Need Foie Gras for 20? Try Glorious Foods
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The New York social season is in full tempest, and at the epicenter stands Sean Driscoll, president and co-owner of Glorious Foods.
As partygoers primp and starve and nap to prepare for Opening Night at the ballet, museum fund-raisers, and endless other celebrations, Mr. Driscoll is behind the scenes. His job? To deliver memorable, smooth-as-silk events and make it look easy.
Whether serving caviar pie to 500 diners on the promenade of the State Theater or preparing foie gras for 20 in a Park Avenue apartment, New York’s foremost society caterer is without peer. Mr. Driscoll helps to plan the menus, hire the help, and make the evening, well, glorious.
At the heart of his success has been a long list of social contacts, a gracious, confidant manner, and his ability to organize a professional and reliable staff.
This is not easy. Glorious Foods employs three individuals charged exclusively with booking waiters – often hundreds per day. The company conducts lengthy training seminars for their staff, and prefers to hire young men and women with no prior experience, since breaking bad habits (such as opening a wine bottle inexpertly) is hard to do.
The company has about 500 waiters on call at any one time; they train perhaps 270 new ones a year. There are, also, a few long-term professionals on the payroll.
Where do they come from? As suspected, a great many are actors, musicians, and artists who are making ends meet. Mr. Driscoll has a deep-seated affection for this group since he, too, started out in the arts.
As a student at Emerson College, he most likely never envisioned providing dinner for hundreds of people night after night. Instead, he aspired to acting and directing. After a short stint in an off-Broadway play and in TV production, Mr. Driscoll headed for the advertising world, the corporate haven for the art-inspired. Happily for New York socialites, he was fired by Grey Advertising, blamed for a lost account, and shortly thereafter teamed up with a friend to provide catering. Glorious Foods got under way in earnest in the mid-1970s when he was joined by Jean-Claude Nedelec, the current co-owner and chef.
The timing was fortuitous. The food world was in nouvelle revolt, challenging the catering status quo. At the same time, nonprofits were beginning to exploit the gala concept to market and fund their programs.
From his advertising days, Mr. Driscoll had numerous contacts in the arts and fashion worlds, which helped put Glorious on the map. Still, today, his firm is the first choice for a number of big-time fashion events, such as the recent opening of a new Oscar de la Renta store on Madison Avenue.
About 85% of Glorious Food’s revenues, which will total about $12 million this year, come from fashion, nonprofit, and corporate occasions, for which the company is renowned. The balance is provided by a long list of society hostesses who wouldn’t dream of entertaining without Mr. Driscoll’s help. What is his secret?
It’s not as though he can cook. On the rare occasions that he has a night off, and there’s nothing in the Glorious Food kitchens to tempt him, Mr. Driscoll is known to resort to that last-ditch convenience so revered by New Yorkers – takeout.
But – he does like to eat. What is his favorite Glorious Food? His menu of choice is potato pancakes with caviar and creme fraiche, followed by “Grandma’s chicken,” glazed with a light mustard sauce, served with fresh vegetables. Dessert? Bien sur! His favorite is baked Alaska.
His frantic pace no doubt helps him maintain a svelte figure. This month and next are especially fraught, thanks partly to the re-opening of the Museum of Modern Art and, of course, the holidays. On a single night, December 18, Glorious Foods will be working at nine different events.
Business is good, but not as strong as it was before September 11, 2001. Though the number of events hasn’t dropped much, the attendance at most galas is down. Also, the sponsors are trying to save much-needed money. American caviar has replaced imported; no more need be said.
There are still some huge events, such as the Robin Hood Foundation’s annual fund-raiser in the spring. The evening, which is held, perforce, at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, draw more than 3,600 people, requiring about 750 wait staff. Few caterers could organize such an operation.
Mr. Driscoll is nostalgic about some of the extraordinary events he has managed. Probably the most challenging logistically was feeding the crowd that attended the rededication of the Statue of Liberty in 1986. Among the 3,500 guests were President Reagan and his wife, as well as French President Mitterand. Not only did Glorious Foods provide the dinner, but they served brunch the next day as well.
Such affairs take their toll, especially if something goes wrong. Mr. Driscoll remembers an evening at the White House in 1978, when the staff had forgotten to bring the Grand Marnier, essential to the apricot mousse.
Armed with a limo hijacked from the parking lot, and a driver who knew his way around the seamier sections of Washington, D.C., Mr. Driscoll finally found a liquor store still open. Unfortunately, the clerk had never heard of the exotic aperitif; Mr. Driscoll had to rummage through the back room on his hands and knees to find the coveted ingredient, but finally arrived back in the kitchen in the nick of time.
Mr. Driscoll’s talent for organizing such events is such that he has been asked to speak to museums across the country interested in hosting successful fund-raisers. He has also been asked to do events outside of New York.
For a large society wedding in Florida a little over a year ago, Glorious Foods flew its entire staff down south on Jet Blue, and followed up with three trucks containing every ingredient needed for several days of entertaining.
As he approaches retirement age, Mr. Driscoll is giving some thought to cutting back on his personal involvement with the company. The prospect will likely have Park Avenue hostesses shaking in their Jimmy Choos. Not to worry. Mr. Driscoll is intent on developing a succession plan that will allow his company to carry on.
But…can it be as Glorious?
Ms. Peek is a former managing director of Wertheim Schroder, now a part of Citigroup.