NEWS & MEDIA

OUR EXECUTIVE CHEF ERIC FETTKE WAS HONOURED TO SUPPORT IN THE PYEONGCHANG 2018 OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES
News
February, 2018

Last February our Executive Chef, Eric Fettke was honoured to be one of the chefs serving IOC members with an array of high requirements during their stay. This event not only gathered the talented athletes who are representative of each country, but also welcomed VIP guests in International Olympics Committee (IOC) as Mr. Thomas Bach - Head of IOC, Mr. Ban Ki Moon - 8th Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres - 9th and Current Secretary General of the United Nations, King William Alexander of Netherlands, Prince Faisel Al Hussein of Jordan, Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark etc. Our team at InterContinental Saigon can't wait to hear some of his amazing stories that he shared:

"Each day we catered for approximately 700 guests for breakfast, 9 Coffee Break Areas within the InterContinental as well as a Press Area at the Ski Lodge which catered daily for around 210 Guests. All Coffee Breaks changed 3 times daily.

Logistics was touch as it meant we had to go daily in between the Hotels and the Convention Center where the pastry Kitchen was housed top ensure proper control and production often in minus temperatures, snow and terrible winds. 3 layers of clothing became the new normal as well as heavy jackets, ski masks, hats and scarves."

Mr. Eric Fettke and the team had the honored opportunities to prepare meals for many VIPs who stayed during the event. Chef Eric had his favourite guests such as Princess Anne of United Kingdom and President Bach:

"We held special lunches and dinners for a lot of the people mentioned above, either set menus or a la carte and it was very common during breakfast or dinner to have multiple Royal tables being looked after and served at the same time. Princess Anne was my favorite and we discussed a lot about Curling and Rugby, she eats a bowl of plain oats in the morning finished with a little fresh cream and honey, perhaps 2 eggs either boiled or poached with some bacon. President Bach's food was always tasted before we could set up the buffets or coffee breaks, Each morning the Presidents council would have a working breakfast meeting in a private venue catered by us where they would discuss the days, the events and make any important decisions that affected the games."

He also shared what were the difficulties and challenges that the team had to face and tried to overcome in order to deliver great service and keep the event in good shape as well as well-prepared each and every day:

"The Korean Food Hygiene Unit was basically based at our hotel especially due to the fact that Novovirus strains had been found in Pyeongchang and had affected over 1200 of the soldiers who had to be hospitalized and quarantined for 72 hours. A lot of additional precautions were made to ensure that the Hotel was kept safe and free of the Virus. When we arrived it was -26 degrees Celsius and easy to add another 5-10 degrees with the wind chill factor, unfortunately for the Security teams they found out too late that the x ray scanners could only function in weather conditions until - 10 so they had to bring in special heaters to keep the machines functional."