For someone concerned that one hearty home-made lasagne was insufficient to feed four ravenous roving Otago Daily Times golf reporters earlier this week, it is inconceivable to contemplate the amount of food required to feed guests and the public at The Hills.
For Continental Catering managing director Greg Ward, it's his bread and butter (excuse the pun).
Mr Ward said his company always preferred to use local produce, which included Gibbston Valley cheeses, and specialty breads from Frankton.
"We've always done that. We've been working in the area [the Wakatipu] 15 years or more and we always try very hard [to] source as much as we can locally."
Mr Ward, whose parents established the company 44 years ago, said the first day of an event was always the hardest for the catering team.
"[Yesterday was] the hardest day . . . everyone's finding their feet . . . but once they've got day one under their belts [they're fine].
"It can be an interesting day [but] we're very fortunate to have our key guys here. Our food and beverage [team] and executive chef are really great under pressure.
"We also employ a lot of local staff. We're using the team from SIT.
"They've got their tutor and nine trainee [chefs] - it gives them that whole out-catering experience."
About 35 core staff were brought down from Christchurch for the event, with between 80 and 90 locals onsite every day.
While some staff had staggered start times, others were working 13-hour days, opening the kitchens at 5am and finishing with the final service for the day at 6pm.
Mr Ward said the brief for this year's event had changed from the 2007 tournament, which the company also catered, with less structured food and more demand for platters, which allowed all-day grazing in the corporate areas.
Those in the Championship Club and Players' Lounge would be nibbling on fruit platters, seafood platters and steak sandwich platters.
Continental Catering is also responsible for providing food for the public in Main Street, which Mr Ward said had grown significantly from the 2007 Open.
"There are smaller corporate numbers on the 18th, a lot of those corporates have decided instead to have a presence in Main Street.
"I think it's great given the current economic climate that there's significant growth in Main Street.
"Main Street in 2007 was pretty much the Championship Club at one end and the public at the other end with no food and beverage in the middle."
