Kurt Schwartz is the manager of the Hong Kong Jockey Club's racecourse catering service. The Swiss national joined the club 12 years ago, having worked as F&B manager for the New World Group and the first phase of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.
A racecourse is not the first place one would expect to find a food expert - what brings you here? The interesting part is it's very diversified. We do big events and small events. As well as the 78 race meetings a year we do non-race day events such as weddings, Lunar New Year and National Day, but the top event is the International Race Day.
What are the biggest challenges you face on International Race Day?
Good planning is the most important thing. Staffing is also very important. We are serving close to 7,000 people so we need to make sure we've got enough people from our large pool of part-time staff. We need to plan very carefully and escalate from other days to almost double the capacity because every seat will be taken on that day. Another important thing is that on Saturday evening, by the time we leave to go home, everything is in place.
How do you unwind after the excitement? At the end of the day we usually have a drink with everybody - the service staff, the kitchen staff, the back of the house, all the staff from the catering side.
We need to give recognition at the end of the day for a job well done.
