ecent diet trends have left many hotel chefs and F&B directors wondering where their time, effort, and marketing dollars disappeared to after promoting a faddish menu.

When Hyatt Hotels & Resorts decided to add the Stay Fit Cuisine element to their current Stay Fit program of exercise and fitness for guests, quick-fix solutions were not on the list.

“I think many in the hospitality industry over the last couple of years gravitated to the diet du jour. Whether it was South Beach or Atkins or whatever. We really just want to give people balance and healthy options,” says Paul Daly, associate VP, food and beverage, Hyatt Hotels & Resorts.

BACK TO BASICS
Without a fad diet to replicate, Hyatt’s culinary team was free to create meals they felt addressed basic ideas of nutritious cooking:

• Fresh, locally grown ingredients purchased from regional vendors.

• A balance of vegetables, proteins, grains, fats, and fruits.

• Variety and choice for the guest.

“It feels like real food, versus being structured in a box with what you can eat, at what time, and at what volume,” says Susan Terry, director of culinary operations, Hyatt Hotels & Resorts. “One thing this is not is a diet.”

“We tried to avoid clichés. We really wanted to create food that’s tasty and very nourishing,” says Achim Lenders, assistant VP and corporate chef, Hyatt Hotels & Resorts.

KEEP IT SIMPLE
The Stay Fit Cuisine recipe database currently has 31 items from which every Hyatt hotel in North America will select a minimum of four to add to their lunch, dinner, and room service menus.

“They’re not over-engineered. You don’t have to have 25 items on the plate to make it interesting. You might have four or five, but the quality is fantastic,” Terry says.

There are currently nine appetizers, nineteen entrées, and three desserts. They include:

• Avocado and tomato salad with red onion, bell peppers, and cumin dressing.

• Roasted pumpkin soup with chipotle yogurt and pepino seeds.

• Arugula, Bosc pear, and Reggiano salad with lemon dressing.

• Grilled monkfish with zucchini, roasted shallots, and tomato-olive relish.

• Grilled sage chicken breast with mixed grains, rice, and aromatic herb jus.

• Sesame seared scallops with roasted eggplant puree, cucumber and daikon sprouts.

• Banana tasting trio of caramel brownie, banana soy shake, and key lime mousse.

Eventually, Hyatt will allow individual properties to submit their own Stay Fit recipes for consideration to be added to the database.

“We tried to look at dishes that we feel our chefs can replicate. We have the attitude that this is a thing that will evolve. We don’t want it to be written in stone,” Lenders says.

TAKING TIME
Hyatt didn’t roll out the cuisine element of Stay Fit until nearly a year after it rolled out the exercise portion of it. Lenders says he and his team worked on it during that time to give it a solid foundation.

“We wanted to be sure which direction we wanted to go, and I think that we really spent a lot of time educating ourselves. I think it’s easy to go out and say, ‘we don’t have trans fats on the menu,’ and call it healthy,” Lenders says.

GOOD FOR GUESTS
Whether a guest is on vacation or traveling on business, chances are they’ve had several days of eating low-nutrition meals away from home. Those at Hyatt say that’s where Stay Fit provides a critical option.

“Travel is fatiguing on you as an individual. We want to deliver good food and great taste that the nutrition-conscious traveler would enjoy without having to sacrifice their own personal style relating to diet and nutrition,” says Matt Adams, VP and managing director, Grand Hyatt New York.

“We’re allowing the customers to make their own decisions. We’re providing them with items that they can feel good about ordering and eating,” Terry says.

LASTING CONCEPT
Hyatt is targeting Stay Fit Cuisine as a building block for future culinary programs.

“Our ultimate goal is that’s the way we cook [nutritiously], period. Whether it’s for banquets, whether it’s in our catering facilities, it doesn’t matter,” says Lenders. “We want to use this as a vehicle to change the way we cook on every level.”