Military catering, club and foodservice personnel from around the world will gather in Las Vegas, Nev., next month as the 18th annual Catersource

2010 Conference and Tradeshow takes place March 7-11 at the Paris Hotel Las Vegas.

Catersource President Michael Roman told Military Club & Hospitality he expects approximately 4,000 at-tendees overall, including an estimated 100 from the military.

Club managers, caterers, chefs and other military foodservice personnel can take advantage of the educa-tional sessions, interactive events and activities, network-ing opportunities and the trade show itself to accumulate a wealth of knowledge to take back to their installations.

“Our vendors absolutely love the fact that the military is there, and our non-military caterers also have a patri-otic feeling about our country,” Roman noted. “The mili-tary people exchange very nicely with the non-military people and they help each other.

Catersource2010 —

Catering Education At Its Best

Approximately 4,000 attendees, including military catering, club and foodservice personnel, are expected at the 18th annual Catersource

2010 Conference and Tradeshow.

“If anything, the military people have so many restraints on them, and

rules and regulations, that they love the idea of learning some of the new, free-spirited things that the entrepreneurial

caterers are doing.”—Catersource President MIchael Roman

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size to caterers that now’s the time to go on the offense, just stay very positive and make sure that when you get in front of a customer, that they understand how important one sale at a time is. You re-ally have to pull out all stops to help them.”

Roman continued. “We do believe that consumers today are looking not just for the lowest price, but for sav-ing money as well. They’re all looking for ways to reduce the total cost of the event, but still have high value. That’s our focus point this year — caterers must realize that you can approach the shopper in such a way that they still feel excited about the presenta-tion you’re doing. Value is not a dirty word. We’re using the term ‘fair’ — not the lowest price — but the fairest price possible to get what you need.”

TRADE SHOW The highlight event of Catersource

2010 is the trade show, scheduled to take place at the Las Vegas Conven-tion Center on Tuesday, March 9, from noon-6 p.m., and Wednesday, March 10, from 10 a.m.-3:00 p.m.

Approximately 800 vendors will

exhibit at the trade show, as military personnel will have the opportunity to discover the newest in buffet and table-top ideas, linens and china options, cre-ative displays and décor, as well as fi nd the latest kitchen innovations for cook-ing indoors and outdoors and serving equipment geared for catering.

During Catersource 2009, military at-tendees were impressed by the number of ideas and strategies they picked up at the trade show. Ben Howard, executive chef, offi cers’ and civilian clubs, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., said, “It’s been fantastic.

I’m looking forward to imple-menting some of the new and updated ideas that I feel may have been lost in some of the club systems. I’m looking to increase the quality and the ap-pearance and the ‘wow’ factor at my club. I’m really getting a lot out of the conference.”

Carla Hall, owner/chef, Al-chemy Caterers, Washington, D.C., will deliver the keynote address during the grand open-ing session on Monday, March 8, from 9-10:30 a.m. Hall, a contestant on Season 5 of the Bravo TV series Top Chef, will share her perspective on what inspires us and the importance of individuality, and to simply celebrate a love of catering.

EDUCATIONAL SESSIONS Military personnel will be

able to attend more than 100

Fred McKenney, CMCE, chief, Air Force Food and Bev-erage Division, will be sworn in as IMCEA presi-

dent during the association’s annual awards ceremony and reception on Wednesday,

March 10.

The IMCEA awards

ceremony will honor

the best and brightest in the Morale, Welfare and Recreation

(MWR) com-munity.

“If anything, the military people have so many restraints on them, and rules and regulations, that they love the idea of learning some of the new, free-spirited things that the entrepreneurial caterers are doing. And the entrepre-neurial caterers always feel good talking to the military caterers, and good friend-ships ensue.”

The theme of Catersource 2010 is “Catering Education At Its Best,” and Roman explained that the theme is based on educating caterers to focus on how customers have changed their prefer-ences from looking for the lowest price to getting the most out of their money.

“This year we’re very aware that caterers are going to face serious com-petition, and we think that it’s very im-portant for us to remind caterers that while they think they’ve changed, so has the shopper. We’ve spent a lot of time trying to create some courses to help caterers better understand what the term ‘value’ really means.

“Customers are defi nitely looking for more value. They’re still buying for anything from weddings to corporate events. We’re really trying to empha-

Trade Show Preview

MILITARY CLUB & HOSPITALITY | FEBRUARY 201020

educational sessions throughout the week at the Paris Las Vegas, cover-ing six areas of focus: food and bever-age; sales and marketing; business and management; operations and service; presentation and design; and general interest. Sessions will take place on each day of the conference, offering military personnel the opportunity to learn what goes into running a success-ful catering operation.

“The military has always been under the pressure of ‘We want it for less,’” Roman explained. “The single most important thing they’ll learn in the courses that we teach is how to po-sition themselves so that people who buy from them will no longer search for the cheapest price. They’ll be look-ing for a good party at a good value.”

In addition to the educational ses-sions, attendees can “Xperience” cater-ing education in a whole new way with the debut of the Catersource Xperience room.

The room will feature quick, in-teractive presentations on three small stages — the Xplore Culinary Stage; Xciting Design and Production Stage; and the Xecute Business and Sales Stage — showcasing the newest cu-linary techniques, latest design trends and cutting-edge marketing ideas, in-cluding social media.

Approximately 800 vendors will exhibit at the Catersource trade show, which takes place Tuesday, March 9, and Wednesday, March 10 at the Las Vegas Convention

Center.

FEBRUARY 2010 | MILITARY CLUB & HOSPITALITY 21

client still wants beef on the menu, but their budget says otherwise … what do you do? Think stuffed fl ank steak vs. fi l-let and serve a smaller portion. Empha-size the starch and vegetable more than you ever have before.

2) Street and Bistro Food — Au-thentic and tasty creations from global cuisines made to order on mini woks, slate, cast iron skillets and other unique pieces.

3) Health Conscious and Yummy Too? — Learn how to make delicious fruit-based desserts, fi nd out how to of-fer tasty gluten- and lactose-free and low-sodium options for every menu.

4) “Fork-able” Foods — An entire menu portable! Hors d’oeuvres, entrées, sides and desserts served to guests on forks and other small utensils; make food mobile and reduce labor service costs.

MILITARY PARTICIPATION The Army Family and Morale, Wel-

fare and Recreation Command (FM-WRC) is centrally funding 40 people,

plus four people from FMWRC Head-quarters, to attend the show. Army at-tendees will participate in a catering session hosted by Roman on Sunday, March 7. Army catering training will begin immediately after the session.

Paul Savarese, MWR Food and Bev-erage program manager, Commander, Navy Installations Command (CNIC), said, “We expect 25-30 Navy food and beverage professionals, representing most of the regions, to attend Cater-source. That number could increase as the date grows closer.”

Nancy Pasternack, catering and event specialist, Personal and Family Readi-ness Division, Headquarters Marine Corps, noted, “There will be approxi-mately 20 Marine Corps Community Services (MCCS) food and hospitality personnel attending. In the past we have had chefs, catering managers, club man-agers, and food and hospitality directors attend the training events and we expect the same type of attendance in March.”

Gary Scheer, Coast Guard MWR di-rector, added, “I anticipate that we will have between 5-10 of our MWR staffs from different commands who will take advantage of this great food and beverage training opportunity.”

The Air Force will not conduct ser-vice-specifi c training at Catersource, but attendees are encouraged to take advantage of the training opportunities offered at the show.

IMCEA EVENTS Catersource is partnering with the

International Military Community Ex-ecutives Association (IMCEA) for the fi fth straight year.

IMCEA will host a military net-working reception on the evening of Monday, March 8, and will honor the best and brightest in the Morale, Wel-fare and Recreation (MWR) commu-nity during the association’s annual awards ceremony and reception on Wednesday, March 10, at 7 p.m.

Outgoing IMCEA President Dennis Salisbury, CMCE, will hand over the reins to Fred McKenney, CMCE, chief, Air Force Food and Beverage Division. The passing of the torch will be fol-lowed by the awards presentation.

The latest IMCEA Hall of Fame member will be inducted, recogniz-ing someone who has achieved major success within the MWR profession

Conferees will have the opportunity to take part in blind taste testing, fl avor tripping experiences, fruit and vegeta-ble carving, and wine, cheese and beer tastings. Each day, 33 live 20–minute demonstrations on each stage will let participants quickly “Xtract” new ideas for their operations.

“That’s kind of cool,” Roman said. “It gives people a chance to sit in front of a smaller presentation with fewer people and get more interaction with the particular speaker.”

CHEF DEMO ARENA For the second straight year, a Chef

Demo Arena will take place during trade-show hours. This event features educational workshops presented by ex-ecutive-level chefs representing an array of international industry vendors. Chefs will prepare cutting-edge menu concepts, provide culinary education and offer tasty samples during their demonstrations.

Topics include: 1) More for Less Menus — Your

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through excellence in leadership, inno-vation, dedication, caring and resource-fulness.

The MWR Leadership Award for-mally recognizes senior offi cials who consistently demonstrate exceptional leadership skills and make signifi -cant contributions to the betterment of MWR programs. The Roy C. Olson Award honors the MWR professional who best exemplifi es the high quality of standards and leadership and skill in MWR management.

In addition, the IMCEA and Paul Reece Founders Award will be present-ed for the fi fth straight year. Established in January 2006 after the death of one of IMCEA’s founders, Paul Reece, the award recognizes individuals who are instrumental in establishing and devel-oping active chapters, responsible for membership recruitment in large num-bers and other achievements that direct-ly relate to the growth and sustainment of IMCEA.

Also, the Irving Rubenstein Me-morial Award, formerly known as the

Military attendees will have the opportunity to discover the newest in buffet and tabletop ideas, linens and china options, creative displays

and décor geared for catering.

“MWR Rookie of the Year Award,” recognizes an MWR professional from each of the fi ve military branches, and is named for Irv Rubenstein, CMCE, widely regarded as the epitome of teach-ing, coaching and mentoring young MWR professionals.

—MCH

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