Rx for Catering Blog

Just got back from working an event at Texas Stadium.  The call it in Texas the house that Jerry built but in reality it should be called The House That Jerry’s EGO built.  Is it big – sure it is; does it look as pretty as a stadium can look – sure it does; was it built with the integruity of honoring the sports so that people can really enjoy themselves and view the sports appropriately – Not even close.  This stadium is probably one of the worst places imaginable to watch a sporting event.  So much so that Jerry agrees – he put one of the worlds biggest jumbotrons in the stadium so you end up watching the jumbo tron and NOT the field. We were in suites and there is no way you can see the field from up there – so with that being said the sports in which this very stadium was built for peopel to come see sports – ironically ends up being the worst place to see the game.  It is way too big and it costs too much to go there.  It is a shame that this really ends up being the “House of Greed”.  My client told me when she came down to see a game here parking was SEVENTY – FIVE dollars to park – in TEXAS where there is an abudance of land no less.  The cost of doing business there was very expensive for the same quality of food one can get anywhere in the country.  There wasn’t anything special about it other than the pricing.  Overall I walked away feeling sad that this stadium wasn’t built to honor the sport but more to honor an already wealthy man’s ego.

This is my story for now and I am sticking to it.

Texas Stadium

Picture from the Jumbotron

Opening with Usher

Jumbotron

I took this picture of me and Rock T a radio personality in Houston

John Starks - NBA All Star Player and I

Paula and I with Big Tigger who is a BET personality

In Dallas working the NBA All Star Game. I have to say NBA players are the friendliest sports folks I have met through the days. Tonight we went to the Sprite Slam Dunk. My clients did a meet and greet with LaBron James afterwards. He couldn’t have been nicer. He apologized to everyone for being so tired as he got in late the night before and then did press activities all day. Then he patiently let everyone have their picture made with him. Here are some pictures. Food at the hotel has been ok – but banquets and the kitchen doesn’t listen to special instructions nor do they pay attention to the BEO’s – it makes me nuts that they live this mundaine work experience of not paying close attention to what the catering manager so carefully puts on the BEO’s. And this is EVERYWHERE in the industry.
Enjoy the pictures.

Labron James

Owner of the Dallas Mavericks

Manute Bol - 7 feet 7 inches

The New Orleans Saints won the superbowl.. First time ever that they have one – good for them. Has been an interesting week being back in Atlanta – for starters I fired our family lawyer. Interesting the family has been doing our law for years and the son just didn’t see any need or have any emotional attachments to “doing” the right thing for our family when we have been connected with theirs through my fathers 50 years in the area. He was really giving us a very shabby deal and that wasn’t going to be acceptable.

Was on the panel at Plan Your Meetings industry day today. Discussed trends for the upcoming year and areas of the banqueting industry that is of concern.

Kevin Johnston talked about hotel contracts and to really address clauses that discuss renovation, change in management where the property isn’t of the same caliber and of course attrition. I added to the conversation by saying in a hotel contract that I negotiated I actually put in the attrition clause the fixed cost of that room. So attrition would be our negotiated rate MINUS FIXED COSTS = attrition. Hotels will do that you just have to ask for it.

Here is my montly morsel for Jan 2010 – I thought I would start the year off by writing about what it is like to plan a funeral from an event planners prospective.

Claire

Throughout the years with this column, I have written about weddings, all types of corporate parties and given tips about entertaining in the home. This month, I am going to discuss something that no one is ever really prepared for and which I’ve never seen any event professional discuss: a funeral.

On Dec. 19, 2009, my beloved father, who really was a rock in my life, died of pancreatic cancer. He had been doing very well. Then, out of the blue, his health took a sharp nosedive. It is at this point that I’d like to ask you to envision yourselves in this situation and put on your event planning hat. That is exactly what I had to do when I arrived at his house the day before he died. After sitting with dad for a bit, I had to go straight to the funeral home to plan his funeral with no instructions.

Let’s face it, on some level my father was my client. It was my job to plan this event — for lack of a better word — that would be his last statement to the world. It was my responsibility to do for him what I do for all my other clients — give him my best effort and make sure it would be perfect, even though I only had 48 hours to put it together. My responsibilities included going to the funeral home to pick out a casket, creating timelines of visitation and service, designing a service, writing an obituary, writing a eulogy, meeting with the rabbi, designing food menus, organizing shiva (as we are Jewish), picking out pictures for the viewing room at the funeral home, meeting with the lawyer, calling his close friends and working with my immediate family to keep everyone glued together.

The information that I had to work with were those things I cherished about him: Dr. Gould lived in a small town for over 50 years and was a well known eye doctor; and he loved flying radio-controlled model airplanes, sailing, his golden retriever Allie and being an overall good guy to his friends.

So what would be my advice to planners in the same position? First of all, hire a reputable funeral home, as they are very good at gently guiding you through the process and giving recommendations. (Jack Bauer lovingly and professionally kept us on task the entire process.) Next, I recommend you really think about the person and how can you design the funeral home space to give friends and family a sense of what he or she was all about. Because my father flew radio-controlled model airplanes, we brought an airplane to the funeral home. I picked out three pictures of dad to reproduce and put the copies on a bulletin board for people to take home with them. We put thoughtful groupings of pictures throughout the space, showing dad with family and friends in a variety of scenarios. Being the foodie that I am and knowing my father’s love of dark chocolate, we had a candy dish at sign-in.

Lastly, I can’t impress upon you enough the importance of communicating with the family. I jokingly did a daily 5 p.m. staff meeting for all of us to sit together and talk through issues, make group decisions and, most importantly, be together and put everyone on the same page regarding our next steps.

Let’s talk food for a moment, specifically the food we had at the house afterwards. Many times friends, family and churches do the planning for the culinary with little guidance from the family. I recommend, if you can, to reconsider this. In our case, my father loved to eat. (The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree!) I wanted the food to express his tastes, so the theme was his favorite foods. We communicated this at the service, asking people to come wearing their “eating” clothes so they could enjoy a variety of dad’s favorite foods. Should any of you ever go this route, don’t be shy about having a wide and interesting sampling of foods, even if it looks like a hodge-podge. I had Subway make a three-footer of his favorite sandwich and ended it by handing everyone a dark chocolate Klondike bar. By continuing to make the day about my father, it allowed people to stay emotionally connected and in the spirit of being with him.

As I wrap up this morsel, I do want to note the reason why I shared this very personal experience with you. Unfortunately, we will all have to face this situation at some point in time. I hope by putting myself out there and sharing my experience, I can give someone reading this some helpful guidance and useful recommendations for when he/she find themselves in the same situation.

Remember, this will be the one type of event where there is no “wrong.” Stay focused on the positive aspects of the person you are remembering to highlight their goodness and what you do will always be right.

This is my story for now and I will be sticking to it. Let the cleaning of the house officially begin