On a hill overlooking the Hudson River and Tappan Zee Bridge, Tarrytown House Estate and Conference Center on East Sunnyside Road offers corporate clients amenities beyond fancy meeting spaces. The nearly 50-year-old conference center that touts a mansion on its site keeps up with the latest trends by launching several cooking competitions that draw ideas from popular culinary television programs such as “Iron Chef.”
In these cooking competitions, corporate clients become the chefs. They wear hats, put on aprons and roll up their sleeves as they prepare to create a meal that will blow away two chefs who serve as judges throughout the friendly competition.
Each company can customize their conference package to include a cooking or drink-making competition. Tarrytown House offers culinary activities for both small and large corporations ranging upward of more than 200 people. Two of the most popular activities include the Iron Chef and Restaurant Wars competitions. These activities coincide with the companies”™ lunch and dinner meetings and costs about 10 to 30 percent more than the basic meeting package.
Jamieson Asselta, Tarrytown House”™s director of sales, said the conference center has hosted more than 80 culinary activities this year, up from 60 last year and 30 in 2011. Since 2010, there has been a 30 percent increase in participation in these events among corporations in Westchester, New York City and Fairfield County.
“The nature of our business is providing team-building events for Fortune 500 companies every week,” Asselta said. “There are educational and business meetings held here, and these cooking activities build constant camaraderie.”
More corporate clients have been taking advantage of these new activities over the past four years, Asselta said. Last year, the conference center had three companies with group sizes of more than 200 participate. This year, two groups of over 200 people are scheduled to participate in Tarrytown House”™s chef activities in September and November. For confidentiality reasons, Asselta said he can”™t disclose any names of the participating companies.
Over the past four years, Tarrytown House has built relationships with corporations in the pharmaceutical and technology sectors, among others. Last year, financial companies began participating in these culinary events for the first time.
“We”™ve had 15 to 20 financial companies participate within the past year,” Asselta said. “Just a few years ago, the financial sector wasn”™t spending money ”“ any money ”“ on these activities at our conference center.”
Executive Chef Chris Hettinger, a 16-year veteran at Tarrytown House, has been in charge of running the chef events when they first launched in 2009. He said he worked his way up from a breakfast cook to an executive chef, and he has seen how culinary events provide a common ground for all people despite their cooking abilities.
“Chefs are the new rock stars,” Hettinger said. “Once Food Network hit the air everyone became a foodie. Even if you don”™t watch these shows, you”™re interested in what you”™re eating.”
In 2009, Tarrytown House launched its version of Iron Chef. The competition involves business leaders splitting up into teams, preparing their own meals based on the ingredients listed and presenting their finished dishes in front of a panel of chefs who taste their entrees.
“The winner got a prize during dessert,” Hettinger said. “Some groups get competitive and try to sabotage other groups, and now with technology in play, people look up recipes on their smartphones to create an appetizing dish.”
In 2011, Tarrytown House introduced the Restaurant Wars competition for larger corporate groups, in which the clients are given a specific cuisine for the menu and the team members build a menu based on that theme. He added that part of engaging in these friendly competitions is to stimulate creativity and encourage members to contribute by coming up with a restaurant name and slogan.
New this year, the chefs at Tarrytown House rolled out an activity called “The Study of ”¦,” which showcases one specific ingredient on the menu every quarter. All teams must use that item to create a complete dish. Hettinger said this quarter”™s ingredient is duck, and he has seen people create dishes ranging from duck ravioli to duck breast.
As Tarrytown House celebrates its 50th year, the conference center expects to expand its business clientele even more. Not only is Tarrytown House inviting corporations to build team unity at its conference site, but the center gets involved in the community as well.
“Last year, we did an Evening in Good Taste and worked with the Westchester Food Bank,” Hettinger said. “We get all our managers together, package food and work in the soup kitchens. This is our version of a team-building activity.”
