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Chef's Showcase

Wowing the Meat-and-Potato Crowd

William Crueger has been in the business 30 years – 10 of them at the Hotel Mead.

Executive chef: William Crueger
Property: Hotel Mead
Location: Wisconsin Rapids, WI
Web site: http://www.hotelmead.com
Concept: A variety of dining experiences for both visitors and locals
Check averages: Café Mulino, $11 for dinner; The Grand Avenue Grill, $20 for dinner
Seating: 90 to 95 seats in each restaurant
Number of kitchen staff: 22, including stewards
Sample of menu items: “The Grand Avenue,” Black Angus center cut tenderloin, topped with sautéed mushrooms and choice of potato; Cajun chicken and andouille sausage gumbo; griglia pizza, with grilled chicken breast, bell peppers, and goat and mozzarella cheeses, on pesto sauce; Sunday champagne brunch

How do you keep two hotel dining rooms full all the time? - Questions & Answers

There’s always something going on at the Hotel Mead – brunch on Sunday, ribs on Wednesday, fish on Friday and special wine dinners throughout the year. What’s the strategy driving all those special dining events?
This is a unique little hotel for central Wisconsin. It’s unusual to have a full-service property around here. But we’ve got terrific facilities, including an indoor pool and fitness center. Almost all of our managers have spent time in larger hotels, many in metropolitan areas, and that leads to some innovative thinking. So we decided to make the food part of the draw, too.

We recognize the importance of appealing to the local clientele as well as to hotel guests. Special events are just one of the ways we accomplish that goal.

Let’s run through some of the details. What is the rib night like?
We started that program about a month ago and call the special “Big Slab Wednesdays.” The deal is all-you-can-eat pork spare ribs for $8.75. First we rub the spare ribs in barbecue seasoning and slowly roast them for about five hours, so the prep is really easy. We plate them with our own sauce — it’s a little on the sweet side – slaw and sautéed potatoes. The server brings out extra ribs if guests want some more.

The goal was to take a quieter day of the week and generate some extra traffic. But the success has been tremendous. Almost immediately we hit a hundred orders of ribs a night.

Doesn’t the Hotel Mead host a lot of meetings and social events, too?
We sure do. In fact, we’re one of the best facilities in the area for corporate and private gatherings, with a Grand Ballroom that divides into three salons, a smaller ballroom and several breakout rooms.

How about the Sunday Champagne brunch?
That’s pretty traditional, actually, but grand. We set up buffet-style with hot and cold dishes, omelets and waffles to order, a carving station with a steamship round of beef, chicken stuffing, mashed potatoes, a different pasta every week, a half-dozen salads and fresh bread. And it’s all for $12.95.

Part of our menu we just can’t change. Historically, we’re pretty much a meat-and-potatoes area.

Now what about Café Mulino? Does Southern Italian food fit the meat-and-potatoes mold?
A few years back there was just one restaurant in the hotel when we decided to divide the space in two and create a Southern Italian concept. One of the driving forces was to lower the check averages for a local clientele.

Since then Café Mulino has been the only authentic Italian restaurant in the area, and that attracts even for the meat-and-potatoes crowd. With an exhibition kitchen and a wood-burning oven, the space is always active and the food is always fresh.

Did you also divide the kitchen in two when the dining rooms separated?
All the food for both the Grand Avenue and the Café Mulino come off one line in back of the exhibition kitchen. But it’s separated. We share one main storage walk-in and some other storage space, and then the prep areas are separate.

Are your cooks cross-trained to work both menus?
With the exception of just a few, almost everyone knows how to work in both kitchens. It’s fun for my staff, I think, and helps to keep them interested and motivated. Most important, that setup gives them an opportunity to grow and learn.

Have you noticed any tangible difference in your turnover rate?
In the past two to three years, turnover among my cooks has dropped to less than 5 percent. And I have to think the structure of the kitchen helps keep them engaged.

What else have you done to motivate your kitchen staff?
I ask the line cooks for input on just about everything we do: menu changes, daily specials, events and general organization. We keep it informal so that whenever they have ideas they come forward. It’s really just a basic "What would you like to do?"

It helps that almost everything is made from scratch. That way cooks have an opportunity to focus on their technique and feel a daily sense of accomplishment.

The result is that they take ownership in their work, in the property and in the customer experience.

So how do you keep yourself motivated?
Well, I’m so busy here that I don’t get out of town too much. So instead I devote about an hour and a half a day on the Web. I check out chef sites and consumer food pages. Then of course I read all the magazines and try to look at cookbooks. So I keep abreast of trends that way.

I am also very active in our local American Culinary Federation chapter. In fact, I’m president this year. Our meetings have become like dining clubs, where each of us hosts a wine-and-food dinner. They are opportunities to really stretch out and try new dishes.

Every quarter we host a wine dinner that’s a little more upscale than what we usually do. Over the years those dinners have grown to about 50 guests.

Both those dinner programs continue to generate more and more interest. Now we even have a big mailing list of people who want to know when the dinners are. I think the events have been a terrific way to educate our clientele and get them to try some new foods.