Our personality of the month is… José Manuel Sánchez, our Catering Director!
José Manuel tells us how the food was prepared for the first international event since the pandemic broke out
His team successfully combined safety protocols and sustainability.
EANS. This was a four-day face-to-face international medical congress with delegates coming from a variety of locations. This meant their culinary needs were also varied, and our catering service was tailored accordingly. So far, there is nothing new in this that didn’t happen in our venue before the pandemic. The team at the Valencia Conference Centre has always been known for offering its clients a personalised service.
However, as a result of the pandemic, things have changed for the Centre’s catering service, which is provided by our strategic partner Gourmet Catering, headed by José Manuel Sánchez and Elena Cerveró, the firm’s account executive. The Safe Tourism Certified label awarded by the Spanish Tourism Quality Institute (ICTE) endorses the company’s procedures in preparing and serving food according to strict safety protocols. It also continues to make progress in complying with the SDGs. Although it should be remembered that before the pandemic, our catering service was already committed to sustainable gastronomy and provided sustainable gastronomic experiences.
Individual service using recycled materials
José Manuel is a perfectionist and is extremely methodical. He has over 20 years’ experience in the catering industry and is an excellent person! Thanks to his long track record and versatility in adapting to customer needs, José Manuel and his team successfully tackled a number of challenges at this congress, which was the first international meeting to be held at the Centre since the pandemic broke out.
He told us that the food and drinks in the coffee breaks were served in individual closed boxes made out of recycled, compostable material to delegates seated at tables, each with a limited number of people. For the buffet, the number of serving areas per customer was increased to prevent crowds from forming and the safety distance of 1.5 metres between the queue and the tables was maintained at all times. “In terms of sustainability, single-use, compostable material was used and the buffet offered a vegetarian option every day. More than 60% of the food served at this international event was plant-based, due to the origin of the delegates. These were also local products”, added José Manuel.
The materials used in our cuisine are recycled and recyclable. At the EANS event, they included kraft cardboard, palm leaf plates, wooden trays, bamboo tongs and glass.
