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Whistler, BC - With 18 on-mountain locations and over two million skiers and riders to feed, Whistler Blackcomb is rolling out a new food and beverage strategy to provide a great quality product at a great value.
"Our first challenge was to hold prices at last year's level while introducing healthy choices," says Lynda Edwards, Director of Food and Beverage for Whistler Blackcomb. "We have the daunting task of moving over one million tonnes of food around to our 18 mountain lodges and huts. Faced with the rising costs of fuel, we had to dig deep into our purchasing and product development to come up with solutions."
"We changed some processes to highlight fresh and healthy options, and developed a few new items to add to this mix," Edwards says.
"We've listened to the comments of our guests and we have made a concerted effort to address what the guest would like to see," Edwards added. "This year, we have the ability to change and develop products that may not work for us."
Some new things to look for while taking a break on the mountains:
New this year, season passholders get 20% off food at the Roundhouse, Glacier Creek and Rendezvous, except from noon to 1:30 pm. Passholders also get 20% off gourmet coffee drinks at any mountain cappuccino bar.
This is a spin-off of the classic Asian rice bowl. "Take hot steamed rice, blend in fried egg and peas, top with either shrimp or chicken, add fresh cut vegetables, and smother it with your choice of sauce," Edwards says.
"We have unveiled a healthy wrap program across the mountains," says Edwards. "We take brown rice, wild rice, chic peas, black beans, kidney beans and corn, bake it all and season with a hint of chili powder and cumin. This filling forms the base for most of our wraps -- it is a healthy option, and it is a grab and go item."
"At the Roundhouse and Glacier Creek, we introduced the 'Expressway' for fresh, quality and healthy choices as fast as possible," Edwards says. "We have added grab and go coolers, and we prepare salads, sandwiches, wraps, soups and pastas more quickly while retaining quality. On opening weekend, we identified that we needed to purchase and install another cash stand to keep up with how fast the kitchen was putting the product out."
The commissary team has added 12 new flavours of muffins including Double Chocolate Raspberry Explosion and Apple Maple Twist. The old faithful English Bay cookie is still on the menu. "Last year we baked over 200,000 cookies, and we expect to match or beat that number this year," says Edwards.
Buy any burger with any size fries, and receive a free soft drink. This deal is available at the Roundhouse, The Rendezvous and Glacier Creek.
This move should increase burger sales, which last year totaled 252,000 burgers.
We have introduced the kid's mini burgers at The Roundhouse, the Rendezvous and Glacier Creek. This meal is two mini burgers, fries and a drink for $4.99. "We think parents will be happy about this," says Edwards. "We have also introduced half portions of pastas, kid's fish and chips at the Roundhouse, and a kids cheese pizza for $3.99. This is a decrease in price from last year, while the portion size remains the same."
"Our guests might notice a 30 cent increase in the price of soup, but we consider this a great value since we've gone from a 10 ounce soup portion to a 12 ounce portion, and we have introduced our fresh baked parmesan focaccia bread stick to accompany this," Edwards says.
26,000 Asian noodle bowls were eaten from the beginning of December to the end of April last year. During the first week of operations at the Roundhouse for 2004/05, more than 1300 Asian noodle bowls and 1129 rice bowls were sold.
Site of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games
Whistler Blackcomb is owned and operated by Intrawest Corporation. Intrawest Corporation (IDR:NYSE; ITW:TSX) is the leading developer and operator of village-centered resorts across North America. The company owns nine mountain resorts, including Whistler Blackcomb, North America's most popular mountain resort. Intrawest also owns Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort in Florida and has a premier vacation ownership business, Club Intrawest. The company has a 45 per cent interest in Alpine Helicopters Ltd., owner of Canadian Mountain Holidays, the largest heli-skiing operation in the world. Intrawest is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia and is located on the World Wide Web at www.intrawest.com.
