July/August 2007Corporate Beverage Director InterContinental Hotels GroupBy Lucinda Anderson HughesJames Beard awards. DiRoNa accolades. Five star cuisines. These boast of a restaurant’s ability to offer a stellar dining experience but what about all the great liquids paired with that food? At the InterContinental Hotels Group, that responsibility falls in part to Rene Van Camp, Corporate Beverage Director for The Americas. Restaurant Forum caught up with the 30-year-old Van Camp to learn more about him, his views on beverages and his executive office lifestyle.Restaurant Forum: When did you start with the InterContinental Hotels Group?Rene Van Camp: I started as a banquet manager in Paris. The hotel closed for renovations and I was transferred to New York City. I became restaurant manager at the InterContinental Barclay on 48th Street. My second day was September 11th, 2001. I had only seen New York City as a tourist and for the interview. Luckily, I’d seen the Twin Towers.RF: How did you recover from that?RVC: I won a scholarship from a hotel school in Netherlands. I’m a native of Holland. A former professor called and asked if I wanted to participate. I got a full ride on a MBA, so I went for nine months and finished all the classes and exams. Then I returned to New York City. I wrote my thesis in New York after work. Then I was offered to be a part of the opening of the new Atlanta InterContinental in Buckhead. This is the best experience I’ve had so far.RF: What were your original career goals? RVC: I always wanted to be in the hotel business. I wanted to be a chef from very young. I got a Bachelor’s degree in hospitality management. I worked for a hotel and my goal was to become a general manager of a hotel. I went through Food and Beverage departments to accomplish this. Now that I’m in a much more strategic role in corporate, I’m not sure if I want to go back to become a general manager or stay in development. I really enjoy what I’m doing right now.RF: What are the big differences being in corporate versus the hotel staff?RVC: The biggest difference is not having guests and a lot of employees in the corporate office. I’m now in a multi-unit situation. It used to be one hotel and now there are five brands.RF: What are your primary responsibilities?RVC: I deal with the marketing of beverages and provide operational support to the hotels in North America, Middle and South Americas. I come up with corporate strategy to grow revenues and profitability with beverages. I’m responsible for selecting the products that we carry on the wine list across the brands.RF: How many languages do you speak? RVC: Four fluently: Dutch, German, French and English. I also understand Swedish, Danish, Spanish. We sell service. To have a customer express their needs in their own language and the (hospitality) person can understand and reply to their needs, it’s a great thing.RF: How do you attract consumers to the hotel bar?RVC: I asked Francesco Lafranconi, master mixologist and Director of Mixology for Southern Wine and Spirits, to come up with cool cocktails. He came up with everything fresh. This stands out in Boston where bartending is much more traditional. Just like chefs don’t take out powders and mixes, why would we let that happen at the bar? We do it ourselves. The quality is so high, the drinks are so good and the prices are same as everywhere else.Also through concept bars. We have the XO Bar in InterContinental Buckhead, that specializes in XO cognacs with over 96 XOs, it’s the largest selection of XO in the U.S. Sushi Teq in Boston’s InterContinental is a tequila bar that serves fresh sushi over 62 different classifications of tequila exist and we serve them all. In Boston there’s Rumba, serving 75 different rums.RF: Any tips for selling non-alcoholic beverages?RVC: When someone says, “I’ll have water,” detail the preparation of your iced tea. Tell them how it’s prepared by the chef. For water, don’t ask “bottled or tap” they’ll say tap. Instead, approach the table with bottles of sparkling and still and then lots of time they will choose one over tap.