By Jessie Fetterling | Prevue Online
Four Seasons officially joined the food truck craze on September 16 with the launch of its first food truck tour. The FS Taste Truck will travel 1,133 miles visiting eight hotels in three states (California, Arizona and New Mexico). Each participating hotel will host the truck for one week in various hot spots throughout the hotel destination. The food truck will showcase the brand’s culinary offerings to the public, proving that the hotel chefs can think outside of the traditional banquet set up.
Because Los Angeles was one of the cities at the forefront of the food truck movement, Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills was a natural fit for the tour, according to Greg Velasquez, the hotel’s director of marketing. The L.A. property already booked the food truck for several corporate events to showcase what the FS Taste Truck can do for the meetings market. The L.A. chefs will focus on ethnic cuisine that reflects Los Angeles. Menu items will include a twist on the Baja taco, fish and chips (one of the L.A. chef’s specialties) and possibly some Indian street food.
“The idea is to take the brand and the Four Seasons food out into the public,” says Velasquez. “They get the experience of our food in different settings and don’t have to come to the Four Seasons to get it.”
The Los Angeles property is especially excited about participating in the food truck tour because several of its clients already requested the concept. Velasquez says that the staff had a food truck idea in the works before it was launched as a corporate initiative, and the hotel plans to offer the food truck option onsite and offsite in 2014.
“The food truck all of a sudden gives meeting planners the option to do meetings in more unique places without worrying about where the food will come from,” says Velasquez.
In Santa Barbara, Calif., the truck will celebrate Oktoberfest. Scheduled to pull up on October 4, the truck will make a stop at Telegraph Brewing Company and offer guests menu items such as pork bratwurst, Polish sausage with sauerkraut, beef goulash, chicken schnitzel and steak frites. The 1927 Ale, brewed at Four Seasons Resort The Biltmore Santa Barbara, will be offered on tap at Telegraph to pair with the food truck fare.
On the last leg of the trip, chefs at Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale at Troon North and Four Seasons Resort Rancho Encantado Santa Fe will creatively spotlight Southwestern cuisine through their use of an area favorite ingredient: the chile pepper. The two chefs will create multiple dishes highlighting the chile pepper, and customers will be allowed to vote on their favorite by posting images on Instagram. The winning dishes will be available on the menu at Terra Bar at the Santa Fe property during the tour’s final week.
To follow the food truck, check out the FS Taste Truck schedule as it visits the following cities throughout the fall:
- Sept. 16-22 – Palo Alto, Calif.
- Sept. 23-29 – San Francisco
- Sept. 30-Oct. 6 – Santa Barbara, Calif.
- Oct. 7-13 – Beverly Hills, Calif.
- Oct. 14-20 – Los Angeles
- Oct. 21-27 – Westlake Village, Calif.
- Oct. 28-Nov. 3 – Scottsdale, Ariz.
- Nov. 4-10 – Santa Fe, N.M.
A portion of the food truck tour proceeds will be donated to Chefs to End Hunger, a charity organization that redistributes excess prepared food from hotels, restaurants and other food service operations and gives it to those in need.
