Delaware North Parks & Resorts Joins New National Park Service Concessions Program

Healthy and Sustainable Food Program rolls out June 5 in Washington, D.C.

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Jun 05, 2013, 02:11 ET

WASHINGTON, June 5, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Delaware North Parks & Resorts announces its partnership with National Park Service (NPS) in implementing the new Healthy and Sustainable Food Program for concessionaires. Delaware North Parks & Resorts President Rick Abramson and chefs from Shenandoah National Park will participate in the program's announcement event and sign on as a participating concessions provider June 5 at the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

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Delaware North is a global leader in hospitality and food service. It is concessionaire for several national parks including Yosemite, Yellowstone and Shenandoah.

Executive chef at Skyland Resort Steven Sterritt and Executive Chef for Big Meadows Lodge and Big Meadows Wayside Steven Caldwell will participate in the event by creating and serving a number of healthy menu options featured in Delaware North-operated restaurants.

Invited dignitaries include Secretary Sally Jewell, NPS Director Jonathan B. Jarvis, Executive Director of Let's Move! and White House Senior Policy Advisor on Nutrition Sam Kass, in addition to industry association representatives, school groups, military veteran families and other government representatives. The event is open to the public.

"Delaware North Companies has been a leader in sustainable and healthy cuisine and farm-to-table dining for nearly a decade now," said Abramson. "We are proud to work with other concession providers on bringing even more healthy options into our national parks as part of this new initiative. I know our chefs are excited to continue to bring new and healthy tastes to the millions of visitors who come to these special places each year."

Delaware North's initiatives are part of its Culinary Wellbeing program. Developed by a team of international chefs in 2008, Delaware North's Culinary Wellbeing program formalizes the company's commitment to serving healthy foods while encouraging outdoor activities.

Examples include:

Sourcing 90 percent of all menu items within 200 miles at Shenandoah National Park
Offering a selection more than 1,800 organic or natural food choices in the grocery department at Grand Canyon National Park.
Over a decade of experience in developing relationships with local farms for organic produce in Yosemite National Park.
At Gideon Putnam Resort, the chef actively cultivates community relationships, including a variety of local farmers and producers. He also works with the Saratoga City School District in creating healthy student meals under the "Chefs Move to Schools" program.

The new program is part of NPS's broader Healthy Parks Healthy People Initiative and an extension of White House's "Let's Move" program. Six Delaware North Companies chefs attended First Lady Michelle Obama's "Chefs Move to Schools" program launch in 2010. Delaware North's culinary council continues to work with White House's "Chefs Move to Schools" program by finding appropriate linkages for the company's chefs with local schools across the country.

Delaware North's theme for the event is Grow Healthy. The hospitality company's chefs will serve foods that are fresh, local and sustainable. The recipe for the black bean slider will be printed on green lettuce seed paper and distributed to guests to encourage them to start vegetable gardens. All food left over from the event will be donated to a local food bank.

Many of the ingredients in today's offerings were sourced locally from Miller Farms Market in Locust Grove, Virginia, a family operation that utilizes natural and sustainable farming practices.

Menu items will be grilled and include:

An open faced Maryland crab cake slider served with locally-sourced garlic-chive and grilled lemon
- Dipping sauces: Dijon mustard aioli, tomato horseradish radish sauce
Vegan black bean burger
- Sweet onion relish, roasted garlic aioli, slow roasted tomato, local watercress

Accompanying Sides:

Fresh vegetable chips in a basket
Marinated and grilled summer vegetables from Miller's Farms
Local strawberries served with sour cream and brown sugar

Editor's note: photos and additional facts are available.

About Delaware North Companies Parks & Resorts

Delaware North Companies Parks & Resorts is an industry leader, providing Stewardship and Hospitality in Special Places^SM with hotel, retail, food service, recreation and transportation operations at historic and scenic properties in North America and Australia. The company operates Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida; in Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Sequoia, Olympic (Kalaloch Lodge), Shenandoah and Yosemite national parks, including The Ahwahnee and other Yosemite lodges; The Lodge at Geneva-on-the-Lake in Ohio; Harrison Hot Springs Resort & Spa in British Columbia; Gideon Putnam Resort in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.; and in Niagara Falls State Park. The company also owns and operates Tenaya Lodge at Yosemite; the Park Gate Lodges at Yellowstone, which are the West Yellowstone Holiday Inn, Gray Wolf Inn and Suites and Yellowstone Park Hotel, all in West Yellowstone, Mont.; and five luxury resorts in Australia: Lizard Island Resort, Heron Island Resort, Wilson Island Resort, Kings Canyon Resort and El Questro Homestead and Wilderness Park. To learn more about Delaware North Companies' hospitality management expertise, visit http://www.delawarenorth.com/parks-and-resorts-home.aspx.