare—maybe even unprecedenttouches on the room service menu to actually traved—for a known restaurant chef (not to mention owner) to run the banqueting function at el successfully to the rooms. We are fortunate that the elevators are close and the staff is very willing to a hotel. What do you think you’ll bring to the do their best. Water Club that meeting planners might not ﬁnd One of the things I insist on is serving hot coffee at other hotels? with warm steamed milk—instead of cold milk— I have been cooking in boutique hotels with something that the staff had never seen. It’s a small meeting rooms since 1988, and we developed a touch, but its one that people notice immediately, “whatever the customer wants” philosophy. I think and it costs us nothing! most meeting planners are surprised by how ﬂexible we are in the kitchen. By Rayna Katz Q Q A Based on your experience with hotels, what are some best practices when it comes to working with banquet customers that you are deploying at the Water Club? A We will give customers what they want but also direct them to new and more upscale ideas and experiences for their event. We believe in tailoring each event to the customer, and going that extra bit to make it special, not just providing another party in a room. What’s your goal for food and beverage operations at the Water Club? To bring guests exquisite service—meaning reliable, cordial, and anything they want whenever they want it, not when we want to give it to them—and the best sourced products. Q A Q A What’s your favorite food? Q A My favorite food is wine. But that’s followed by seafood and mediterranean food.r Contact Rayna Katz at rayna.katz@nielsen.com A choice of red or white gazpacho at Water Club. Q A Q A 10 MeetingNews July 7, 2008 www.meetingnews.com http://www.meetingnews.com

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Meeting News - July 7, 2008
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Meeting News - July 7, 2008