Feb. 10, 2003 -- Orlando's first Ritz-Carlton hotel won't settle for an ordinary chef in its main restaurant when it opens this summer. It's going for a celebrity -- a chef who will bring prestige to the property while turning dinner into an event. 

It won't name names until a deal's signed, but spokesman Bruce Seigel said the luxury hotel's goal is a chef who'll create the kind of place travelers will drool over before they leave home. 

"It's a question -- in this market, especially -- of creating new experiences for your guests," he said. 

It also is about staying competitive as Central Florida becomes more upscale. 

Seigel and others in the industry say there's a growing appetite among affluent travelers for serious food -- the kind they see on the Food Network or eat when they're traveling on business and dining on the company's dime. 

So, a small but growing number of high-end hotels are bringing in name chefs, tweaking menus and putting more effort into selling the restaurants they already have in hopes of satisfying that hunger -- and improving their bottom line. 

Disney World's Dolphin hotel, for example, is working out details for a restaurant by Todd English, who operates well-regarded restaurants in the W hotel in New York and the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas. Universal Orlando's Royal Pacific Resort just opened an eatery created by Emeril Lagasse, whose cooking shows made him a household name. 

But celebrity chefs are only one of the ways hotels are trying to improve business at their restaurants. 

Some have branches of well-known chains, such as Shula's steakhouse at the Dolphin and the Palm at Universal's Hard Rock Hotel, or have placed their restaurants in the hands of well-established locals, such as the Embassy Suites downtown, whose Concha Me Crazy is run by former Disney chef Johnny Rivers. 

"Guests are a lot more savvy when it comes to dining," said Franz Kranzfelder, Disney World's manager of creative menu development and culinary standards. 

Several of Disney's restaurants, such as Victoria & Albert's at the Grand Floridian Resort, are considered among the best in the South, but Kranzfelder said an explosion of good restaurants in major cities, including Orlando, has raised expectations even higher -- especially among business travelers, who often eat better than tourists. 

"When you're on an expense account, you tend to spend a bit more money," he said. 

During the past several years, Kranzfelder said, Disney's restaurants have raised standards and tried to diversify their menus. 

"We're definitely paying more attention to the guests," he said. 

Likewise, the Peabody Orlando, across from the Orange County Convention Center on International Drive, has come out with a 12-month culinary calendar, designed to bring its restaurants to the attention of locals. 

Chocolate is featured this month at Dux, while Florida strawberries will be the focus next month at Capriccio. 

"Hotel restaurants really are shaking off that old, staid tag they had," Peabody spokeswoman MaureenBrigid Gonzalez said. "We're not just serving steaks and potatoes anymore." 

But hotels aren't just beefing up their restaurants to appeal more to travelers. With leisure travel slow -- and business travel even slower -- a good restaurant can go a long way toward attracting locals. 

Because the convention crowd accounts for most of its business, the Peabody's restaurants seldom changed their menus, she said, but they're now changing them every two to four weeks. 

Drawing residents during slow times also is the reason the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center in Kissimmee will begin offering Saturday-afternoon cooking demonstrations once a month at Old Hickory Steakhouse. 

Chef Guy Reinbolt's monthly classes will be $40 and include a champagne reception, a cheese course and large portions of three entrees. 

Old Hickory is closed for lunch, even on weekends, so "it's a piece of real estate that's essentially empty," said Keith Salwoski, a Gaylord Palms spokesman. What's more, Chef Guy's classes are "a way to fill in the gaps," when there are no conventions in the 1,400-room hotel, Salwoski said. 

Such strategies can help offset declines in overnight stays, said Robert Mandelbaum, research director for PKF Consulting, a San Francisco-based management firm. 

"It makes you less dependent on the number of guests in your hotel," he said. 

In the first half of 2002, for example, room revenue at full-service hotels in the United States was down 13.5 percent on average from a year earlier, while food sales declined only 9.8 percent, he said. On average, food and beverage accounts for about 29 percent of a full-service hotel's revenue. 

What's striking about the attention some hotels are giving restaurants is that, for years, many considered food and beverage an afterthought, Mandelbaum said. It was "a necessary amenity to get business travelers and conventions," he said. "If food and beverage broke even, that was all a hotel owner could ask for." 

But a serious restaurant -- especially one with a famous chef's name -- can produce serious income. 

"You'll have a restaurant that's producing a couple million dollars a year, and you'll put in one of those [restaurants by a famous chef] . . .and you're doing $5 million in a heartbeat," said William McCreary, general manager of Disney's Swan and Dolphin hotels. 

Todd English -- who in 2001 was named Bon Appetit magazine's Restaurateur of the Year and one of People's 50 most-beautiful people -- hasn't disclosed details about his planned restaurant at the Dolphin, but McCreary said it may replace the space vacated by Juan & Only's and have a seafood theme. 

Michael Sansbury, who oversees Loews Hotels' three properties at Universal Orlando, agreed a famous name can make a world of difference in how well a hotel restaurant performs. 

"It's very difficult for an unknown, stand-alone hotel restaurant to break through the competitive clutter and bring in anything but the captive, stay-in audience," said Sansbury, regional vice president for Loews Hotels, which operates the three hotels at Universal Orlando. 

Restaurants such as the four-diamond Delfino Riviera at Universal's Portofino Bay Hotel do well, "but they don't do the kind of numbers that Emeril's at CityWalk does," Sansbury said. 

Since it opened in 1999, Emeril Lagasse's namesake eatery at Universal's CityWalk has become one of his company's most successful, said Mauicio Andrade, director of operations for Emeril's Homebase, which oversees Lagasse's media and culinary empire. At the CityWalk location, "We're turning down 300 people a day," Andrade said. 

But rather than build another free-standing restaurant in Orlando, Emeril's opened a smaller eatery last month in Loews' 1,000-room Royal Pacific Resort at Universal. 

The advantage of being in a hotel is that "we have sort of a built-in audience," Andrade said. Sixteen of the 160 seats at Emeril's Tchoup Chop are held for hotel guests until 10 a.m. each day, but employees give priority to guests staying at any of Loews' Universal hotels. 

Beth Grant, Loews' food and beverage director, said the advantage to the hotel is that Emeril's name on the restaurant guarantees that people will hear about the hotel. 

Indeed, Lagasse showed how to make Tchoup Chop Shrimp Summer Rolls last month on Good Morning, America, and he's expected to plug the hotel restaurant when he does a week's worth of his Food Network cooking shows from Orlando in October. 

The Dolphin's McCreary said the trend toward name chefs will continue. 

It's too soon to give details, he said, "We're looking at doing more of this kind of stuff." 

But even without name chefs, "there's no doubt that the quality of food and beverage [at full-service hotels] has improved," said Bradford Hudson, an assistant professor in Boston University's school of hospitality administration. 

With hotels trying to improve their bottom lines and chefs of all stripes looking to make names for themselves, "It's really easy to find high-quality chefs in your restaurants," he said. 

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