Chef Thais Rodriguez, the Director of Culinary Operations & Development for Marriott’s Caribbean and Latin America Region, shares her thoughts on Marriott’s latest General Manager’s Conference with Amy Myers, Craster COO.

In November 2022, the JW Marriott Cancun Resort & Spa hosted the Marriott CALA Owner, Franchisee and General Manager Conference, an expansive hospitality event with 20 Food and Beverage events across five days with Craster products featuring as a part of the incredible setups. Chef Thais candidly recollects working with the incredible JW & Marriott teams, the event’s focus on sustainable practices and adopting technology in hospitality.

What makes the JW Marriott in Cancun the perfect place to hold an event like this?

The JW Marriott is connected to the Marriott Cancun. Being able to have the space to not only accommodate the attendees, but to also spread out the activations so that it doesn’t feel crowded, was important. The JW Marriott and Marriott Cancun are pros in organizing large events, they do this on a daily basis while the hotel is at full occupancy. So, it was a no-brainer to host this GMs conference there. Additionally, it was an important comeback of the conference post-pandemic and working with the property teams who understood our expectations and how to execute them was a huge help. 

How did the team at the JW contribute to the design, creation and delivery of the event?

We, the F&B CLS CALA team, created the mood board per event which showed the ideation and thought process of each activation. We then met with the JW Cancun team both in person and over calls to review the details of menu, space design, set up, color scheme, lighting, etc. Being in constant communication and updating each other on the latest was crucial to the success of the conference.

Is there anything in particular regarding the team at the property or the property itself you would want to highlight?

The JW & Marriott Cancun teams are incredible. What they pull off on a daily basis with the amount of guests and events that take place on those two properties is immaculate and overwhelming. Even while planning this conference with us, they were fully occupied within their hotels, but the beauty of working with such a team is that they understand the guests’ needs and throughout everything they have happening, they still manage to exceed them, even while 450+ of our hotel general managers and owners are walking through their hotel. It was really amazing to watch them work and both sides learn from each other. It is what made the JW & Marriott Cancun properties the ideal meeting point for our post pandemic reunion of our CALA family.

Catering for 500 people over five days and across 20 F&B sessions sounds daunting – and even more so when those 500 people are your colleagues. How do you prepare for an event this size?

A lot of planning and communication with those involved behind the scenes. Our director of meetings and events already had her team organized to divide and conquer well before the event dates. Our food and beverage task force were involved in calls prior to the conference to ensure alignment with the F&B team on property. We were having weekly meetings with the property teams and going through the details and crossing things off the list.

The mood board was created for event guidance and we worked with that as a base to bring the event to life and reach out to sponsors to show the vision and see if they wanted to be a part of it. The beauty of this particular conference is that we were able to showcase the work we have been doing for our All Inclusive hotels by bringing it to life through some of the activations and sponsored products, which was a highlight.

The concepts you and your team created were very inspiring. What message were you were hoping to impart to the CALA attendees through this work?

Thank you, we have an incredible region and there is so much great work being done by our hotels and their teams. Our focus for this conference was to really speak to the innovative and exciting projects that we have been working on that are geared to elevate our F&B reputation and placing a spotlight and focus on sustainable practices throughout, geared towards our MI Serve360 2025 goals. That included the elimination of single use plastic, food waste reduction, sustainable product sourcing, supporting local women-owned businesses, and the use of cage-free eggs throughout the conference to name a few.

Another focus of this conference was technology and, as one of the largest hotel companies in the world, how we use and continue to adapt to the unique technology innovations that the world is exposed to and that our consumers are using or experiencing. The immersive gala dinner experience spoke volumes on this and really tied in the narrative we were communicating throughout the conference in one dinner. The live environment of projections and animations enfolded our attendees with music, sounds, and stories; it was pretty powerful.

 Innovation is core to your plating and creations. How important is unique display product to you when you are hosting an event like this?

Innovation is what we all strive for in our hotels, its an evolving trend to keep up with. We do not have the time to explain every thought process to each individual when it comes to a new product or creation, so we have to be creative and find ways to tell the story visually and in a way that allows the guest to interact and share. When thinking about displays, plating, and product presentation, we need to think: “when the guest takes out their phone to snap an image of what they are seeing or experiencing, what is that image saying and is it saying enough”.

That was the same thought process we worked through with our team and the JW Marriott Cancun Team: are the attendees who are taking these images of the space, design, décor, set up, plating, signage, etc., is this powerful enough for them to take back to their properties to replicate and develop in their own style according to the hotel brand they represent. Our sponsors throughout the event really helped us providing us products we can work with in more than one way and we got pretty creative with that. Showing how to use one product in a variety of ways throughout different activations is not only cost effective, but sprouts creativity, excitement, and endless flexibility.

Craster attended the Marriott conference in Cancun and were incredibly impressed with the amazingly creative displays delivered using Craster products. We truly appreciate Thais’ time and her thoughts on bringing this impressive undertaking to life.

Amy Myers interviewed Chef Thais in January 2023.