Te3am,
First, I want to wish you, your families and friends a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday!

Last week someone informed me that Delaware North has an advantage over Centerplate because they have been owned by the same family for 100 years. I could have responded that is why they keep trying to recruit our most senior executives to run their business. But, as always, I took the high ground. What I did state was, in my opinion, even more powerful. While it is true that we cannot say that we have owned Centerplate for 100 years (though we are an 80 year old company), we can state that after 4 years under our leadership we are already a better company than the 100-year old family owned DNC. Their long-standing family ownership was not an advantage over us in Dallas last week or at the Seattle Mariners renewal, the awarding of the new San Francisco 49ers stadium or the Nashville Music Center, among others. The power of the Centerplate Way continues to grow and our competitors are learning the hard way that old rules no longer apply.

For the record, no one is growing same venue sales faster, no one is winning more new business, no one is renewing more current business and no one comes even close to executing hospitality at the level we do. Even better, we know that none of our competitors are working on improving their offerings with our sense of urgency, which will result in Centerplate pulling even further ahead.

We need to continue to deliver on our own hospitality promise and only listen to informed counsel. Otherwise as the saying goes, “If you start listening to the crowd, sooner or later you will be sitting with them.” With the crowd is not where we want to be – our place is out in front. Let’s double down and make sure that every day we go the extra mile and deliver our unique brand of Event Hospitality leadership.

E3 moments of the week …

The Intercontinental Hotel Group’s recent event at the Orange County Convention Center was a great success with the client now looking to book future dates in Orlando, “I was truly impressed with all the preparations, presentations and service levels provided by Centerplate. Please thank your team for the commitment and effort that was put into the conference. Centerplate was a large partner in our success.” Special events included a “Family Reunion” where attendees and their families enjoyed family-friendly selections from food trucks along with live entertainment, interactive games and spicy Asian buffets for the large contingency of Asian and Indian attendees. Great job by Chef Mohan Ahuja, Michael Barrett, Leo Cuasay, Chef Laura Fanelli, Chef James Katurakes, Wes Libby, Danny Medina, Geeta Seth, Tina Neumann, Terry Ross, Joyce Sessoms, Robert Thompson and our staff in Orlando!

New record per caps were set at the Chargers vs. Broncos game at Sports Authority Field at Mile High this past weekend despite being down in attendance by about 1,000 from the previous record. Congratulations to Justin Kizima and our team at the stadium!

In San Diego, the annual International Council of Shopping Centers’ conference was once again a hit with both our client and attendees, “This is our sixth year working with your team and every year I look forward to coming back. I have been planning conferences and working with convention centers and catering staff for over a decade now and your team is by far the best one I have ever worked with. Also, your food tastes better than any food I have ever had from a convention center.” From the large quantity of booth catering orders to the seamless service of a large plated lunch simultaneous with a box lunch production for 1200, our staff in San Diego delivered it all. Kudos to Cathy de Leon, Juan Flores, Mary Forney, Nancy Murgillo, Bobby Ramirez, Maria Soto, Andre Wade and our team in San Diego!

Let’s deliver greatness!