SCHAUMBURG, Ill.  (Hyde Park Media) - Gardner Stern is leaning up against his makeshift salad bar watching half a dozen Teamsters from Local 714 pile separate mounds of salad -- crab, caesar's, spinach and cucumber -- around their filet mignons.
    "The Teamsters always eat first," he says. "Then the cast and crew. The extras eat last."
    Taking a full look around the room, which up until a few weeks ago was a jeans store franchise, its back wall still lined with mirrored fitting rooms, Stern mutters, "So this is show biz. The glamor, the excitement, the bright lights."
    His use of irony is not without some reason. While the glamor, excitement and lights aren't in evidence, Stern is in show biz--sort of. For the last six years he has provided an essential support service for the casts and crews of television and film production companies on location in Chicago. He feeds them.
    Among the Gardner Stern Co. catering "credits": "Pennies From Heaven"; "Bad Boys"; "The Lost Honor of Katherine Black"; "Streets of Fire"; "The Breakfast Club"; "Knight Rider and Mary."
    His current project: providing two hot meals and assorted snacks to the 100 people necessary for today's shooting of a "MOW as they say in the biz,"  a movie of the week, produced in part by MGM.
    Stern, more concerned with having enough potatoes for the 19-day shoot than its plot, thinks it's about "a woman reporter who works for a large Chicago  newspaper."
    "It started out being called 'Jackie Shew,' but the working title now is 'Our Kind of Town,' " Stern says. "It's a two-hour pilot. The network will decide if it looks good enough to commit to seven more episodes.
    "The lead is played by Shelley Hack. I think she was one of the Charlies'  Angels...That's what they call talent."
    Stern, former president of the Stop and Shop gourmet food chain and past president of Gaper's Catering, says there's only one other Chicago-based firm "capable of serving" the growing number of productions shot here. His main com- petition are the caterers brought in from Los Angeles who service "30 to 40 percent" of all local productions.
    Though he could provide an identical menu for  "$5 to $7"  less a head than a firm needing to travel half-way across country, "price isn't always the factor. Some- times its favoritism, or history. A production company may have a long and suc- cessful relationship with one caterer and use them all the time. There's nothing wrong with that."
    What is bothersome for Stern is "there's no such thing as a contract in this busi- ness. It's all done on a handshake, believe it or not."
    One reason "are the many variables, which may be significant, that a production company can't predict. This job requires flexibility and adaptability to last-minute changes that traditional caterers aren't prepared for.
    "I had guys say they needed to feed 2,000 for a stadium scene, so I got ready. On the morning of the shoot, I was told they could get by with just shooting a section of the stands, so the number dropped to 400. Fortunately I didn't waste much food; I was able to use it the rest of the week."
    Another reason for the lack of a formal contract "is they want the freedom to fire you if they don't like the food, or if they get tired of it and want a different taste. A good caterer though, would get another cook."
    Just like the performances of the stars he serves, in this bit of show biz, Stern says, "you're only as good as your last meal."
    Parked out front of the former jeans store, located in a Schaumburg strip-mall, is Stern's 28-feet-long by 9-feet-wide aluminum clad catering van, one of a fleet of three. Its two ovens, six-burner gas stove, refrigerator, three sinks, warming table, three coffee urns and other assorted kitchen aids can serve 400 meals within 45 minutes.
    If Stern is the producer of this banquet on a bus, Shelly Manchester, the on- board chef, is its director and star.
   "Maybe the tuna comes out of a can, but everything else I make from scratch -- even the sauces," she says. "These people demand high quality, and it's worth it in taste."
    It's 12:30 p.m., and what's left of the Teamsters, those charged with moving equipment as well as the stars around town, have lined up in front of the smoked glass service window to pick their lunch entree of the day: broiled swordfish and cauliflower with swiss cheese sauce, or the filet with cottage fries. To a man, they take the meat.
    While slicing off thick slabs of beef, Manchester discusses the importance of "portion control."
    "I'm serious, if one of these people sits down with a steak a little larger than the others, they'll come back to this window and ask you about it."
    At 1 p.m., a passerby shouts, "It's gonna be 1:30." The cast and crew feeding  has been bumped back 30 minutes; trouble getting the last shot right, surmises the chef. "The director's a real perfectionist."
    "I've prepared a special no-salt diet for him and Shelley Hack -- a skinless chicken breast. You know, when you're on your feet all day, salt's hard on you."
    Manchester, who was trained by an L.A. caterer before joining  Stern two years ago, takes the delay in stride. It's all part of this high-pressure business, she says. "When they do this to you, they still expect the meals to be as fresh as if they were served on time.
    "The meat will be okay; I have a sauce for it. But many fish won't hold. If I were serving shrimp, it'd be ruined. The sword will be okay, though; I cooked it slowly, and it's in a lot of lemon and water."
    At  2 p.m., filming inside the Studebaker Restaurant, a few doors down from today's dining room, has finally come to a halt. The cast and crew begin to arrive truckside and pick their dish.
    The few dozen extras, playing customers or employees in the restaurant scene and who spend most of their 10-hour day waiting between takes, are told by the production manager to line up on the sidewalk and wait some more. All of the cast and crew haven't been served yet.
    Five young women, a couple without coats on, huddle together in line and shift from foot to foot trying to keep warm. Their short waitress costumes don't provide much cover on this 20-degree day.
    "Hell with it," one says, "I'll just eat a salad." Half the line follows her inside.
     While handing a Styrofoam tray through the van's window to a technical crew member, Manchester says she can tell who has been brought in from L.A. and who's local on the first day of any shoot.
    "The California crews ask for the lighter things on the menu -- fish without heavy sauces," she says. "This crew wants meat and potatoes. They're Chicago guys.
   "There's also a big difference in attitude. The ones from L.A. smile. There's so much competition in the industry there, they gotta be nice. Here, there's not a lot of competition -- one big production company. You can get away with being  arrogant.
    "I'm not up here to be abused. The crews often think the caterer is the lowest on the totem pole. They'll run all over you if you let 'em. You do have to set 'em straight sometimes."
    As for the stars she's paid to cater to, Manchester has noticed what a psych- ologist might call "dimorphous behavioral patterns." Simply put, the sexes act dif- ferently.
    "A lot of actresses are into themselves -- they want to look good. They're not  al- ways sure of themselves," says Manchester, measuring her words, offering under- standing. "But let's face it, they can be real bitches."
    Like whom?
    "Marlo Thomas. She's a macrobiotic. You know, a lot of times your diet affects your behavior," Manchester says, again trying to be kind. "All I can say is that she wasn't nice.
    "Maybe it's because I'm a woman the men are nicer. Women treat women differently you know.
    "Men are much more sure of themselves. Very nice, very gracious. Like Richard Gere. I prepared a special vegetarian diet for him, and he took the time to thank me. He didn't have to, it's my job.
    "Eddie Albert is very nice. He's like an old-fashioned grandfather. He'd come  and sit on the truck.
    "Redford is an absolute gem. And Roger Moore was just a dream -- one of the nicest. You know how he talks on the screen; pleasant, gentleman-like? He's like that in real life. Treats everyone kindly, no matter who you are. He had a special diet, too. Ate a lot of fresh fruit, cheese and drank mineral water. He's European and that's how they eat."
    Inside the jeans store, the cast and crew are finishing their main meal of the day. In addition to the 60 breakfast burritos and eight dozen doughnuts served at 6:30 a.m., lunch consisted of 45 pounds of meat, 15 pounds of fish, 40 pounds of potatoes, 30 pounds of vegetables, 7 fresh salads and 4 cream and 4 apple pies. Both meals were chased by 20 gallons of coffee, 120 pints of milk, 4 cases of soda and 4 gallons of juice. The tab: $10.50 a head. If a third meal was requested, "it would be an additional $5 to $10 per person, depending upon what they wanted," Stern says.
    By 3:30 p.m. the cast and crew have gone back to work creating illusions. Man- chester, tilting her chair back against a wall, takes a few minutes to relax. She has been on her feet since 4 a.m.
    "On days we serve three meals, we've got a turn-around time of five hours be- tween clean-up of dinner and the set-up for breakfast." she says. "I put in 106 hours last week."
    "The money's wonderful, but you don't have much of a chance to spend it."
    The next day's shoot, she explains, will be identical to today's; same location, same sequence of scenes, same number to feed, "so we can breathe a little  easier."  With luck, tonight she'll be home early, 7 p.m., but one task remains before her next performance. "Now we go shopping for tomorrow."

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This article first appeared in the Chicago Tribune on March 14, 1986.
© 1986  Hyde Park Media

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