Gay Nagle Myers
Understanding the needs of one niche market in particular prompted Palladium Hotels & Resorts to get creative with its cuisine.
The company, which currently has 14 all-inclusive Grand Palladium Resorts & Spas in Mexico’s Riviera Nayarit and the Riviera Maya as well as in the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Spain and Brazil, recently expanded its menu service to cater to individuals with food allergies.
“Dining is an important aspect of vacationing. We feel that vacations need to be relaxing in every aspect and a time for families to share new experiences together, especially at meals,” said Felipe Martinez, director of operations, Americas.
“We have established a program that allows our guests, especially the little ones, with dietary restrictions to dine with their friends and family and experience gourmet cuisine that caters to their special needs,” he said.
The program starts in the kitchen, where chefs and the food prep staff have been professionally trained in the preparation of dishes for gluten-free and Type 2 diabetes diets and seven other common allergy/special diets: nuts; fruits and vegetables; seafood; egg; dairy and lactose; fish; and monosodium glutamate.
“The chefs collaborate with professional dieticians and create allergy-compliant recipes so they can offer guests an array of gourmet options,” Martinez said.
Guests identify their food allergy at check-in and are given a color-coded bilingual card to show to waiters.
Also, selections from the buffet and a la carte menus are labeled with color codes that match the bilingual card.
“Having the legwork done and dealing with a culinary team who understand is a true vacation,” he said.
For details, visit www.palladiumhotelgroup.com.