The Olympic Kitchen Brigade

So how do we feed 12,000 meals a day? Obviously with a lot of military precision and professionalism. The problem with 9 food stations is, how do we guess by golly what food the athletes will eat at each meal, the simple answer is prepare lots of everything.

It all starts with Stephen Lee our corporate chef from Sodexo who orders all the food, then it’s received by Dave and James our stores guys along with Mikey Greer and Becky who stores it all. Next Chef’s Trevor and Paul prep all the food in the cold kitchen with their team of 30 cooks, who then pass it forward to the hot kitchen to be prepared. Jonathan, our prep chef and his team of 2 cooks prepare all the food and then blast chills it and portions it in hotel pans so we can re-therm when it comes to meal service. My job in charge of the hot kitchen is to take all the glory at the end and co-ordinate the food into a multitude of hot boxes so it can be transferred to the steam lines to be served to the athletes and workforce (they call me the Maestro). Michael Smith has the biggest role of all trying to manage everything from staffing to the kitchen routines we all operate, while still stopping to greet every fan who wants his photo.

Now doesn’t that sound easy hey? The reality is when the chickens stop running around with their heads cut off and the mad dash to the hot boxes and fight for oven space, tie your hands from one meal period to the other, we make it look like a cakewalk without even realizing how important everyone’s role is. Everyone matters right down to the prep cook peeling onions in the prep kitchen or the servery girl on the steam line pleasing our athletes. What you may not realize is that one meal roll's into the other, Chef Robert and his breakfast team serve breakfast from 0530 – 10 am, I have to have lunch ready to serve at 10 am till 4 pm. Then supper starts at 4 pm – 12 pm so the 6 combi ovens are working non stop steaming and cooking food. The dining room is open 24 hours so our evening bakers run by Ann-Marie have to be out of both Robert's and my way very early in the morning.

The brigade is just that, a well tuned machine with an integral team working together to produce the best food service operation so our clients leave with a memorable food experience.

The Olympic Kitchen Brigade

Olympic Chef Bill