A $450,000 grocery bill
More than 70,000 meals being prepared for athletes, coaches and support staff
The dining hall at the University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI) is busier than usual these days, acting as the athlete’s village for the 2023 Canada Winter Games.
“So, there’s going to be 72,400 meals produced. It might be higher than that,” said Chartwells district manager Derrick Hines, speaking for the company that will oversee food services for the Games.
Hines estimates they will go through about $450,000 worth of groceries, including 2,400 litres of chocolate milk, which executive chef Michael McKinnon recalls being a popular item last time P.E.I. hosted the Canada Games.
“It’s funny, in 2009 I ran the Canada Games here as well. We sold out ADL (milk). ADL did not have any chocolate milk left on the Island,” said McKinnon.
“Six-thousand pounds of local P.E.I. potatoes, 24,000 fresh eggs from the Island here. Beef, 2,500 pounds a week ... chicken, 5,000 pounds (about 2267.96 kg) a week. So, by the time it’s all over that’s a lot of chicken,” he said.
CEO of the Canada Games Host Society Brian McFeely also lists some large numbers.
“About 12,300 muffins ... fruit salad, 425 pounds. We’ll go through 35,000 Gatorades.
... The quantities are massive: 22,000 apples; 22,000 oranges; 15,000 energy bars; just to name a few,” said McFeely, adding there would be 35,000 cups of coffee provided by Robin’s Donuts.
To reduce food waste, organizers partnered with the P.E.I. Food Recovery Network, which will direct any extra food to charities throughout the province.
To feed everyone, Chartwells will try to have meals prepared a day and a half before what McKinnon calls, “go time.”
On one evening alone, they were scheduled to feed about 1,750 people, which required the 630-seat dining hall to be filled three times, said McKinnon.
Of the 1,750 athletes being fed during the first week, 406 of them were registered with allergen awareness requirements. To accommodate this, Chartwells set up a remote kitchen and a dedicated team for specialty diets. They also made lots of trips to the grocery stores.
“We have a driver here, and all he has been doing is going to local stores . ... He went to four Atlantic (Superstores) today just buying gluten-free bread. Yesterday, he was buying gluten-free cereal, so we cleared out Sobeys,” said Hines.
Hines credited UPEI for being a good host after he blew a few electrical breakers by plugging in too many toasters. An electrician had the power back in about 15 minutes.
Outside UPEI, Games participants will be fed onsite at other sporting venues. For example, the Silver Fox Curling Club in Summerside, which will host curling, is providing some meals to hungry athletes and coaches.
“We are fortunate that we have a full-service restaurant in house,” said Silver Fox general manager Michael D’Agostino They had detailed back-andforth conversations with the Canada Games staff who were communicating with team physicians across the provinces, which provided guiltiness on what meals to serve, he said.
D’Agostino also had a warning for the visiting teams.
“Originally my family and I are from Toronto, we’ve been here five-years, and we came on vacation and got hooked ... so these teams coming got to be careful not to fall in love and not go back.”