The 2011 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo

WE TOOK IT BY STORM…AGAIN!!!

We’re back and settled in San Antonio after another successful year at the Big, Bad Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo (HLSR)!

In 2010 we secured a substantial amount of very important business within HLSR and because of our hard work and commitment to excellence, we were able to secure a three-year contract. Enter 2011…

Working with the HLSR is a very high honor because we are based in San Antonio. Catering more than 180 miles away brings a good amount of challenges; challenges that we love to overcome and make look easy. We literally have to pack up and move a large part of our operation to Houston for an entire month, and fully commit to making it a great experience. Our Senior Vice President Ken Holtzinger, Staffing Extraordinaire Michelle Rivera, Operations Guru Sal Becerra, Executive Chef Eric Nelson, Executive Sous Chef Mercedes Valadez and a small, very talented group of crew members relocate to Houston for more than four weeks.

Before relocation we have to divvy up everything in our warehouse (sometimes bolts are actually pulled out of the ground to move a piece of equipment that we can’t live without) and spread it between our San Antonio and Austin operations while taking what we need for HLSR. This is a daunting task because many of our large events happen in March.

On February 21^st a compact crew arrived at our San Antonio headquarters early to begin packing on an extreme level. By the time everything arrived at our final destination in Reliant Park, Houston, it fills more than eight 24-foot trucks.

Our feet hit the Houston ground running and we immediately set up our three grand kitchens. Fortunately, Illusions built us two very beautiful and amazingly workable kitchen tents before we arrived and the Reliant Arena has an existing and well-equipped kitchen that we called our own. Ovens, fryers, grills, sinks, worktables, coolers and even a full sized dish machine are split between the Stadium Kitchen and the tents. Organization and quickness are key because production started the very next day.

Out of our three fantastic kitchens comes food for four main areas of service. Backstage Catering, Director’s Club, Chute Seats/Rockin’ Rodeo Pavilion and the Arena are all umbrellas for many catered functions. Our Backstage Catering involves taking over a dining room on the ground level of Reliant Stadium. Here, we fill the bellies of many different groups including: the Houston Texans, audio visual crews, stage hands, production artists and the musicians that perform every night. Every night it was our job to take extra special care of the star of the day. Some days Janet Jackson shined the brightest and other days it was Kid Rock or Kiss. No matter who it was, we prepared exactly what they wanted and with whatever special direction they gave. While it is just one meal for a handful of people, it is quite important and we take it very seriously.

The Director’s Club is where the HLSR VIPs spend their evenings. Feeding this group is one of the toughest logistical situations that we deal with because every piece of food, plate, fork, piece of equipment and staff member has to move through one single freight elevator. Like I said, we love a challenge and thankfully we are able to prevail through difficult situations.

Near the actual dirt of the rodeo is the Rodeo Contestants Room. Each night all of the rodeo participants and their families gather to prepare for their performance, visit and watch the competition. We take extra special care to feed the 300 folks that come through every day. We pay attention to their preferred comfort foods: fried chicken, smoked brisket, spaghetti with meatballs, strip steaks and chicken and dumplings were some favorites among the tasty dinners.

Amazingly enough, every meal for Backstage Catering, Director’s Club and Rodeo Contestants was prepared in one kitchen tent. Ovens and various shifts of chefs ran more than 16 hours a day to make all of the breakfasts, lunches and dinners just perfect. That adds up to more than 1200 meals a day for these groups alone!

Just behind the Astro Dome sits another kitchen tent that produces up to 600 meals a night for events in the Chute Seats and Rockin’ Rodeo area. Each guest in the Chute Seats is welcomed by a 16 oz. Cowboy Ribeye Steak dinner and a prime spot to watch the music performance. Rockin’ Rodeo is an opportunity for different corporations and groups to have a private dinner before the rodeo. Each menu has a different theme that we can customize to their various presentations or ceremonies.

Across Reliant Park is the Arena where we occupy an existing kitchen. Every day we feed visitors to the Stockman’s club with a tasty and fulfilling bar-style menu. As diners enjoy their meals and drinks they can watch the horses practice in the Arena. Behind the scenes of the Stockman’s Club is a small crew working non-stop to prepare for the many “off-premise” events that we have everyday. All across the rodeo grounds are events that require catering and we keep ourselves busy by feeding up to 1800 people everyday in these events alone. When we add it all up we are very busy folks feeding up to, and sometimes more than, 3000 rodeo guests every day.

To recap, that was:

180 miles from San Antonio

Three kitchens

Four main areas to serve plus special event locations

16-hours cooking per day

30 days

More than 3,000 meals per day

WOW!!

February 21^st to March 21^st turns out to be a surprisingly short month; within the blink of an eye, we’re loading trucks again and caravanning to San Antonio. We have a great time in Houston, pushing ourselves to new limits everyday. We learn so much in such a short period of time and never stop brainstorming ways to make the next rodeo bigger and better. Houston Rodeo 2012 is right around the corner and is off-premise catering to the EXTREME!

Co-written by Executive Chef Eric Nelson and Executive Sous Chef Mercedes Valadez