Experiences to Remember
In his 10 years with Universal Studios Hollywood, Kopelow has centralized the park’s food operations and worked to improve the quality and variety of food served.

His efforts routinely pay off; just last autumn, the park’s International Café won a Santé Magazine award for innovation and achievement. The menu sports such items as a shrimp Cobb and Greek salad, a grilled-vegetable sandwich with Gorgonzola, a turkey sandwich with Muenster and arugula, a roast-beef sandwich with Brie and roasted pears, and a Caprese-style plate featuring heirloom tomatoes with mozzarella and basil. Last month, Kopelow added gourmet soups to the menu, including a roasted parsnip and artichoke. This isn’t your father’s theme-park food.

Located adjacent to the park’s “Streets of the World” film locations, which recreate European streets and plazas, The International Café offers indoor and al fresco seating for 190. The recent honor for the café—which provides guests with healthy food choices in a casual, unhurried, European bistro-style setting (yet manages up to 1,000 covers on a busy day)—is significant considering it’s been operating less than a year.

Don’t get Kopelow started on why he insists on marinating as much as 5 tons of raw chicken for distribution to as many as 150 outlets (which include mobile food carts) throughout the park. Or hot dogs in beer, or sliced vegetables slated for grilled sandwiches in herby olive oil. Wouldn’t convenience product be easier?

Sure, if Kopelow were about easy. But he’s about quality. “We don’t serve fast food, but we serve good food as fast as we can,” he says. And, certainly, convenience product has its place.

In the simplest of terms, despite that the 48,000-square-foot central kitchen located on the back lot behind Universal’s City Walk goes through 500 gallons of clam chowder every four days, 300 gallons of salad dressing a week and 750,000 pounds of watermelons a year, it’s a point of pride with Kopelow to claim that as much as possible of the park’s food is cooked from scratch, including all breads and pastries. Granted, french fries sell by the truckload daily, and he’s not making his cooks slice russets into batonnets. Nor are patties for the 10,000 burgers sold on a typical summer day formed by hand. But rest assured that each burger is received fresh, not frozen, and that it consists of 80/20 Angus.

Universal Studios Hollywood is a theme park, and no one is so foolhardy to suggest that people visit the park for its food. But food is a crucial element of guests’ interaction with the park. “People come here for a day of fantasy, and to forget about their worries and bills and their love lives,” Kopelow says. “We bring things to life for them, so we might as well give them the best experience we can.”

Worth His Salt
Because Kopelow’s job is to help guests realize their expectations of joy, there’s not a single ball cap or bandanna on the head of anyone behind a stove in any of the park’s kitchens. Culinary personnel wear toques. After all, Kopelow says, he takes pride in his profession, and the distinguishing headgear of every chef of yore worth his salt was the toque. Universal’s cooks are worth their salt. Their collective talent is particularly evident with catered events serving up to 50,000 in partnership with Wolfgang Puck Catering.

With a decade at Universal Studios Hollywood under his belt, Kopelow has witnessed a gradual change among his guests’ food preferences. Most are celebrating, after all, so caution (a.k.a. diet) is cast to the winds for a day. “We strive to give guests plenty of options,” he says.

Guests with special-diet needs have increased, so certain outlets cater to such. Generally, too, a “better for you” demand has resulted in new eateries like The International Café. “‘Fresh’ drives a lot of what we put on the menu,” Kopelow says. “More people are looking for lighter, less-adulterated fare. They don’t want a chicken to look like a pork chop or have 800 ingredients mixed into it. Our philosophy is, if it goes on the plate, there needs to be a reason. Like a rosemary sprig as garnish. If you can’t eat it, what’s the use?”

Kopelow is an avid volunteer for organizations such as United Way, Dream Halloween to support finding a cure for kids with HIV, North Hollywood Family Shelter and the Hollywood Gay and Lesbian Homeless Shelter. He also hosts private in-home dinners to benefit various charities through his “Buy a Chef” program. Universal Studios Hollywood’s philanthropic division, Discover A Star Foundation, is committed to helping the local community by providing grants to deserving organizations whose initiatives target children’s health and well-being and homeless intervention.

With such a big job, where does he find the time?

“You find time because you want to,” Kopelow says. “I’ve been very fortunate in my endeavors, and as you get older, you kind of feel that the world has taken care of you, and now it’s time for you to do your part—however miniscule it may be—to give back. How can you not find time? My family supports me. I work long hours, but the money isn’t the reward. Seeing people happy is the reward.”