Eat to the Beat provided corporate hospitality for the sponsors, press and VIP guests at the start and finish of the race each day. During this period, two teams, one for the 'start' locations and one for the 'finish' locations, the 56 staff prepared and served over 70,000 items of food to more than 9,300 guests in 10 cities at 13 separate events.
Logistically this was a challenging project which involved liaising with different suppliers in each city from San Francisco on day one to Redondo Beach in Los Angeles at the end of the race on day eight. Everything had to be packed up each day and the entire hospitality area moved to the next location. The 'start' team received 3.30am alarm calls each day and it was usually 7.30pm before the 'finish' team began the drive to their next location.
Local support for the event was huge and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger presented awards to the leading riders at the conclusion of the first day of the competition. During the race, more than 1.3 million spectators lined the route and cheered home California-based Floyd Landis as he was crowned the overall winner of this spectacular event.
(Lee Baldock)
