By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
Feeding the people who surrounded Pope Francis kept a staff of about 40 working virtually fulltime at Culinary Creations in Hillsborough over the weekend.
Andrew Pantano, the proprietor and chef at the restaurant and pastry shop on Route 206, had to call on parttimers and even former employees to help produce and deliver meals for security, motorcade drivers, police and diocesan staffers working to ensure the Catholic pontiff was safe and on time at events across the state.
Mr. Pantano estimated his staff made 1,100 hot meals and 670 box meals for each of the three days, and a total of another 300 three-foot-long sub sandwiches.
That’s a lot of chicken arugula, grilled vegetables and Italian subs.
And then they had to deliver the food to more than 25 events in north Jersey on Thursday and Friday, and places like Camden, Burlington and Bordentown on Saturday and Sunday.
None of the food was for Pope Francis himself. The Pope has his own chef and his security and access is closely guarded, Mr. Pantano said.
Pope Francis was in New York City for two days (he spoke at the United Nations, among other events) before flying to Philadelphia and joining the Festival of Families that concluded with a Sunday Mass that attracted a million people to the Ben Franklin Parkway.
One driver made three round trips to Atlantic City in one day, he said.
Mr. Pantano himself joined the staff whipping up the food in his restaurant for three nights and two 12-hour day shifts, he said. That led to him staying at the store for five days, he said, joining staffers in taking three-hour naps on cots in the office.
He lives in Hillsborough, so he could go home to shower; other employees looking to refresh with a real bed or a hot shower.
Mr. Pantano said he has been called upon to provide food for big events, like Super Bowl XLVIII in 2014 in the Meadowlands, but he’s had nothing on this scale or breadth over days.
“They all wanted to eat at 1 p.m.,” he said. “It took a lot of planning.”
One shift of workers was sent home Sunday so they could open the Route 206 restaurant in Hillsborough as normal on Monday, Mr. Pantano said.
