LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — The hustle and bustle of a Keeneland race meet doesn't feel like much at all to Therrien at this point in his career.
He's learned to be calm and cool under pressure.
“I think that’s the calmest I am, when it’s busy. It’s all about prior, proper planning," Therrien said.
"We plan our race meets six months out. Our teams, we sit there religiously every week and go over a discipline. We have our homework assignments. We do this as a team, as a unit, and that’s why I’m still here.”
Therrien has spent nearly a decade as the hospitality manager at Keeneland, a position he credits his Olympic experience for helping him land.
“All these opportunities throughout my career brought me to Keeneland," Therrien said.
"It was the Olympic experience that is why the called me out to interview because Breeder’s Cup, high volume cooking.”
Obviously, most eyes are glued to the TV right now, captivated by the athletes vying for Olympic gold.
However, rarely do the stories of what happens behind the scenes get talked about.
Something Marc Therrien knows all to well.
“I had an opportunity to work for a company in San Diego that had contracts with NBC and affiliates, I become executive chef for that company in 2008," Therrien said.
"That was my first experience with the Olympics and it was scary. I knew I was in the right spot because when you’re scared, you’re learning.”
That fear was understandable when 2010 came along and Therrien was thrust into a lead role for the Vancouver Winter Olympics.
Though his title was executive chef, he had a lot more on his plate than just putting food on others.
“We scouted out over 30 locations for all the different venues. We were feeding the NBC affiliates, all the different country affiliates, the players and their families," Therrien said.
"My job was to help write the menus for all those locations. It’s a long menu process. You’re talking 30-40 days of menus. You have to have something different, breakfast lunch and dinner."
"Takes a lot of logistics. You’re in a different country, can you get the product? Is this what they want. What are their dietary restrictions. What are the country’s restrictions, you have to figure all that out.”
If something broke, Therrien had to figure out how to fix it.
It was problem solving to the nth degree.
Despite all the challenges, Therrien still looks back on that time in Vancouver fondly for everything he learned.
"It made me the chef I am today," Therrien said.
“A chef goes into the business to learn how to cook but the further you go up the ladder, the more skill sets you have to learn. You have to learn how to manage, you have to learn how to lead, you have to learn how to recruit. If you can learn that and learn the skill, then you can do anything.”
