Katherine Paynter Putnam: Austin, unlimited

At a Glance

Katherine Paynter Putnam
General Manager (Levy Restaurants)
Austin Convention Center and Palmer Events Center
Austin, Texas

9 - Years Paynter Putnam has worked at the Austin Convention Center

35,000 - Daily meals served during South by Southwest

80–100 - Staff members

Accomplishments

As musicians, tastemakers and “cool kids” descend on Austin, Texas, every March for the South by Southwest Conferences & Festivals, the Austin Convention Center morphs into a cultural playground. Ballrooms become music venues, and the staff of foodservice provider Levy Restaurants hustles to create nearly 35,000 daily meals, from catering items served in temporary greenrooms to grab-and-go options for amped-up attendees.

At the helm is Katherine Paynter Putnam, general manager for Levy Restaurants at the Austin Convention Center. While some may stress out in the face of such chaos, Paynter Putnam embraces it. “This has been my longest stint,” she says. “This building and facility keeps me on my toes, which is why I’ve been here for nine years.”

As an Austin native, Paynter Putnam takes pride in showcasing her city’s culinary offerings to visitors by highlighting local flavors. “Patrons that are visiting us don’t always get to fully experience Austin,” she says. “So the goal is to help them gain that experience inside [the convention center].”

Keeping it local

When Paynter Putnam first came to the Austin Convention Center in 2006 as a director of operations with Aramark (Levy Restaurants became the foodservice contractor for the convention center in 2012), the facility’s most prominent subcontractor was Pizza Hut. She saw an opportunity to set the facility apart and support local businesses by creating partnerships with Austin-area vendors and restaurants.

“A big part of me wanted to exit the national, corporate brands and bring in the local brands to help bring that ‘keep Austin weird’ taste, flavor and experience,” she says, invoking the city’s slogan. Currently Paynter Putnum is partnering with 10 local restaurant concepts. The shift has helped grow retail sales; she anticipates a 48 percent bump in retail sales from fiscal year 2014 to 2015.

When seeking out local restaurants to partner with, Paynter Putnam aims to cultivate restaurants that cannot only meet high-volume demands but also have developed a strong reputation within Austin’s culinary scene. “Our patrons, if they are foodies, they are researching where they are going to eat before they even step off the plane,” she says. “So any way that we can incorporate some of those offerings as an easier find for them is very important.”

She always is looking to add to her subcontractor roster, which currently includes Chi’lantro BBQ (a funky Korean-barbecue-inspired concept with two locations and a food truck), Hat Creek Burger Co. (a truck turned brick and mortar spot with four locations in Texas) and Amy’s Ice Creams (a three-unit shop with 350 rotating flavors).

To find the perfect partners, Paynter Putnam and her team scout events such as Trailer Food Tuesdays to sample dishes and meet with food-truck operators. When vendors catch her attention, she gauges their ability to handle large-volume orders. “It really comes down to talking with the owners and seeing if they are willing to expand on their current business model and if they are able to,” she says.

In addition to bringing in independent operators, the convention center works with area vendors to procure local ingredients for catering menus. Among the most popular items—more than 90 percent of which are produced in-house—are street-style tacos, smoked meats and Tex-Mex.

Catering to casual

As SXSW has grown beyond a music festival to include panels on technology, media and food (it recently expanded its SouthBites food-truck event to include a three-day speaker program), so has Paynter Putnam’s involvement. 

As its largest annual retail event, Paynter Putnam sees SXSW as an opportunity to showcase the convention center’s offerings by setting up portable concession stands inside the facility. Although retail transactions only account for
12 percent of total sales throughout the year, the grab-and-go options, such as flatbread sandwiches and individual cobbler desserts, help to keep SXSW attendees on premise, she says.

To minimize patrons’ wait times, Paynter Putnam and her team review the conference center’s layout to determine a setup that allows more people to be served at once.

To further a hip, local aesthetic, stands are decorated to resemble, say, a southwestern barbecue joint—as was the case with Arno’s BBQ, an in-house concept. “We designed our stands to look  local and not so institutional,” she says. “People were asking where can we get Arno’s outside of the convention center because they thought it was a subcontractor [instead of] an in-house concept we created.”

Carrying through that relaxed vibe in catering uniforms—staff don bandannas and rolled-up shirtsleeves for more casual events—has kept the convention center’s culture uniquely local. “The custom events that we do here are just a lot of fun, and I think [Paynter Putnum is] always looking for something different,” says Brad Kelly, executive chef for Levy Restaurants.

He says one of her standout qualities is her attention to detail, a characteristic that played an integral role in leading the staff through the transition from Aramark to Levy three years ago. “If she wasn’t able to answer the questions, she would actively seek out answers to get us to where we needed to be to transition properly,” he says.

Cafes without borders

While the convention center has plenty of places for visitors congregate, there isn’t a designated space for meeting up one-on-one. Paynter Putnam, along with Levy Restaurants, is changing that with plans to create a portable cafe in the conference center’s first-level atrium.

The space, which could start being installed later this year, will feature cold-brewed coffee on-tap, pastries and sandwiches. And it will be designed with portable floors and walls that can be moved or removed to open up the space if needed, leaving a “ceiling” that also functions as a stand-alone art installation. “We’re really looking forward to seeing it through,” Paynter Putnam says.