Chocolates à la Carte

New York Marriot Marquis Hotel Strives to Make Each Banquet Memroable

The impressive 1,877 room New York Marriott Marquis Hotel, located in the heart of Manhattan's theater district, specializes in producing banquets on a grand scales. It features 100,000 square feet of banquet space and can accommodate up to 2,500 people for cocktail receptions or 2,000 people for plated banquet service.

"Our goal is to create a banquet for 1,000 or 2,000 with the same high quality food and service that a restaurant would provide for a small party," says Joseph Cozza, executive director&& of catering. " We strive to make each banquet unique and memorable for our clients and their guests."

Cozza and his catering staff have found that the dessert course in a banquet offers a great opportunity to impress the guest. "With desserts we can take more liberty in creating something personalized for the specific event that will 'WOW' the guest and create a lasting positive memory of the experience," states Cozza

One way in which the hotel makes a statement with desserts is by using designs from Chocolate à la Carte. " We use a large assortment of their products in a variety of ways," says Cozza. " For theme parties, we use chocolate figures that tie-in with the theme of the event. It it is a business affair, we may use a personalized chocolate figure with the logo of the company sponsoring the event. Or, we have developed a signature dish that is on our banquet menus which features a chocolate nest that we fill with ice cream, sorbet or other fillings that our talented pastry department creates. This has proven so popular, we now carry three sizes of the nests so that we have more flexibility in selling this dessert."

Since the hotel is on Broadway, theater themes are requested on a regular basis. For one party, a chocolate piano from chocolates à la Carte was filled fresh raspberries and white chocolate mousse with a raspberry sauce coating the plate. This creation was such a big hit that the hotel now offers it on a regular basis. For certain annual awards ceremonies conducted at the hotel, like the Heisman Trophy presentation dinner and the Baseball Assistance Team Gala, the costumized desserts have become part of the event tradition. Cozza believes that taking the time to personalize the dessert course adds a special touch to the events and positively conveys to the guest that an extra effort was made to make the event special. Plus, from a business point of view, it offers an opportunity to increase the revenue for the event. In some cases, the catering sales staff will upgrade the dessert course as an incentive to finalize a banquet deal.

Another way in which the hotel utilizes designs by Chocolates à la Carte are as show pieces on buffets or to add a something extra to coffee breaks during business meetings. " Many times we will surprise our clients by adding chocolate figures that were not part of the original package. For example, during the December holidays we will sometimes dress a buffet with chocolate Santas, snowmen and other fun figures. It adds a nice touch and it shows that we take the extra step to make any event special," says Cozza.

The hotel's catering and the pastry departments work closely together to create unique desserts that are not only impessive but are also practical and can be produced and served in large numbers.

Cozza believes that his use of Chocolate à la Carte products adds an extra flair to his banquet dessert selection and contributes to the huge success of his catering department.