The Grand used to be exclusively a private athletic and lodging club. But we did a renovation about three years ago and opened to the public. The idea is to provide a seamless and upscale experience for both the guests of the hotel and the members of the fitness center as well as for restaurant visitors.

So how does that impact your responsibilities?
My staff and I prepare and serve all of the food for in-room dining, private parties, meetings and special events. We’re kept very busy, because the clientele includes a lot of businesspeople and business travelers as well as professional athletes, celebrities and luxury-oriented tourists. And they often prefer to dine in their rooms or in separate gatherings.

What’s a typical week like?
Monday through Friday we do a lot of business meetings. Today, for example, we’ve got six functions, ranging from 10 to 70 people. A couple are breakfasts, most are lunches and we’ll be hosting a cocktail reception in the evening.

Each day on top of that, we’ll serve an average of 75 covers in-room. During weekends the ballroom is the venue for weddings, parties and other special occasions. We can serve up to about 300 people at those events.

It sounds as if your level of service demands personal involvement in the menu planning.
Absolutely. Guests meet either with me or with our executive sous chef or with the catering director to walk through some ideas and discuss options. In many cases we prepare tastings and meet a second time to go through that.

Many of our events feature customized menus. For example, we just did an Asian-themed wedding for about 200. The couple had a favorite restaurant in town, so my sous chef, Stan Hale, and I went there for a little research. We had a lot of fun working on the party, which ended up with a stir-fry station and a pyramid of martini glasses filled with rice noodles in peanut sauce and jumbo prawns, seviche-style.

Can you share any stories about some of the VIPs and celebrities who visit the Grand – without naming names, of course?
The wildest groups as a whole are the sports teams. They tend to eat in the hotel, all at the same time. They generally favor steaks, and they like to eat a lot. We have to hustle to get that amount of food on their tables.

Some of my favorite events are the parties in the presidential suite. The room includes a kitchen where we can finish dishes. Most of the guests who stay there want something special and more luxurious.

You’d think that the celebrities would have really eccentric, far-out requests, but actually I find that people who are on the road a lot just want familiar, comfortable food that can help take the edge off traveling.

Is it challenging to order when the business is unpredictable?
We usually have a lot of time to plan for most functions. And the in-room menu is set. I do all the purchasing myself and order almost everything from Sysco. I just don’t have the time to deal with 20 different vendors.

How involved were you in the recent renovation of the property?
That was a terrific experience. I got to design the new kitchen, which is on the fifth floor, where an old bowling alley was. There’s a back line as well as a front line. We put in some nice equipment – like steam kettles, a high-tech broiler and a rolling combination steam oven – because we make everything from scratch. One of my favorite pieces is a round tilting brasier, which is so versatile. And then we also have every gadget possible.

Is your staff permanent, or do you have to make adjustments for the flow of guests and events?
We support a full-time kitchen staff, with some service staff “on-call” for larger events. Because I do a lot of desserts myself or buy some high-quality items, we don’t have a pastry chef in-house.

You must be pretty versatile. Do you actually like wearing so many hats?
To be a chef, you really need to know a little bit about everything, especially here, where the work I do is so hands-on. I actually cook for most functions. And we also try to cook everything as up-to-the-minute as possible. One thing I don’t like is for food to sit around in hot boxes.

What’s next?
Our company is working on the Grand Rios, a 225-room hotel that will have the largest indoor water park in Minnesota. Coconut Charlie’s, the restaurant, will be my responsibility, so we’re looking at the decor and tabletop items now and starting to think about the menu. It’s going to be tropical-themed. We’re basically gutting and rebuilding an existing hotel building, planning to begin work this fall with the property expected to open in May 2004.