Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Finally: The Lowdown on the Expo Kitchen

I finally reached Mr. Fantasia on the phone, and it turns out that Mr. Fantasia is actually Ms. Debra Fantasia. For future reference, her number is 617-373-24476, and I believe the extension is 2472. Email is debra.fantasia@compass-usa.com


Ms. Fantasia is open to the idea of cooking classes for local kids and excited about the possibility of big-name chefs coming to teach. She emphasized that it is more complicated than we might think to use the Expo Kitchen; paperwork and legalities regarding food safety and insurance will be hurdles. No outside food is allowed in the kitchen, though I am unclear what exactly that means (does it need to be Chartwells food?).

The chefs that we bring in must have "insurance certificates" otherwise a ServeSafe manager must be present and extra costs will be involved. I am not sure how widespread these insurance certificates are; do most chefs have them or is this a unique certification? This is something we must specifically clarify when communicating with restaurant chefs.

The cost of renting the Exhibition Kitchen for an event is a whopping $275. Since we are hoping to create a series of classes, this cost seems inhibiting. We are going to see if we can reduce the price... perhaps big-name chefs, media attention and the non-profit aspect of our work will help.

I'll be emailing Debra (Ms. Fantasia) with more details regarding our project.

Email Information and Questions:

Detailed information on our project: Who, When, How

The specific insurance certificate needed?
Since we can't bring in outside food, extra costs of food provided by Expo?

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