PDA Q&A: The E-Interview

DB: WHERE ARE YOU?
SL: I’m in Paris for the Summer Olympics.
DB: WHAT’S GOING ON?
SL: I’m the executive chef for USA Basketball, (and) I oversee all of the food programs for the women’s national team, the men’s national team, and both the women’s and men’s three-on-three basketball teams. There’s also the Nike group.
DB: ARE THERE MEAL PLANS?
SL: We make sure the food selections are what (is) expected by the players. Overall, it averages five meal packages a day. There can be breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, snacks in between, and meals to go for players on their way to practice or a shoot-around.
DB: HOW DID YOU START?
SL: In 2008, through relationships with NBA players who ate at my restaurant, Loving Spoonful (in Farmington Hills). I had the restaurant from 2001 to 2007.
DB: ARE YOU MAKING ANY SPECIFIC FOODS?
SL: We follow everyone’s diets, of course. There’s nothing special — just healthy, wholesome food. One player may like to eat a certain pasta at a certain time of the day, and they may like different fruits before or after their pasta. There’s so many things that go into it.
DB: HOW MANY PEOPLE DO YOU FEED DAILY?
SL: It works out to 300 to 325 people, which includes the players, their families, the coaching staffs, the training staffs, and the agents. What makes it challenging is we’re cooking from two different Marriott properties, one in Paris and one in Lille. There are six to eight chefs working each day, spread out with different schedules.
DB: WHAT DRIVES YOU?
SL: I love challenges. The volume of this project is no different than what I have going on at the DAC. But here there are language barriers, along with traveling between two hotels. Overall, it’s very rewarding.
— R.J. King