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Hotels' Breakfast Buffet

Here is a sampling of interesting ideas from around the industry related to hotel breakfast strategies.

By Derek Gale, Senior Editor -- Hotels, 4/1/2009

Le Méridien Transforms Breakfast, Coffee Culture

Through partnerships with Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten and illycaffé SpA, Starwood's Le Méridien brand is completely revamping its breakfast and coffee programs.

The brand recently conducted breakfast research with business and leisure travelers throughout Asia, with results showing that more than 90% of individuals would be willing to try new breakfast items while traveling.

To satisfy this hunger for something different, Le Méridien has launched a new signature breakfast in partnership with Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten that will roll out throughout its Asia Pacific hotels this year.

The offering includes "eye-opening elixirs" featuring combinations of fruits and vegetables (such as oranges, carrots and raspberries) with herbs and spices (such as chilies, cloves and pepper), as well as new interpretations of classic breakfast entrée items like the poached egg.

"My goal for Le Méridien was to create a breakfast experience that not only delivers the basics at a high-quality level, but also provides a level of 'discovery' for guests by blending exotic flavors with everyday ingredients," Vongerichten says.

As for its coffee program, a partnership with European premium brand illycaffé is meant to forge a "robust coffee experience" throughout Le Méridien hotels that will include a signature coffee menu featuring both hot and cold drinks, as well as specialty coffee recipes to be made available to guests.

The brand also plans to designate one of its hotels to serve as a "coffee laboratory," enabling illycaffé to test products and bring new coffee experiences to life. Also under consideration is the introduction of a "master barista," an individual who would implement coffee culture training throughout the brand's hotels.

Breakfast For Dessert: On Trend Or Old News?

The New York Times recently ran an article discussing how many top restaurants have taken to serving breakfast for dessert in some form (perhaps most frequently in doughnut form). This is not a new idea—it has been going on for some 15 years—but it has, in the past year or two, become much more widespread.

Examples in the hotel world include various Four Seasons properties offering house-made doughnuts with different glazes or other toppings. The Verandah restaurant in the Four Seasons Hotel Las Vegas, for example, features a doughnut machine that also is used for hotel banquets and receptions. The machine allows guests to make their own doughnuts with choice of glazes (chocolate, vanilla, coffee, maple and lemon) and toppings (sprinkles, nuts and cookie crumbs).

At the Four Seasons Seattle, meanwhile, Pastry Chef Ryan Witcher has "noticed a trend on desserts leaning to the breakfast side. I see a lot of takes on brioche French toast with maple syrup gelato and so on. I think it is another venue to try different ideas and concepts with pastries."

Throughout the winter, Witcher made vanilla-dusted doughnuts with crème fraîche sorbet and spiced pomegranate compote for dessert. Now he is doing doughnuts with a Washington rhubarb compote and fromage blanc sorbet.

"The main reason I do it is to give the guest an experience that they wouldn't [otherwise] try," Witcher says. "Changing the flavors of the condiments is where the chef gets to play with ingredients and the guest gets to try something out of the daily norm."

But not everyone thinks breakfast for dessert is the way to go, even if it is on trend: "We're actually cycling out of the whole breakfast-for-dessert thing," says Susan Terry, vice president of culinary operations and corporate chef for Hyatt Hotels Corp. "It's starting to become a bit mainstream—we were doing things like coffee and doughnuts 18 to 24 months ago."

Breakfast: Innovation Not Required?

• "I firmly believe the most important thing about breakfast delivery, in terms of both food and service, is the ability to read a guest and provide exactly the right experience without reinventing the wheel," says Felipe Gomez-Kraus, director of food and beverage at Rosewood Sand Hill, Menlo Park, California

• "When it comes to breakfast, most people stay with a regular routine. Whatever the personal preference, we know that for most travelers, a familiar breakfast brings the routine of home to the routine of the road," writes Brad Nelson, corporate chef, Marriott International, in his Marriott In The Kitchen blog

• "Our core programming is somewhat predictable. The reality is breakfast is breakfast, and people are creatures of habit. While [new items] are exciting and add variety, the reality is the majority of people sit down to breakfast and order either two eggs or an omelet. Those are still going to be your drivers. For us, the key is reinforcing standards of timeliness, value for the dollar, engaged employees, and an overall quality experience," says Susan Terry, corporate chef, Hyatt Hotels

Spotlight On: House Smoked Maple Cured Salmon, The Langham Boston

WHAT: House-made smoked salmon served with a toasted bagel, cream cheese, tomatoes and red onion (US$17)

OF NOTE: Smoking the salmon in-house involves a five-day process, but because it is part of the kitchen sta