Summer Games food director has a lot on his plate

Dave Gilbert has a lot of hungry mouths to feed. 

The director of food services for the 2023 Alberta Summer Games, Gilbert and his team are tasked with feeding about 3,000 athletes, coaches and officials over a four-day period, July 20 to 23. From Thursday dinner to Sunday brunch, participants will be shuttled to the Okotoks Curling Club, which has been transformed into the Games’ food centre, for three meals per day. 

“We're in the final stages of reviewing our execution plans,” said Gilbert, whose day job is franchise owner/operator of Okotoks Sobeys. “We've got seating for about 1,250 on the dry pad at the curling rink and working with the transportation portfolio, they'll be able to transport just over 1,000 athletes per hour in and out of that food centre.” 

Sunterra was awarded a contract earlier this year, which means the catering company is responsible for all of the food production, supported by Games officials and volunteers. The Alberta-based caterer has previous Summer Games experience and Gilbert said its extensive menus, which meet all nutritional requirements as well as special dietary needs, submitted back in January were impressive. 

“One of the things that stood out when we were making the decision on the catering contract was in the Sunterra presentation there was one fellow, I think he's the president, who said we want the kids to come away from the Games having had a wonderful time with their competition and their teams and such, but at the end of the day, we want them to say, ‘Man, was the food good,’” he said. 

Feeding 3,000 people for an extended long weekend doesn’t come cheap as Gilbert said food costs are approaching $700,000, making it the largest line item in the Games budget. Officials had been hopeful that donations of food items would help defray those costs, but they haven’t materialized. 

“The way the contract is written is if we did procure those types of donations then we would determine fair market value of what that donation is and it would be deducted from what we pay Sunterra,” said Gilbert. “I honestly thought the food supply community and manufacturers and stuff would have stepped up a little bit more, but I just think that everyone is feeling the pinch.” 

He said the food budget was calculated in the latter stages of recent inflationary pressures, so it hasn’t taken too big a hit, but it’s still significantly higher than it was for the most recent Summer Games. 

Two reefer trailers donated by Bison Transport will be stationed outside the curling rink that Sunterra will fill with vast quantities of ingredients, including an estimated 22,000 eggs, to prepare all the meals. 

Participants will be bussed from the athletes’ villages and sporting venues to the food centre for all their meals, with the exception of Saturday when about 1,000 box lunches will be sent to competition sites for athletes unable to make it to the centre. 

There are countless moving parts involved in feeding so many people, but Gilbert likens it to something he knows all too well — running a grocery store. 

“I've kind of looked at it like the athletes and the coaches and those people are the customers, the team of volunteers, along with Sunterra, are the staff and we're going to make it happen,” he said.