[Take a sneak peek at how luxurious MBS' suites are below!]
Do you know that over 6 tonnes (6000 kg) of food are prepared each day at the Marina Bay Sands (MBS)? And nearly 3 tonnes of it are used to feed its 9000-plus staff members?
That was one of numerous trivia facts InCinemas learnt as we were invited by The Biography Channel for an exclusive media tour of MBS' 'Heart of House' - an underground labyrinth of common walkways and narrow pathways for the staff to get from one part of MBS to the other - all this without being seen by hotel guests! It is such a huge place that anyone would get lost on their first day of work!
At the start of the tour, we had to walk through a door (near the Bayfront MRT station exit) that leads directly to the 'Heart of House'. Like the entrance/exit gantries at MRT stations, MBS staff have to tap their cards to enter.
After that, the staff would key in a personal code in a machine, and in less than a minute, a set of personalized uniform appears. They then collect the washed and ironed uniform to the changing room where they get changed and ready for work!
[Photo Credit: Marina Bay Sands]
Imagine there are more than 9,000 staff members working in MBS, and there are 3 sets of uniform for each team member... This means there are nearly 20,000 sets of uniform that would undergo some kind of cleaning, ironing, and even tailoring at some point in time.
All this in arguably the largest closet in Singapore that houses thousands of uniforms, arranged by design (there are 150 different types of MBS' uniforms!) in tens of conveyor belts. So when team members come to work in the morning (or afternoon or night), all they need is to press some numbers, and lo and behold, the conveyer belt brings them their personal set of uniform!
[Photo Credit: Marina Bay Sands]
Next, we went to see how food is prepared on a daily basis at MBS' kitchens (there are 43 of them!) that are connected by a series of secret passageways with no dead ends! Executive Chef Christopher Christie led us the way as we enter a large freezer that stores poultry. We came out on the other end to see two cooks cutting lamb into hundreds of slices. We moved ahead to see more cooks stewing, frying, steaming all sorts of meat products.
We left the meat section, and entered many other sections such as one that does pastry. The chefs were kind enough to let us have a taste of mouthwatering mini chocolate burgers and cookies!
[Image of Executive Chef Christopher Christie]
[Photo Credit: Marina Bay Sands]
We witnessed hundreds of members of Christie's culinary team going about their daily routines like clockwork. Everyone was so precise and efficient. Some kitchens even do food production 24/7, with their workers taking shifts. That's how they are able to churn out almost 6 tonnes of food every single day for both MBS' staff and hotel guests!
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Our final stop of the tour is the 'Team Member Dining Room' - a 750-seater dining area for MBS staff to have their breakfast, lunch, and dinner buffets! We had our lunch there, and it was a sumptuous meal. The variety and quality of food was astounding, as good as any served in a 5-star hotel. There are Western, Chinese, and Muslim cuisine to choose from. And that's what MBS' staff eat every day, and what's more incredible is that they don't eat the same food every day - the menu always changes!
Click the link below to find out more about Marina Bay Sands 24/7, an 8-episode television series airing on The Biography Channel (StarHub TV Channel 404) on 31 May.
It doesn't end here... prior to the tour, we had the chance to take a sneak peek at one of MBS' most luxurious suites - the Straits Suites. Located on the 50th level, we had a panoramic view of Singapore's city skyline, and had the chance to see how impressive the suite is.
Here are some sneak peeks!
And did we mention that there is a grand piano in every of this suite?!