John Haywood, executive chef for Elior North America’s new Landmark Experiences, as well as Design Cuisine, is right at home producing spectacular F&B programs for high-profile events such as the U.S. presidential inaugural and Super Bowl.
A key player in Elior North America Dining & Events’ new Landmark Experiences team, Haywood knows how to go big with style, elegance and flair delivered on scale.
“I came to Design Cuisine almost 16 years ago, and it was to bring restaurant-quality food to the masses,” Haywood said. “So, if you think about making a sauce, and you make a sauce for 10 people and it’s awesome, now you’ve got to times that by 1,000. It’s like a big dance. It’s like a big show.”
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This F&B show business has been going great for Landmark Experiences, which launched in July to capitalize on Elior’s reputation for large events such as the aforementioned Super Bowl and presidential inaugural, and is led by Miami-based Nicole Hernandez. Recent events have included Miami Grand Prix (2,000-plus VIPs), Preakness Stakes (10,000 guests) and Washington, D.C.’s Mubadala Citi Open (50,000-plus guests).
Have a high-profile event that will draw tens of thousands discerning diners? Landmark Experiences can do that—with aplomb.
The new initiative enlists Elior North America’s five major “sister” sub-brands: Constellation Culinary Group, Abigail Kirsch, Design Cuisine, Corporate Chefs and Lancer Hospitality.
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“Collectively, we’ve probably got 100 years of experience,” Haywood said of the Landmark Experiences leadership team. “The last one I just did, which was the Citi Open, was just shy of 80,000 people in nine days. We worked with 12 different vendors onsite. As far as their own restaurants that were there—we managed them, we supported them—we had seven restaurants and also had our own, and then we had all the suites as well. There’s so much information shared between all of us.”
Haywood said Landmark Experiences can draw from 200 chefs from around the U.S., if needed, and operate onsite anywhere.
Group Dining Trends
Haywood offered up a number of trends informing group catering experiences.
“We seem to be moving away from the plated dinner—the stuffiness,” he said. “People are wanting food stations, and multiple ones. Not just four or five in one room; they’re going half a dozen to a dozen. And it’s very across the board when it comes to food, from a tomahawk station to sushi. It’s food stations rather than a formal sit-down dinner.”
Other options Landmark Experiences offers include a “restaurant village” with a wide variety of culinary styles, such as Indian street food, with the Landmark team often traveling to the destination early to get a handle on local cuisine trends and offerings.
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Dramatic Beginnings
Hailing from Sheffield, England, Haywood hasn’t always directed such grandiose culinary experiences, having started out pursuing a career as a dramatic actor—financed by a part-time job in a kitchen.
“I guess about a year later it was like that was the drama,” he remembered. “It was high-octane. It was a lot of adrenaline. It was the crazy times and that sucked me in.”
Haywood said that once he decided on a culinary career path, he sort of “chased the jobs that had the Michelin Stars and had all the glamour going with it.” He eventually landed at a hotel in Wales operated by clothing group Laura Ashley, which then led to him coming to the U.S. to work in two hotels the company was opening.
“It was, like, the rock ’n’ roll lifestyle,” he remembered. “Some days, there was a few hours of sleep and then other days it was too much sleep. And then I came here. I knew Shannon [Shaffer] at the time, who was the chef, who’s now Elior’s [mid-Atlantic] vice president of operations.
“So, I said, ‘I’ll stay for a year; I’ll give you a hand,’” he continued. “And 16 years later, I’m still here.”
When asked about any catering drama he’s experienced when staging large events, Haywood singled out the 2025 U.S. presidential inaugural, which featured multiple layers of security that posed major logistics challenges and a wind chill of 14 degrees F by noon.
“I remember being in the tent,” he said. “We had a dinner for 2,000—beef Wellington—and we nailed it. But it was so cold outside—how are we going to keep this hot? We had those [chafing dishes] on the tables and you could see your breath. It’s snowing. It’s like this picturesque postcard and then there’s this mayhem going on behind. [But] everything just fell into place perfectly.”
In the end, the high-octane drama of the kitchen—and especially on such a big stage as Landmark Experiences—seems the perfect role to quench Haywood’s thirst for a career in drama.
“It’s strange how it goes full circle,” he said.
John Haywood's Cheese Puffs Recipe
Yield: 40 pieces
Ingredients
- 8 oz. finely grated parmesan, chopped into small pieces
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- 1 cup cream cheese
- 2 tbsp. minced shallots, lightly sautéed
- To taste: cayenne
- 10 slices fine white sandwich bread, cut 1¾ inch round
Instructions
- Mix grated cheese, mayonnaise, cream cheese, shallot and cayenne.
- Cut out four rounds from each bread slice, using a cutter, 1¾ inch in diameter.
- Arrange on baking sheet.
- Bake rounds until tops are crisp and just golden. (Three to four minutes).
- Cool toast slightly on baking sheet on a rack. Leave oven on.
- Top each toast with 1.5 tsp. cheese mixture, spreading edge with small off sespatula or knife. Bake rounds until topping is puffed and golden brown, about 5 to 6 minutes.
