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