COMBINING DINING
Stacy Elefante
WITH DATA
Stacy Elefante grew up in the restaurant business thanks to her family ’ s Italian restaurant in Tucson , Arizona , and later honed her experience at hotels including The Ritz- Carlton , Dove Mountain . This past spring Elefante became director of restaurants at the JW Marriott Chicago , where she makes sure high-quality , cutting-edge F & B experiences also enhance the bottom line .
HOTELS : What adjustments have you made at JW Marriott Chicago to improve cost-effectiveness in F & B ?
Stacy Elefante : We use a menuengineering tool that allows us to cost out every item down to the salt and pepper that goes into each recipe . They were using the program [ before I arrived ], but not to the full capacity .
We also put a lot of thought into menus to make sure we cross-utilize ingredients .
Chefs have a creative mindset , whereas I ’ m not creative at all . I ’ m good at pulling the
data and using the software programs , and they ’ re good at the creativity .
H : How do you help chefs appreciate the finances without stifling their creativity ?
SE : The tool we use with menu engineering and having the actual facts on paper makes it easier . It ’ s team brainstorming and just building a strong relationship with them .
H : With the viability of room service getting so much attention , what is the key to profitable in-room dining at your hotel ?
SE : We have so many business travelers who see it as a convenience because they ’ re coming in from different parts of the world at different times . For us , it ’ s continually growing . On our new menus we ’ ve added gluten-free , vegan , healthier options , so I think that is helping . We ’ re also continuing some chef ’ s tasting options and wine pairings , so we ’ re doing things that are a bit outside the box .
It goes back to menus and making sure we ’ re cross-utilizing ingredients . That is our biggest contributor to controlling costs for in-room dining .
www . hotelsmag . com October 2013 HOTELS 43