Marquette will be shown some Detroit themed hospitality this Friday, April 10 at the Motown Gala Banquet. This is the 18th annual community-wide themed banquet, which is put on by the HM-225 Hospitality Management Banquets and Catering class.
The banquet will be held in the Jacobetti Center commons and includes a five course meal with wine pairings. The cost is $75 per person with proceeds from the banquet benefiting the Northern Michigan University International Hospitality Management scholarships, which help students in the hospitality program pay for books, tuition and study abroad.
The menu, décor, service, entertainment and marketing are all planned out and coordinated by the class, said Megan Pryor, banquet manager and junior hospitality major.
“It’s our final exam essentially,” Pryor said. “We have to prepare a banquet almost completely without help from our instructor and make everything go smoothly.”
A reception is scheduled before the dinner from 6 to 7 p.m. with cocktails and music from Sam Graves and Taylor Martin. A silent auction will also be held during the reception.
During the dinner, music will be played by Double Trouble DJs and a single item will be auctioned off. The hospitality management class is auctioning off its services for one personally prepared dinner according to Pryor.
“You could have an entire restaurant staff personally serve you dinner in your own home,” Pryor said. “Sounds like a good deal to me.”
Attendance for the banquet is at 102 out of a max capacity of 125 people, who expect to taste authentic Detroit cuisine. Items to be served will range from house-made all-beef Coney Dogs with chili and a greek salad featuring vinaigrette made with Vernors ginger ale, to a turnip green and bacon stuffed quail with aged cheddar grits.
“We’re trying to get creative with how the food relates to Detroit and give the flavor of Motown in unique ways,” Pryor said.
Motown may be eight hours away, but the food and atmosphere of the banquet should be popular with the Marquette community, said Randle Green, executive chef of the banquet and senior hospitality management major.
“I’ve found that Yooper’s like anything to do with Michigan,” Green said. “This is food I grew up on and I hope we give them a good taste.”
While the event is meant to be held to professional standards, these are still students who still have much to learn, said Deborah Pearce, associate professor of hospitality management and instructor of the banquets and catering class.
“In the first part of the semester, I try to teach them the skills to put on an event of this size,” Pearce said. “If I do that the event will do just fine.”
Community support makes events like this possible and the Marquette community has shown support for the banquet for the last several years, said Pearce. Almost all of the items for the silent auction were donated by the community.
“The community has always shown high expectations for the event,” Pearce said, “but has also been forgiving of mistakes.”
When an event like this is student run, problems can arise, but this year should not be a problem, said Pearce.
“They’re doing very well and seem prepared, Pearce said. “If I can sit down and enjoy a course or a glass of wine and leave the students to their own devices, then they’re doing fine.”
