Presidio Foods Team Welcomes Concierges with Culinary Tour
- by Guest
The Presidio Foods team knows that strengthening relationships within a community is one of the most important aspects of building a positive reputation for a restaurant. Or in this case, a group of restaurants — The Commissary, Arguello, and Transit, which along with a catering arm are operated in partnership with The Presidio Trust and Chef Traci Des Jardins — in the Presidio of San Francisco. To cement their ties with local hotels, the Bon Appétit team decided to host a special event in the Presidio just for concierges.
Margaritas and the famous guacamole at Arguello
The team hand-delivered invitations to concierges at 44 hotels all around San Francisco and Marin County that host guests similar to those who typically visit the Commissary and Arguello. The invitations included not only information about the event, but also a fun map of the Presidio itself, highlighting the Presidio Foods locations along with many of the noteworthy sites that might draw out-of-towners to come visit the historic national park, such as the Visitor Center, the Officers’ Club, and the Andy Goldsworthy art installations. Guests were invited to enjoy Presidio Foods’ multiple restaurant and café locations and the beautiful Presidio setting.
The night began at Mexican restaurant Arguello, where guests sampled some of Chef de Cuisine Jose Alvarez’s favorite bites and sipped a selection of Arguello’s special margaritas. Bar Manager Andi Miller offered a taste from Arguello’s menu of nine different artfully prepared margaritas, while explaining that Arguello offers more than 120 different tequilas and mezcals, creating the opportunity for guests to build their own special cocktails.
From Arguello, guests were escorted across the Presidio’s Main Lawn to the Visitor Center, where they were given a full background of the Presidio’s military history and how it has evolved into the beautiful San Francisco destination it is today. Guests then got a tour of the brand-new hotel, the Presidio Lodge, which had its grand opening only a few months earlier and has since proven to be another wonderful addition to the Presidio’s Main Post.
Finally, guests were escorted to The Commissary, a Spanish fine-dining restaurant boasting a warm and spacious main dining room as well as a unique exhibition kitchen, where the concierges ended the night with wine and dessert. They were sent on their way with a gift bag containing treats and gifts from each of the locations that they had visited that night.
Overall, the night was a great success. “We accomplished our goal of networking with the Marin and San Francisco communities and were very pleased with the feedback we received from our guests. We have since seen a noticeable increase in the amount of reservations coming in from participating hotels,” said Bon Appétit Director of Operations Stacy Peoples.
Submitted by Shayna Lee, Presidio Foods Administrative Assistant