Rendering for the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts in San Antonio, designed by LMN Architects, Marmon Mok, and Fischer Dachs Associates.
The $203-million reimagining of the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts in San Antonio, Texas, has tapped Culinaire International to provide food and beverage for all of its spaces in a 10-year contract. The extensive renovation, detailed here in Venues Today’sSan Antonio Spotlight and Performing Arts Center Construction Focus, touches all spaces including the 1,759-seat H-E-B Performance Hall, where the $8-million GALA Spiralift seating system can transform the space into a 600-person ballroom in 23 minutes. There is also a black box theater, lobbies, lounges, and more than 600-capacity River Walk Plaza that can accommodate guests coming via barge.
“It’s the whole package and we’ll be doing it all, including service to the theater boxes so that people can preorder, or order when they sit down, and have their food ready after Act One or during intermission,” said David Wood, SVP Sales and Marketing at Culinaire.
Though each contract is different, Wood said that there is usually a base rent with a graduated percentile of commission based on revenues. The Request for Proposals went out to about 22 companies in the fall of last year, with 15 coming to do prebid tours of the facility and five coming through with bids. Culinaire, which will be branded as Tobin Center Catering, stood out.
“From my perspective it was really the completeness of their proposal which included services for the skyboxes, concessions, and all of the catering and bars,” said facility President and CEO Mike Fresher. They not only have a demonstrated ability in the performing arts sector and impressed Tobin Center staff with their work at The Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas, Culinaire also compiled suggested menus that show they really understand the local market.
“We’re a unique and cutting-edge facility and their offerings reflect that,” said Fresher, who added that the choice to brand as Tobin Center Catering further allows patrons to immerse themselves in the ‘Tobin experience,’ from what goes on the stage to what goes on the plate.” It will also bring the Tobin Center name out to the public when the company caters events around the community.
Culinaire is putting a heavy focus on the opening gala, Sept. 12.
“We’re going to be saluting the arts, so each course will have a theme or vignette of some art form in the performing arts,” said Wood. “Catering is such a great art form, and the high level of energy and creativity involved with the opening gala really gives us an opportunity to flex our creative muscles.”
The Tobin Center opens its doors Sept. 4 for a celebration of opening nights with 20 days of shows that will appeal to fans of all types of performing arts and music. Fresher called food and beverage “an integral part of the experience” at the venue, which already has 370 uses of the building scheduled for its first 299 days. Those include a mix of performances, private events, rehearsals and catered parties. The Tobin Center hosts 10 resident companies, including Ballet San Antonio, the Children’s Choir of San Antonio, and the city symphony and opera groups.
“It was important to us when we did the bid that the food service provider could do everything from box lunches to chateaubriand,” said Fresher. “We needed multiple price points and variety because our demographic and folks we’re trying to bring in day in and day out are going to span a large socioeconomic variety and we want to make sure there’s something for everybody.”
The facility will have the flexibility to host everything from kids’ parties to black tie galas, and Culinaire has already proved its willingness to work with each event on its particular needs.
“They’re in that sweet spot of being large enough to accommodate what we’ll see here, but also have that local touch and can really work with people,” said Director of Facility Sales and Services Kelly Moody. “We even have a bride who brought in her grandmother’s recipe, and they’re incorporating it into the menu for her.”
Interviewed for this story: Mike Fresher and Kelly Moody, (210) 223-3333; David Wood, (214) 754-1880