In Stockholm, it was black sesame, wasabi, white chocolate or gluten-free coconut almond dark chocolate cookies that signaled Beyoncé’s dancers, crew and roadies that Grant Bird was back.
Mr. Byrd is an English pastry chef and one of 14 culinary experts on Beyoncé’s current Renaissance World Tour, including a vegan chef and 3 vegan chefs exclusively for Queen B and her entourage. We also employ a personal chef.
After contracting COVID-19 during rehearsals in Paris, Byrd had to take a week off, leaving two substitute chefs to serve desserts for a crew of 400-600. By then, the crew was accustomed to his sumptuous dessert offering of a dozen different desserts for both lunch and dinner. A simplified sweets menu spoke for his absence.
So when the crew saw his signature hundreds of cookies again, they knew he was back. “It was lunch and the whole dining room applauded,” said Byrd, who has cooked for Carrie Underwood, Justin Bieber and Mötley Crue. “They just thought, ‘He must be back,’ because they knew from the style.”
Beyoncé is one of the biggest stars in the world, sure, but a trip with executive chefs is more than just an impromptu affair. Many touring artists now travel with a few professional cooks, not to mention an entire mobile kitchen, for efficiency, health and morale.
While there are peculiarities such as Van Halen Bans Brown M&Ms has become a familiar lore, but the cancellation of concerts due to the Covid-19 pandemic prompted an industry-wide reset focused on wellness. For example, many tours are now accompanied by vegan chefs who focus on physical and mental wellbeing as well as reducing their environmental impact.
“Back in the early 80’s and 90’s, it was more like a party with cocaine and whatever they wanted. And now it’s just a business,” said longtime Linkin Park chef Gray Laurin, who has also cooked for Prince, Madonna and Tori Amos on tour. “We have one job to do, and that job is to get that talent on stage. Make sure the show runs flawlessly. And we do it again the next day.”
Joking about the 2014 tour with Linkin Park and Thirty Seconds to Mars, he added: carnivore tourHowever, 14 of the 16 people we cooked were vegan. ”
Veteran tour manager James Digby, fresh off the European leg of Avril Lavigne’s tour, is no stranger to such demands.
“You can’t cater for non-vegetarian meals on Paul McCartney tours. It’s a challenge because most roadies I know are carnivores,” said Digby. “If an artist is going to change the world by saying that everyone is vegetarian, tour after tour, my job is to reflect that.”
Regardless of cooking, the demand for production will be great. Industry standards for large tours call for four meals on prep and show days: breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a post-concert meal, often eaten on the bus.
“The troops march on their stomachs, so you have to feed them,” Digby said. By military he meant bands, backing singers and dancers, stage builders, pyrotechnicians, security guards, managers, bus drivers, and everyone else involved in the high-stakes business of live entertainment. was
A recent Lizzo show at the Acrysure Arena in Palm Desert, Calif. featured a juice station with baskets of vegetables ready to go in the blender for lunch. There were corn dogs, fried chicken sandwiches, and plant-based Impossible sliders, as well as couscous, squash, carrots, and cookies.
All cooked in Arena’s kitchen. Usually Latitude 45is a company in charge of cooking work for vegan artists. special tourcook in elaborate mobile kitchens that are packed into purpose-built flight cases and reassembled for each new city.
According to company owner Chris Mitchell, the bespoke kitchen, which includes cabinets, shelving, ovens and workstations, maximizes space and efficiency while providing the elusive “same feeling” on the road. It is said that it is made in
“Everything has a place, and we return to the same place every day,” he said. “If someone in the kitchen needs a stainless steel bowl, you can barely look and say, ‘Would you like his third bowl in the stack over there?’
HSG cateringthe Chicago-based company currently Eric’s Church Tour, We use a 53 foot mobile kitchen with a walk-in freezer, walk-in cooler, and 80 gallon water heater. The unit is also equipped with a meat smoker, a wood-burning grill, a convection oven, and a machine that “he can sous vide 300 steaks at a time,” said HSG president Bob Schneberger. rice field.
Chefs sometimes accompany artists in private jets and armored vehicles with police escorts, but when cooking or baking on the street, they make do with generators in fields or parking lots. I sometimes cook in the kitchen.
Mitchell said the job requires a certain type of person who likes to troubleshoot and be constantly on the move and can endure sleeping in a tour bus for months at a time. This situation fosters a kind of fraternity, with many chefs proudly wearing his T-shirt from previous tours.
There’s also the high-stakes Royal Culinary Tester aspect to this gig.
“A single case of food poisoning will cancel the show for at least 48 hours,” Digby said. As shows get bigger and ticket prices get more and more expensive, an incident like this could put millions of dollars at risk.
One thing that may not change much over time is the likes and dislikes of artists who certainly have their own unique likes and dislikes.
“Gene Simmons liked the turkey sandwich with lettuce, tomato and pickles,” said Rollin, who cooked for Kiss’ bassist in 2008 and 2009. ever. ” Jared Leto wants to eat organic purple popcorn at every meal.
When traveling, it can be difficult to get the food you want. Digby said the box was sent to England in the 1990s because Marilyn Manson claimed Kraft Mac & Cheese. “Guess what? Kraft makes a range of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese for UK consumers.”
Byrd, who cooked for the K-pop group Blackpink in Chicago last summer, said the band brought in another truck just to carry their favorite brand of instant noodles. Like other caterers who have handled K-pop tours, Bird has always impressed with the focus on culinary operations, including the Korean buffet. “They have so many different food stations and stuff. I’ve never seen anything like this before,” he said.
As for Beyoncé, Mr. Byrd sent a fruit platter and cookies to her dressing room. And while she couldn’t say for sure what the pop star’s favorite is, she said, “As far as I know, the one that’s been eaten the most is the Reese’s Cup cookie.” This is Mr. Bird’s specialty. A vanilla base with Belgian milk chocolate and Reese’s peanut butter cup pieces folded all over.
Mr. Byrd was thrilled to see his name in the magazine as well as the high demand for his confections. Online credits for the Renaissance Tour.
“At the end of the show, they usually honor lighting, staging, and people who are closer to them,” said Byrd, who is currently on tour. Country singer Sam Hunt. “But they never say they are traveling with our catering.”
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