December 14, 2012
CEO Newsletter
Te3am,
I am thrilled to begin this week’s update with congratulations to Chef Mike Hagerty who has completed a fantastic milestone – 30 years with Centerplate at the Sacramento Convention Center. For the last 12 years in a row we have been voted the #1 caterer in Sacramento in large part due to his culinary leadership. Our client was very pleased to have the opportunity to honor Chef Hagerty and so am I – here’s to Chef Hagerty and many more years to come!
Our enterprise has many special attributes that others in the industry simply do not. First and most important, we have our people and an operating philosophy that drives our record of delivering results for our clients. No one matches our growth record over the last 4 years. Second, no one is as dedicated to gathering and using client and fan feedback. Third, absolutely no one has the design capability that we have created with our STIR team. Our challenge now is to bring these attributes to life in new, meaningful and transparent ways to showcase the Centerplate Way and drive home our difference.
A key lesson is to learn from the past but not live in the past. Every morning in the office I am greeted by a “wall of shame”; a line up all of the proposals from the bids for which we have not been successful. The majority of them were not meant to be for various reasons but we can learn something from all of them. For me it fuels the fire to positively move forward and try harder to deliver a more relevant and more complete program with the next proposal. Challenge your team to take all the necessary steps, even same small steps reinforce big principles. Greatness can be delivered!
E3 moments of the week …
Recently the San Diego Convention Center hosted the 2012 Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research group for 4 days providing breakfast and lunch for their 2,000 attendees. With 40 separate special dietary needs required for each meal, pre-planning and communication were key to its success. Our event client could not have been more pleased, “Your catering staff is amazing. Please give my thanks to the staff who are the best banquet folks I’ve worked with in over six years of meeting planning.” Great job to Chef Chris Bilbrey, Chef Molly De Mers, Juan Flores, Chef Jeffery Leidy, Jordan McLaughlin, Nancy Murgillo, Chef Daryl O’Donnell, Gabriel (Bobby) Ramirez, Herman Rosario, Maria Soto, Andre Wade and our entire team at the convention center!
We served our first luncheon for the Board of Directors of Saks Fifth Avenue last week and were told it was “the best lunch yet!” Our menu, beautifully presented buffet style, included Create Your Own SFA Salad with a variety of lettuces and toppings, seasonal assorted wraps and sandwiches on mini Artisanal breads, seasonal pasta primavera and holiday fresh fruit tarts. Numerous compliments on our Café offerings have also been received from Saks’ staff members. Congratulations to Janine D’Esposito, Cathy Green, Steve Hyman, Chef John Milito, Phil Montana, Rebecca Murphy and our team at Saks!
Many of our locations are giving back to our communities, our clients and our employees during the holiday season. In Toronto our staff and our client’s staff are donating their time to prepare and serve food at the Street Outreach Centre. In Niagara Falls we are hosting a cookie bake in
our kitchen for our clients’ staff to bake and take home cookies and we also contributed to and attended the client’s potluck holiday luncheon. At the MTS Centre we partnered with the Winnipeg Harvest and the local food bank to support the Empty Bowls Soup-er Fundraiser for 1,500 people. At the 12/9 Vikings game at the Metrodome the long-standing tradition of placing a bag of Christmas treats in each stand for employees and NPO groups to enjoy before the game was a hit and holiday cookies, punch and coffee will be served at check-in at the 12/30 Vikings game. The 25th Annual Christmas Day Dinner at the Kentucky International Convention Center, co-sponsored by Centerplate, is expected to serve 1,500 guests a full Christmas dinner with all the trimmings, treat the children to a visit from Santa with toys as well as have presents of socks, jeans, toiletries and blankets for the adults with our staff enjoying a wonderful volunteer experience. Kudos to all of our various staff members on their community spirit!
We have to use everything we have to our full advantage. Here’s to closing out Y12 strong and roaring into Y13 Centerplate Strong!
