by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
Breakfast, lunch, dinner, banquets, catering and room service equates to hundreds, sometimes thousands, of meals prepared at the Omni Hotel each day. Executive Chef Rick Eplawy leads a staff of more than 30 people who work virtually around the clock, seven days a week to satisfy the hunger of guests.
Eplawy went to culinary school at Le Cordon Bleu in Pittsburgh and has been with Omni Hotels for almost seven years, more than three of those years in Jacksonville.
“We serve breakfast, lunch and dinner at Juliette’s (the hotels’ onsite restaurant). We welcome hundreds of guests each day and average more than 100 (people) for breakfast on weekends,” he said. “When you add wedding receptions, family reunions, retirement parties, meetings and room service, it can add up to thousands of meals we prepare in a single day.”
That means a lot of food goes through the kitchen. Fresh seafood, meat, fruits and vegetables arrive each day and dry goods are received three times a week. Eplawy said one member of the kitchen staff’s job is to purchase, receive and inventory each item required for the menu. And, the Omni spends a few dollars on feeding its guests.
“We purchase more than $800,000 worth of food and ingredients each year,” he said.
Eplawy is one of about a dozen Omni executive chefs who are chosen for an annual international excursion to discover new techniques, cuisines and wines. Last year the group traveled to South America and learned the art of Argentinean barbecue. Eplawy leaves Sunday for a nine-day trip to France where he and his colleagues will begin the process of developing a collection of special selections that will be featured at all Omni Hotel restaurants this fall. He said eating and drinking your way through the best a country has to offer is not all work and no play.
“We have to keep our menu fresh and besides, these trips are a blast!”
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