Fête Catering in Lakewood Ranch has recipe for success

Facing a daunting challenge, Jaymie Klauber offered a silly solution.

She knows the world-class athletes who are participating in the 2017 World Rowing Championships at Nathan Benderson Park must consume at least 6,000 calories a day. The competition runs from Sept. 24-Oct. 1.

"I could feed them danish," she said, laughing. "But you can't."

Klauber's Fête Catering at the Polo Grill and Bar is one of four catering services that have the task of handling meals for the athletes. Fête will feed athletes at five area hotels. 

"We've not done something this long and this big," Klauber said. "This is the most complicated (event) we've done. We will be setting up five kitchens in hotels for two weeks. We will prep the food (at Polo Grill and Bar) but it will be cooked on site."

Klauber said the amount of food they would normally put out for a single person, they will double. 

"I am so excited and ready," she said. "This has been a long time coming."

Fête submitted a request for proposal four and a half years ago to the World Rowing Federation, FISA (Fédération Internationale des Sociétés d’Aviron).

"We wanted local," said Kristen Hartley, the athlete services and volunteer manager for the World Rowing Championships. "We also asked, 'Can they handle the capacity?'"

Hartley said Fête's reputation spoke for itself. "I've eaten at all our caterers," Hartley said, noting the athletes were going to get first-class food.

With the quality of food assured, Hartley said it was a matter of education.

"The meals are pretty much the backbone of the athletic participation," Hartley said, "These are elite athletes and (the caterers) have a certain criteria to meet. FISA presents its guidelines, and a sample menu, which is about 10 pages — best practices for rowing performers."

Hartley said the athletes eat very cleanly with lots of salads, lean meats, proteins, bread and pasta. She emphasized that many of the athletes had quite a different diet, though, because they compete in divisions that are determined by sex or weight.

"It's pretty complex, but the foods are basic," she said.

Klauber is familiar with the athletes dietary needs, but she also wants to give the athletes a culinary thrill when she is able.

"We have Tommy," she said of her husband and chef Tommy Klauber. "There is no way we are going to compromised on quality or taste. We have pride and we want the athletes to say that no where in the world they have been have they had better food. I want our athletes to be bragging about what they had to eat."

Jaymie Klauber said she would speak to representatives from each of the teams she will serve to check for anything special they might desire.

"We have Ireland," Klauber said. "If they want corned beef, they can have it."

Besides Ireland, Klauber knows she will be serving teams from Germany, Lithuania, Austria and Canada. The complete hotel lineup is not yet set.

What is set is the basic menu.

"They eat so much bread you wouldn't believe it," Klauber said. "And so much fruit.

"They eat a whole lot of grains, cold cuts at every meal and lean meat dishes. They want things very plain so we have to dumb down (in terms of sauces)."

Since the meals at the hotels will be spread out over a three-hour window, Klauber said much of the food will not be served buffet style.

"Fresh from oven to plate," she said.

Klauber said she enjoys catering to sporting events and has some smaller scale experience setting up kitchens at Premier Sports Campus at Lakewood Ranch.

"I'm enjoying this," she said. "This is something different and it's made the summer a little more exciting. I'm also incredibly organized. I have a plan."

The Ukraine will be the first team to arrive at Nathan Benderson Park on Sept. 7.  So far, Lithuania is scheduled to be Fête's first team to arrive, on Sept. 13.