The room service “menu” at The Hazelton Hotel, Toronto, is an attractive black card folder, 8.4 inches high by 11 inches across. It is clearly marked on the front. Inside are, as shown, hard-card sheets, each of which has the names of the hotel’s culinary partner, Mark McEwan, the top hotel chefs and its culinary manager. (Since it opened in 2007, the 77-room independent hotel’s entire F&B operation, including service, is outsourced to a joint venture between the hotel and McEwan).
Room service menu sheets exactly echo the dishes, and prices, of what is offered in the first-floor restaurant, One, though private dining does exact a C$5 delivery charge. Prices are, as in One, supplemented by 17% gratuity charge and local taxes. Sheets are also dated, by season, and times of service are clearly listed.
“Knowing room service comes from our restaurant kitchen, cooked by the same team, definitely encourages business,” says Hani Roustom, the Hazelton’s general manager, adding that this format allows one or more sheets to be replaced as necessary. The hotel typically does at least 250 dinners down in One, plus more than 10 via room service, and over 25 in-room breakfasts.
Roustom appreciates, too, the opportunity to be able to slip a three-fold guest questionnaire form in the room service menu folder.