Co-ordinating a 14-day itinerary of amazing culinary experiences in Russia for people who work in the food industry is no easy task, but one that Tom embraced with gusto when his expertise was required by Australian foodservice distribution company NAFDA. Food and beverage was an important part of the pitch from the beginning, and one of the companies that tendered wanted Tom on board to help get them over the line. It worked.
NAFDA runs an incentive program for suppliers and buyers to win a trip to a unique destination every second year. In 2019, Tom acted as host and emcee for 130 people for the two-week trip to Russia and Budapest, which included lunch and dinner every day.
Tom travelled to Russia for a site inspection a year before to visit all the restaurants he was considering and speak to the chefs. He believes it’s important to do this in the same season that the event will be held so you know what kind of produce is going to be available and get an idea of what the weather’s going to be like. Working with destination management companies on the ground, he visited 100 restaurants in three weeks, and often had four lunches and four dinners per day.
When Tom caters overseas, he tries to play to the strengths of the destination and give guests a flavour of where they are and what the restaurant or caterer represents. The final itinerary included space-themed restaurant Voskhod in Moscow, where guests got to try food eaten by astronauts in outer space; and Bunker 42, which is in an old Cold War bunker 19 floors below the ground. Other highlights included Russian president Vladimir Putin’s favourite restaurant, Podvorye, which is very traditional; and a gala dinner in Yusupov Palace in St Petersburg, with ballerinas and opera singers performing.
As well as managing a broad range of dietary requirements, the job involved working in multiple languages and currencies, which is no easy feat.
