A few weeks ago, Chef Peter Dewar asked me to help out cooking with the Scanway Catering team as they got ready for the Concert on Commons featuring the Black Eyed Peas. I got the opportunity to work with them for a few days, in their kitchen in the Four Points Sheraton just off Barrington Street preparing food for the concert. I couldn’t work the night of the concert because I was already committed to another function.
When I was asked back to help out for the recent Country Rockfest concert, I made sure my schedule was clear.
This was huge opportunity for me. Scanway Catering was taking care of all the food for the commons. This included food for the corporate sponsored tents, event staff, beer and liquor tents, and general concessions for concert goers… That’s a whole lot of food. And it was a two night event. On top of that, there were three weddings. Two off site, and one at the hotel that was a seafood spectacular that involved ice sculptures and over 400 pieces of sushi (rolled by Peter and myself). This would be about five times bigger than any catering event I have ever been a part of. It was almost too much to wrap my head around.
With much planning, and great organization and co-ordination, such a huge feat of feeding the masses can be achieved. The Scanway team were great to work with. Although Peter and I mostly concentrated on the corporate tents (essentially sky boxes on the ground, tasty food and servers included), we helped out with whatever was needed… and there was always something needed. We started basic prep on Tuesday, and got into the swing of things on Wednesday. Both were half days, setting ourselves up for the upcoming three days of organized chaos. Thursday we were full on. We added another person to our crew. Mandy Chapman, a recent graduate of my alma mater, NSCC Akerley, joined us in the kitchen. At 5pm, Peter, Paul Thimot (NSCC Kingstech), and head Banquet Chef for Scanway Jamie Knorr, left the kitchen to go set up the venue… the Commons.
Two thirds of the Commons was a maze of tents and security guards. We were given golf carts on steroids to move propane and drove around the commons in a pick-up truck moving monstrous BBQ’s that were hours away from grilling literally thousands of sausages and burgers. There were already food operations happening onsite for all the set up staff. Three square meals a day, with several choices. Popcorn was being popped and bagged up, and the fryer truck’s 8 deep fat fryers were filled and ready to go. It wasn’t stocked yet because the food supplier, Sysco, was arriving the next morning with an 18 wheeler full of food that would be cooked and sold by the end of the day. We picked up and dropped off supplies for the next day, trying to keep ahead of the game. We were at the commons until dark.
Then it was back to home base, the Four Points, to do final checks of lists and mise en place for the next morning, which was looking like it was an early one…
This
event was so big, I think it deserves two posts… coming soon, Country Rocks Cookin’
on the Commons: Cookin Up a Storm!
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