News

PRESS RELEASE

January 21, 2009

As featured on Breakfast Television, Feb.4, 2009

Bringing Companies Around the Kitchen Table

 

January 13, 2009 TORONTO, ON: Had enough of the ‘Amazing Race’ and ‘Survivor’ style corporate retreats that have employees running madly all over the city in a futile attempt to find certain landmarks?  The International Centre is taking team building off the streets, off the island, and into the kitchen. Sticking to the motto ‘those who cook together stay together’, the International Centre wants companies to put their teams to the test á la Iron Chef.

 

Led by the International Centre’s Executive Chef Joe Levesque, employees will experience a half-day journey through the brand new eco-friendly 8,000 sq ft kitchen at the International Centre (not Hell’s Kitchen).  Featuring cook offs, haute cuisine and customized chef jackets, this event is all about fun as well as accomplishment.

 

“It takes just as much teamwork to create a great meal as it does to solve a puzzle or complete an obstacle course,” says Trevor Lui, Director, Food and Beverage.  “Imagine spending the day cooking, creating and laughing with your colleagues; then sitting down in our new state-of-the-art kitchen, or at our Chef’s Table, to share the meal together.  We believe activities like this bring people closer.”

 

The team building program is available for groups of eight to twenty and can be interactive and instructional or an outright competition.  All groups will have the opportunity to enjoy their creations in a special dining area within the kitchen.  This provides guests with a behind-the-scenes look at how Executive Chef Joe Levesque and his talented team prepare and serve up to 2,500 customers at a time. The experience is like a private culinary theatre allowing guests to be immersed in the excitement of the process going on around them.

 

Corporate team building opportunities are now available through the Food and Beverage Department at the facility.  The International Centre is the new destination for corporate retreats, conferences and fine dining, where haute cuisine and camaraderie go hand in hand. 

 

About the International Centre

 

Since opening in 1972, the International Centre has steadily grown to over 10 times its original size, consistently satisfying the needs of an exploding population base and the growing influx of Canadian and multi-national corporations in the surrounding area.  The new Conference Centre expansion opened in late September 2008, and is expected to boost annual foot traffic for the International Centre’s trade and consumer shows to 2.25 million people, an impressive 12.5% increase over their current annual attendance.

 

The International Centre is the leading trade and consumer show venue in North America, and one of Canada’s largest privately owned multi-purpose conference facilities. The Centre boasts 37 years of success hosting trade and consumer shows; the mainstay of its business.  Located at 6900 Airport Road, offering free parking for as many as 5,000 vehicles, and surrounded by more than 10,000 hotel rooms, the International Centre is easily accessible from any point in the Greater Toronto Area and especially for business travelers who arrive at Pearson International Airport, just minutes away. The International Centre is truly ‘at the Centre of great events’.

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For more information and for facility photos:

 

Stacie Smith

Public Relations

416-910-8112 or stacie@smithcommunications.ca

 

Leslie Bruce

Director of Sales
International Centre

905-677-6131 x. 106 or lbruce@internationalcentre.com