Buy Your Tickets!

Tickets are on sale now! Buy yours today! Make check payable to MSU Les Gourmets and fill out an order form and send them both to 55 South Harrison East Lansing, Michigan 48824! Purchase your tickets before December 31, 2012 and receive a 10% discount!!! Don't miss out on this Les Gourmets opportunity on April 6, 2013. 

Meet our Executive Board! First our CEO!!

Meagan Lutton

Chief Executive Officer

Meagan, a senior in The School of Hospitality Business, is ecstatic to be part of Les Gourmets. Meagan's passion for hospitality and event planning is what drove her to become a part of this team. She started off as a volunteer her sophomore year and last year became Director of Donations. Meagan started off in the industry at the age of 17 and has currently had three internships with Damon's Bar and Grill, Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center, and most recently Oak Brook Hills Marriott Resort. Meagan is dedicated to her team and so grateful that she gets to work with the best executive board out there. The board has brought the culture of New Orleans to Michigan and the guests can once again expect a night full of surprises and fun. After graduation Meagan plans on working with an event services team in a hotel! 

New website!

Take a stroll through our new website and it looks amazing so check it out! Visit msulesgourmets.com and learn more about our E-Board and our exciting event for this years Les Gourmets 2013: New Orleans on April 6, 2013.

Kicking Off!

Hey Everyone!!
We have officially kicked off the shool year with Les Gourmets 2013! We are all so excited for this years event and especially the theme which is New Orleans. Our supervisors will be chosen this week! We have an exceptional group of people who have volunteered to give us their best efforts and the ending result will no doubt be a showcase of all of our talents and hard work! Take a stroll trough the Big Easy with us on April 6, 2013!Check back soon to meet our E-Board! If you have any questions or would like to purchase tickets please go to MSULesGourmets@gmail.com.

A Word from our CEO

Pure Michigan represents our home, where our hearts lie. The pure passion and heart that our executive board and volunteers put into this event are stemmed from our love of hospitality. The tradition of Les Gourmets is something that will stick with us the rest of our lives, much like the rippling effect that Michigan has also left on our hearts. The experience of planning and preparing for this one night has created friendships and bonds that are irreplaceable. Acting not only as a team but as a family, the Executive Board has spent the last year building up each other through support and leadership in hopes that we can create one of the best events yet! We hope that whether as guests, donors, volunteers, family members, or simply supporters that we can leave you with a feeling of pride in Michigan, as well as pride in the students who are the future of hospitality. See you this Saturday, March 31st!

-Brittany Fridell, CEO Les Gourmets 2012 

Wine, Stickers, and Color Coding....

The Front of House team has officially kicked into high gear. For the last 2 months we have been working to acquire the front of house volunteers that bring you your food, set it in front of you, pour your wine, and take your food away to get you ready for your next course. As you can imagine with 256 guests, it requires a lot of help, we have almost 100 volunteers working just in the dining room during the event. Our training sessions for the lovely volunteers were last week, it was great to meet all of them, since many of them are freshman and sophomore’s its even cooler to see who could be a director or supervisor in future years. In past years, we had a lot higher volunteer to guest ratio, but with the addition of so many tables this year, we decided to work for efficacy and work in teams. Each table will share a server, wine pourer, food runner, and busser with another table all working together to hopefully create a more efficient and less cluttered dining room. Because I am crazy, the front of house volunteers have a lot of color coded diagrams and pretty stickers to identify themselves to help cut the confusion. Unfortunately, it is less than a week to the event and I have more diagrams to make and emails to send so I must sign off. Can’t wait!

-Taylor Nichols

(On behalf of the whole front of house team-Brett, Rebecca, Andrew, Corinne, and Jane)

Reception!

Hello to you all from Reception! Our team has been working hard this semester to make Pure Michigan come to life from the moment you step through the doors at Les Gourmets. We will be bringing a little of the outdoors, in and hopefully have a few unexpected touches as well. When you walk through the doors we want you all the be reminded of the state we love so much, with that special Les Gourmets touch added in. We’re keeping the atmosphere fun, just like people in Michigan.  We’ve been working hard on all those finishing touches for decorations this week, we’ve got our entertainment planned, the menu has been decided, now all reception needs is you! We can’t wait to see you all there at Les Gourmets 2012: Pure Michigan!

-Abby Clark, Director of Reception  

Flashback.

Flash back to 1957 – Les Gourmets was a Buffet Dinner Dance with a theme of the Gay Nineties which included an elaborate Appetizer Buffet in the Red Cedar Room and a breathtaking Dinner Buffet in the Big 10 Room, followed by dramatic and musical entertainment and dancing to a live orchestra, all decorated elaborately and beautifully, including ice carvings and individual table decorations.

The next year brought a “Night in Blue Hawaii” complete with authentic Hawaiian food, chaired by yours truly, a little grass hut and four  “Hula Girls” – actually one student chef, one Michigan State University football player and 2 other honored Les Gourmets men who performed the hula in costume complete with coconut tops.

-Zoe P Slagle

Beverage Update!

What a great week on the wine and beer front! I have been working in collaboration with Jon Trasky, General Manager of the Kellogg Hotel & Conference Center State Room to combine our resources and identify donors and finalize our pairings for Les Gourmet's reception and seven-course menu. Jon has been a great resource in aligning me with distribution reps for donation. 

Exciting news breaking today that Bell's Brewery of Kalamazoo, Michigan, makers of such favorites as Oberon, Two Hearted Ale, and Bell's Amber Ale, have agreed to partner with us again this year! Much thanks goes out to Jim Parks and the Bell's Brewery family for once again partnering with Les Gourmets and generously donating to this year's event. Pure Michigan seems to be a fitting theme with so many great regional craft beer offerings amidst the state and the growing popularity and curiosity among consumers to try these many stylings. 

This trend is not by any means limited exclusively to beer, as many quality wines, spirits and hard ciders are emerging from Michigan as well. Expect to be surprised by some of the Michigan-made beverages to be featured this year.

My advice for those coming to Les Gourmets 2012: Pure Michigan? ...come thirsty!

-Tom Inners 

(Ambassador of Beverages & Assistant Donations Director - Les Gourmets 2012: Pure Michigan)

Yummmm. Faygo!

Everyone knows that Faygo was created here in the beautiful state of Michigan. Over the years, everyone has developed their own favorite flavor or concoction of flavors. Tell us your favorite flavor. The winning flavor will be posted at Les Gourmets 2012. There may even be a little surprise!


Survey: Faygo Survey


For more information on Faygo please check: www.faygo.com 

Arts & Entertainment!

No event would be a success without some awe-inspiring decorations & lively entertainment! Check in with our Arts & Entertainment Director, Eric Cardwell to see what is happening in the world of A&E 

Greetings from the Arts & Entertainment department of Les Gourmets 2012: Pure Michigan! With a theme as awe-inspiring as “Pure Michigan” we are working hard to capture the beauty of our state through décor and entertainment. Some interpretations you can expect to be literal, while others aim to capture the essence of great landmarks and pieces of Michigan culture. With each area of our state varying so dramatically, we have had a ton of inspiration to draw from (sometimes even too much)! Guests can expect a nod to the natural beauty of our state (think beautiful greens and blues), representation of the industrial city of Detroit in its “Motown” hay-day (can you hear the blues already?), and of course a fresh Spartan spin on the whole thing! We've already said too much, so you'll have to wait until March 31st to see and hear everything else we have in store!

Tickets

Hello All! 


Les Gourmets 2012 is officially SOLD OUT. We are very proud of our teams accomplishments this year. If you are still interested in attending, please email us at msulesgourmets@gmail.com. We will add your name to our waiting list and if a spot opens up let you know. 


Stay tuned for more updates!


Follow us on twitter for fun Michigan facts & all things Les Gourmets! @msulesgourmets

Volunteering!

It's that time of year again! Les Gourmets is currently looking for volunteers! Please join us in the HB Dining Room at the Kellogg Hotel & Conference Center on February 8th at 7:00pm. Come learn about our positions. We have everything from wine pourers to working in the heart of house along side executive chefs. We will also be quizzing volunteers on knowledge of Michigan for prizes. Come join us, grab a Pure Michigan snack, and sign up to help out for Les Gourmets 2012!

Hope to see you there!

*Past Les Gourmets volunteers- Please fill out this survey in order for us to better improve our Volunteer Training.  http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/D72BR36

Pure Les Gourmets

We are very proud to present to you our first promotional video for Les Gourmets 2012: Pure Michigan. As you watch our video imagine the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of the state so many of us are proud to call home. 


Enjoy!
-Your Les Gourmets 2012 Executive Board 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzHQkuD5k08

Marketing! Marketing! Marketing!

The Les Gourmets marketing team has been working hard this year to promote this wonderful event! We are very excited to announce that we have completed the design for our invitations and will be sending them to over 200 people in the next few weeks. We have sold over 100 tickets already and we are selling out fast. In the next few weeks we are looking forward to working with Spartan Sagas as well as other media outlets around the Lansing area to get the word out about Les Gourmets!  To keep up with what we're doing on a daily basis with marketing as well as the entire board, continue reading our blog, follow us on twitter @msulesgourmets and "like" us on facebook, MSU Les Gourmets 2012. 

www.twitter.com/msulesgourmets

-Courtney Johnson, Director of Marketing

A Message from Assistant Director

Its Les Gourmets time again!  It is so nice to be back with the team after spending the semester away.   I have sincerely missed the team; I forgot how entertaining the meetings could get.  It's so great to see a group of different minds, who each bring an unique idea, come together and create a spectacular evening.  Most of our guest chefs this year are returning from previous years and are ready for another fun year.  Next up on my list of things for the team is helping all around and doing some intense thinking on our famous ice sculptures for reception.   This year’s theme is close to heart, I have lived in Michigan for 12 years now and have fallen in love with the state.  This will be my third and final Les Gourmets and I can’t wait!!!!!

-Samantha Patterson, Assistant Director 

Donations. Donations. Donations!

In order to ensure a successful Les Gourmets our Donations Team works very hard to create relationships with donors. Here is a little blurb about what our team is working on!

The Donations Team is currently in the round one phase of solicitation working on targeting all of the top donors from previous years. We have contacted almost all of our potential donors who donate for the main event. The team is working really hard to make lasting relationships with these donors because with out them Les Gourmets would not happen! We have already received confirmation with some donors and know when they are delivering their products. Like stated before without the help of these amazing companies we would not be where we are today. Contacting these companies during the holidays is always challenging due to the economy, however, we are so generous that they still will give to Les Gourmets! With that being said the supervisors and directors like to give back to the community as well. We previously made dinner and taught high school students about what foods can help them maintain a healthy lifestyle. This event went very well and hopefully we can have many more to come. When the team gets back from break we are going to work hard and start round two which is contacting all of the donors who donate food for the volunteers! 

-Meagan Lutton, Director of Donations