Eating healthfully is especially important for the Iowa Hospital Association (IHA), an Ovations client and an active supporter of the Healthiest State Initiative, said Stacey Nay, IHA education director.
“Ali Brackett, my contact at Ovations, has been really great about working with our healthy eating guidelines to create menus for our programs,” Nay said. “For Legislative Day, we have about a two-hour window where people are arriving from across the state, some after driving three or four hours, so we offer fruit and whole-grain muffins, which Ali works very hard to ensure are delicious as well as healthy. For lunch we serve a balanced, portion-controlled meal of grilled chicken breast, rice pilaf, steamed seasonal vegetables and whole-wheat rolls.
“For other events, Ali has created a build-your-own oatmeal bar with healthy mix-ins, yogurt parfaits and other custom menus focusing on healthy, delicious foods presented in a beautiful way.”
Other Ovations chefs also create varied menus year-round, using ingredients that are fresh only in their area. In Seattle, for example, halibut is plentiful in the spring, and wild-caught salmon is a summer treat. Fall brings the wild Pacific golden chanterelle mushroom, and winter is Dungeness crab season.
Across the country, Palm Beach County, Fla., is a leading supplier of produce, and Ovations chefs at the Palm Beach County Convention Center incorporate fresh citrus, carambola and avocado into their menus, along with other exotic items.
Colossal cocktails
When it comes to beverages, Ovations also earns kudos for its fresh approach. At the 2012 California State Fair, the Ovations team created a 60-ton margarita to break the largest-cocktail record in the Guinness World Records. The “Calarita” was poured directly from a giant tank, hand shaken and served in 22-ounce souvenir cups to 135,000 thirsty fairgoers.
The crowd at Harbor Park in Norfolk, Va., could’ve used that giant cocktail to wash down a 308.5-foot-long BLT, another record-breaking Ovations creation.
LIke Global Spectrum, Ovations is a subsidiary of Comcast-Spectacor. Ovations handles food-service operations in many of the venues that Global manages as well as venues that are not under Global management. In Global Spectrum-managed venues that have their own in-house food and beverage departments, Ovations provides support services that include participation in the national purchasing program; staffing assistance as needed; staff training and education; input and direction on service standards, quality control, industry trends and innovative presentations.
www.ovationsfoodservices.com
