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A Taste of Sochi

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Borsch.jpgRussian cuisine is not exactly mainstream in most countries outside the former Soviet Union, so the largest selling dish at the Olympics might surprise you — Borscht.

That’s right, Borscht, a Russian beef beet soup widely considered a staple of the Russian diet. The beet-red dish is often served over carrots and potatoes and dolloped with sour cream.

“Borscht is just one of the examples of Russian dishes that will be served in the Olympic park,” said Maria Losyukova, a Sochi spokeswoman for Russian National firm Olympistroy, which administered the concessions contract. “We’re estimating that we’ll prepare 265,000 liters of Borscht during the Winter Games.”

That’s 70,000 gallons for those not using the metric system. This year, the food and beverage contract for the Sochi Games went to Russian firm Rixos Krasnaya Polyana Sochi — a hospitality group in the Black Sea town that owns and operates two hotels and six restaurants.

Rixos Krasnaya Polyana Sochi will have the exclusive contract for food sales at Olympic venues, although they will subcontract with several international food chains for additional support. McDonalds, the official restaurant partner of Sochi, will provide food at most Olympic venues, although the menu at most will be predominantly Russian.

“Guests and participants will be able to sample other classic dishes such as pelmeni and shashlyk. There will also be a wide variety of Russian traditional hot pastries, cakes and traditional tea from a samovar together with blini.”

Confused? Losyukova explained that pelmeni are Russian dumplings, usually filled with minced meat, fish or mushrooms and shashlyk is essentially a shish kebab. When it comes to tea time, hot water is served in a samovar, or metal kettle, often alongside blinis, which are essentially thin Russian pancakes.

‘This is an opportunity for the world to sample the richness of cuisine that Russia has to offer,” said Losyukova.

Catering the Media

While Rixos Krasnaya Polyana Sochi is handling the concessions contract, catering for the media and corporate partners has once again been allocated to a California firm that has provided food services for the Olympics since the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney.

John Crisafulli and his catering company Behind the Scenes Catering and Events hold about $11 million in contracts for this year’s games, one of his largest contracts to date.

“In Olympic years (essentially even numbered years), the Games have come to represent about 20 percent of my overall revenue,” he said. “It’s a big undertaking for us. Members of our team begin arriving 60 days prior to the Opening Ceremonies and we bring with us over 50 food containers (each 40 feet long).”

This year, he’s hired about 200 Russians to assist with the massive undertaking, which he estimates will translate into about 12,000 meals served per day once the games get underway. He estimated that he traveled to Russia about seven times in the last two years, meeting with clients, building out menus and developing recipe cards that have to be printed in both English and Russian.

Crisafulli has also provided catering for the America’s Cup, X-Games and the 1996 Republican convention. His first catering deal during the 2000 Summer Games only provided food for broadcaster NBC Sports — “and I had to beg and beg for them to even send me the RFP. I think they were nervous and split the job between myself and another caterer, but I was able to keep the project under budget while still providing high quality food.”

For each new host country, he also works with the government to develop a health and safety plan, and track his supply chain. He charges a flat rate instead of a per-head and per-day fee.

“And I don’t have long-term contracts with any one supplier, which allows me to adapt to changing tastes and dietary needs,” he said.

When they return, Crisafulli and his chefs will begin preparing for the 2016 Olympic Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Behind the Scenes has also landed contracts already for the 2018 Olympic Summer Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Interviewed for this story: Maria Losyukova, +7 (862) 243-40-49; John Crisafulli, (858) 638-1400


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