CEO Newsletter
CEO Newsletter
Greetings,
I can’t believe that it’s been a month since our annual conference. The buzz from the event continues to be terrific. On behalf of all of Centerplate, I want to formally thank Doug Finney, Chef Arnold and the entire Pasadena team for a truly outstanding job of hosting our annual conference. They have indeed raised the bar for hospitality yet again.
And, of course, congratulations again to all of our award winners…
President’s Award – Bobby Dichiaro
Culinary Excellence – Eric Cook
General Manager of the Year – Michael Barrett
Rookies of the Year – Michael Prisco & Katie Putnam
Rising Star – Jeremy Dildey
Corporate Employee of the Year – Dan Sutter
Quiet Excellence – Paul Cardone
LOB UK – Warner Brothers, Helen Baker
LOB Sports – Nashville Sounds, David Keitel
LOB Entertainment – John Harvard’s Framingham, Erin Schroth
LOB Convention Centers – Whistler Conference Center, Nelson Drake
In the meeting we explored our focus for the year: excellence – excellence in our performance and excellence in our leadership. I hope you have defined your plans around our G.O.A.L. strategic imperatives for the year: top-line growth and execution in our units and a renewed sense of accountability and leadership in our units. And to provide you an update, I am assembling a meeting of our executive team to finalize the Vision 21 task force launch in the next few weeks.
It appears as though the new format with extended breakout sessions was very well received. Special thanks go out to Jill Crowe, Bob Pascal and Paul Daly for really stepping up and making our conference great. We will be sending a survey out to you in the next few weeks and will continue to listen to your suggestions and allow our conference to evolve. I might add that we are very close to an announcement for next year’s lucky host venue…
A couple of weeks ago, the NCAA held their first round of March Madness at one of our competitor’s venues in downtown Providence, RI. Our team at Union Station (aka, John Harvard’s) welcomed fans in search of great food and beer – having found neither at the event location. Close to the games with a great space and menu, our Union Station team put up a special event tent next to our restaurant to entice the crowd to join us. The net result of the long hours and double shifts was an increase of revenues by over 25%. Thanks to Phil Sheinis and his talented team including Kristen Sarcone, Rob DaRosa and Kaitlyn Loehr for an amazing job.
Speaking of amazing: the last few weeks at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center has been world-class – led by our VP of Operations Meghan O’Boyle, Chef Jon and a special assist from our Regional VP Nick Biello. Their team just wrapped up the Nuclear Summit, which featured World leaders from more than 50 countries, including our own President Obama along with several international organizations focused on preventing nuclear terrorism throughout the globe. As you might imagine, serving the World’s leaders is a bit of a security challenge – but Meghan and her team which included several members of the Secret Service were up to the task, creating a memorable experience for our important guests. All coming off the blockbuster AIPAC Conference, for which we handled logistics, staffing and oversight of our Kosher catering partner for thousands of delegates participating over the course of 3 days, featuring addresses by Israel’s top leaders including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu along with our own VP Joe Biden and current presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
As we continue to develop our plans for our future, delivering Excellence each and every time we host an event is incredibly important. It’s up to all of us to double down on our expertise and go above and beyond our normal performance.
I’ll see you soon…
