Levy expands foodservice at Chicago's McCormick Place

Nation's Restaurant News, Feb 24, 1997 by Carolyn Walkup

CHICAGO -- The new South Building addition to McCormick Place, which makes the convention center the country's largest under one roof, encompassing 2.2 million square feet of space, comes complete with convenient and contemporary foodservice.

"What we want to achieve is to have the best foodservice in the convention center industry," said Richard Dobransky, vice president of The Levy Restaurants' Sports and Entertainment Group, which holds the McCormick Place contract. Just as the giant convention center is being upgraded, so is the foodservice, which is expected to gross some $20 million within a year or two.

New foodservice includes a five-station food court, a white-tablecloth restaurant, two 275-seat quick-service restaurants located at each end of the new exhibit hall floor, two temporary restaurants that can be set up for trade shows near the exhibit hall entrance and 35 new portable carts, expanding the total number of steam table and refrigerated carts to 100.

In addition, Levy handles on-premises catering for two ballrooms: the 33,000-square-foot Grand Ballroom, with seating for 3,000 and the 22,000 square-foot Vista Ballroom, with 1,800 seats, which boasts a great view of Lake Michigan. The Grand Concourse, a dramatically designed, glass-enclosed climate-controlled corridor with 100-foot-high ceilings, is becoming a much-requested site for private parties.

Levy won the McCormick Place foodservice contract over several larger competitors five years ago, when the complex consisted of two buildings: McCormick North and McCormick East. "Five years ago our goal was simply to improve foodservice operations at McCormick Place," said Claude Kern, director of food and retail services for the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, the agency that runs the convention hall.

Before that time the MPEA had not invested much in foodservice, Kern said. "The foodservice was old, with 1960s-style, straight-line cafeterias," he added. "We have come a long way. We have brought the foodservice up to where it should be."

"We have increased variety ten-fold as well as seating, which has been left out of most convention centers," Dobransky claimed. "We bring a restaurant-quality experience to a convention center, where most people don't expect to find it."

Food-court stations include Chicago Wraps, which features a chicken Caesar wrap in a flour tortilla shell and a vegetarian wrap in a spinach tortilla shell; Pacific Rim, a wok station aimed at the high number of Asian attendees at Chicago trade shows; The Carvery; the Grill; Fiesta Brava, a Mexican-Southwestern concept; and a salad bar. Menu boards are posted in front of the stations, making choices easier to read than the traditional posting in the rear of the stations.

Food-court patrons may eat at cafe seats that have access to the Grand Concourse's daylight-infused glass enclosure. The food court is open daily to serve employees, tradesmen and others who work in the convention complex. During the first trade show in the new hall, the International Housewares Show, checks averaged $10.25.

The two cafes located on the show floors offer more limited menus of hand-carved sandwiches for $7.50 and several premade items. Portable carts, carrying everything from beverages to pizza, hot dogs and ice cream, make foodservice even more accessible to trade show exhibitors and attendees.

The 60-seat Fine Print Restaurant offers a quiet respite for customers with the time and budget to sit down for a full-service meal with a check average in the $20 range. Menu items include shrimp cocktail, Mediterranean grilled vegetable Caesar salad and herb-roasted salmon with mixed greens and roasted red potatoes.

When major trade shows are being held, Levy employs between 1,100 and 1,400 food-service staffers. Levy is negotiating with a few branded quick-service operators who will become subcontractors at McCormick Place.

McCormick South took three years and $675 million to build. Chicago and Illinois officials expect the new hall to bring in an additional $1.1 billion in annual economic impact, an increase from $3.6 billion to $4.7 billion. The East building, being renamed Lakeside Center, is being upgraded and is scheduled to reopen in November.

As competition among urban centers to attract conventions increases nationwide, other cities besides Chicago are expanding their convention facilities. Included in that group are Orlando, Fla.; San Diego; San Antonio; and Little Rock, Ark.