How to feed 4,200 at one go

Throw 21,000 hours of labour, 980 kg of meat, 700 kg of pasta, 210 kg of cheeselets and 4,000 eggs into the mix, apart from abundant quantities of other ingredients and fine-tuned logistics, and you can cater for a 4,200-delegate conference, the first of its magnitude Malta has ever hosted.

The mission of feeding the Oriflame delegates was entrusted to Island Caterers, who rose to the challenge in the form of 15 consecutive events, including two dinners of 4,200 people each that transformed the Floriana Granaries into a mass outdoor restaurant under the stars.

The week-long cosmetics convention, brought over by Paul Selis of On Site Malta, generated over 30,000 bed nights, filling 13 four- and five-star hotels and pumping between €8 and €10 million into the economy, said Tourism Parliamentary Secretary Mario de Marco, who visited the location of the gala dinner yesterday.

For Winston J. Zahra, CEO of Island Hotels Group Holdings plc, who set up Island Caterers in 1992, catering for the conference delegates was a “massive logistical effort”, primarily because of its size and the fact that it has never been done before.

Prior to Oriflame, one-off major conferences the island has hosted had fewer than half the number of delegates, Mr Zahra noted.

Catering for an event of the sort required many months of planning and a hefty investment in hardware, including tables and chairs, while staff on the big nights numbered 460, including 60 chefs, waiters and management.

Even aligning the sea of tables takes its time and they all had to be covered in plastic sheets once set up by a 40-strong team.

But the trick is to break it down into a number of smaller events instead of one of 4,200, Mr Zahra said of the complex logistics and minute details that have to be taken into account.

Two full-blown kitchens were set up in Floriana for the food to be finished off on site after being prepared in the hotels and transported to the venue.

“Last Monday, we served the main course to 4,200 guests in under 25 minutes,” Mr Zahra said, meaning they were forking their smoked swordfish and marinated octopus practically simultaneously.

More than anything, the experience means Malta is geared up for such events and Mr Zahra is confident there will be more in the future, which is “excellent” for the island.

“Now we know Malta can host conferences of this calibre, where before there was always a doubt. The spin-off effects allow many other sectors to do well, with suppliers benefiting from big orders,” Mr Zahra said.

Apart from being positive for the tourism industry overall – “something like this definitely helps make it a better year” – it is ultimately also “a matter of pride and satisfaction at having pulled it off”, he said, attributing the success to “a great team effort, with hundreds of individuals, led by strong managers, playing their part”.

The hardest part is acknowledging the fact that “the job is not done until it is done, so at no stage can you sit back and relax,” a hands-on Mr Zahra said.

“You are only as large as your last event, so Malta is now on the map of destinations that can do it. When international clients see that an event of the sort was a success, it encourages others to follow suit,” Mr Zahra continued.

In fact, the repercussions are already being felt, according to Malta Fairs and Convention Centre business development representative Rueben Caruana, who has already received enquiries about other conventions.

When the meal is done and dusted, and satisfied guests are rubbing their tummies, the job is not over yet: 24,000 glasses, 32,000 pieces of cutlery and 26,000 plates have to washed.