When officials at McCormick Place in
Chicago were designing the new West Building, which opened in
August, one of the main objectives was to improve the center’s food
service, says David Causton, general manager of the facility.
That imperative resulted in the
Overlook Cafe, a 600-seat elevated food court at the rear of the
main exhibit hall, positioned to minimize the distance between the
kitchen and the customer and to help drive trade-show foot traffic
to the back of the hall. There’s also a 400-seat food court on the
floor below the exhibit hall, and an adjacent 200-plus-seat,
sit-down restaurant, above, that features high-end seasonal buffets
and drinks.
The additions are part of a larger
F&B transformation at the center. Effective Sept. 1, a new
group, led by Levy Restaurants and Phil Stefani Signature
Restaurants Co., took over the food-service contract. The center
also is mulling a free-standing public market similar to Boston’s
Faneuil Hall, but Causton says a more immediate priority is to
expand the Hyatt hotel.