Luxury Hoteliers Magazine 4th Quarter 2017 | Page 11

see them as integral elements or pillars of our vision for what hospitality has to be. The word hospitality comes from the Latin word “Hospes”, which means “Host” and as any good host would do, we take care of our guests by giving them a full experience. Food happens to be the center of how we humans socialize, it’s the seed for societal relationships. It’s a very primitive concept that we feel has been lost all along the way. We see our hotels as social platforms for human interaction, especially in today’s hyper-connected world, one that’s filled with overly disconnected humans. Our F&B is crafted in very unique ways; each location yields a different vibe and caters to a specific crowd. We don’t believe in repetition or standardization. Guests as well as locals like places that exude a fresh hyper-local energy. HOW HAVE YOU CRAFTED AN EXPERIENCE THAT LOCALS AND TRAVELERS DESIRE? Every time we enter a new market we spend a lot of time and energy studying and researching that market and understanding what works and what doesn’t work, what is lacking and what is overly offered. Appealing to locals has a lot to do with how you take what works there and take it apart to understand why it works, then putting those pieces back together in a different fashion while infusing your own personal touch is what makes that same F&B concept suddenly feel sexy and relevant again. Both, out of towners and locals will appreciate a destination that can offer a local flavor with a global touch. WHAT ROLE DOES LOCAL PRODUCE PLAY IN YOUR MENUS? We are big believers in sourcing local, sustainable products. This is represented in the vendors that we tend to choose to purchase from and the relationships we create within the culinary community of a given region. We will buy some of our produce and meats directly from the local Farmer’s Market and will tailor our menus to take advantage of that given local produce. For example, we are currently working on an ocean waterfront property and we wanted to bring the traditional seafood recipes into our menu. The fish is sourced locally and the ingredients are seasonal as well. We want our kitchens to be an evolving food laboratory that’s ever changing with the seasons. ILHA 11