Camelback's food and beverage offerings distinguish themselves through their variety and by being freshly made.

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William-Allen Co. Inc. Pocono Produce Co. Island Oasis Campbell USA Marlen Research Corp.

The secret to Camelback Mountain Resort’s success is simple, according to Director of Food and Beverage Scott Lumsden – it gives people what they want.

“Everybody that comes here has fun,” he says. “You never see anyone here with a frown.” And what’s more, he says, is that the resort is able to do this whether the summer sun is shining or the winter snow is falling.

As one of the top ski resorts in the Pocono Mountains, Camelback’s 33 trails make it a prime destination for more than 800,000 guests each year from Philadelphia, New York, New Jersey and the rest of the country.

However, just because the snow begins to melt doesn’t mean the crowds melt away, too. Camelbeach Water Park features towering water slides, pools and other aquatic attractions that keep visitors coming no matter the season.

“We’re in a unique situation, we are right on the edge of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, we are an hour and 20 minutes from Manhattan and an hour and 20 minutes from downtown Philadelphia, so we really draw from both areas,” Lumsden says.

All of the skiing, snowboarding, swimming and sliding going on at Camelback is bound to work up an appetite and thirst, and Lumsden says the resort’s food and beverage operations play a vital role in making sure all of its guests are fully satisfied with their experience.

He says the resort takes great pride in doing things the right way, even if that means taking extra time or spending a bit more than similar foodservice operations.

Expansion and Enhancements
Camelback celebrated its 45th anniversary this year; it was originally started by local businessmen who purchased the property near a state park.

The resort was originally known as Big Pocono Ski Area. Nearly three years ago, the original owners sold the resort to a new consortium of investors.

Lumsden says the new blood has brought an attitude of expansion and enhancement to Camelback. With new additions to the ski resort and the water park underway in 2008, Lumsden says the food and beverage side of the resort is working to meet the demands of this expansion.

Specifically, the resort is finding creative solutions to the challenges of seasonal staffing and expanding its foodservice options along with the resort.

Seasonal Options
Camelback’s food and beverage offerings distinguish themselves through their variety and by being freshly made. Lumsden says that although many resorts take shortcuts and rely on prepackaged or processed food to save time and money, Camelback wants its guests to remember the food as a part of the full vacation experience, not just a quick meal between activities.

“We take a lot of pride in not using a lot of pre-made stuff,” Lumsden says. “We make a lot of things from scratch.”

This includes the resort’s soups and chili, which are made daily in 50-gallon steam kettles. Although pressure steamers are used to reheat soups, guests can be sure that their soup wasn’t sitting in a refrigerator for days before it was served.

The dining options at Camelback are varied, and not just in terms of the menu items. “They’re very different between summer and winter,” Lumsden says. “In the winter, we have several different lodges.”

During the winter season, guests at Camelback have a number of options to choose from once they come in from the cold. For example, the Glen Lodge serves smokehouse chicken, while Cameltop is a gourmet deli. The Eastside Bistro serves individual pizzas and hand-tossed salads made to order. The Hearth is Camelback’s cigar and sports bar, serving up traditional sports bar favorites such as chicken wings, quesadillas and nachos.

When Camelbeach opens for business during the summer, the options are still just as diverse and palate-pleasing, Lumsden says. Guests can still ride the lift to the top of the mountain to the Mountain Top Malt Shop, which serves ice cream and milkshakes. The Barefoot Grill serves up burgers, hot dogs, salads, chicken fingers and ice cream just a few steps away from some of the water park’s biggest attractions.

Mr. Crabby’s Boardwalk BBQ features ribs, hoagies and barbecue chicken as well as fried shrimp and crab cakes. Guests can also partake of a local specialty at Kahuna Cheesesteak or grab a snack from one of the many snack stands serving pretzels, churros, popcorn, cotton candy and more. An outdoor tiki bar provides those looking for something to beat the heat with options such as wine, beer and frozen drinks.

Cultural Exchange
Because Camelback is open during the summer and winter, finding enough workers to keep operations running can be difficult, Lumsden says. However, Camelback has begun looking in some unusual places for eager young help to bolster the local labor pool. “Being that it’s a seasonal business, staffing is always hard,” Lumsden says.

Human Resources Director Sherry Rex says that while the resort depends a lot on local high school and college students, the area has attracted a lot of new businesses without the labor pool expanding. “We were all fighting for the same amount of people,” she says. Because there were fewer available students in the area to go around, the resort began having trouble filling positions for both seasons. 

Luckily for Camelback, a number of international agencies contacted it through trade shows and introduced the possibility of hiring foreign exchange students. Lumsden says the program has been a success so far for Camelback.

“Starting this past summer, we had our first group of exchange students from Russia, we had five of them, and then for this winter we have about 40 students from South America,” he says. “They kind of filled the niche for us.” 

Rex says the resort is proud to be helping promote cultural exchange through the program, and says the students who come from overseas to work at Camelback are enthusiastic and devoted workers. “For some of them, this is their first time in America,” she says.

Many of the students fill foodservice and attendance positions at the resort, but some have been serving as ski instructors because of their experience.

Rex says although there are some barriers to overcome culturally, the resort doesn’t have to worry about hiring interpreters. “One of our criteria is that they are fluent in speaking and writing,” she says. “By now, their English is great.”  

“There was a bit of a learning curve because they don’t understand all of the foods that we eat,” Lumsden admits.

Getting Bigger
Expansion is the watchword for Camelback’s future, as two ambitious expansion projects are underway this year. Lumsden says a $100 million hotel with an indoor water park is being built at the resort, as well as an outdoor adventure park with features such as a ropes course and a zip line. Lumsden says the adventure park will likely be open year-round.

On the water park side, the resort is building a new, $3 million family play structure that is expected to open this summer. The expansion will feature eight new waterslides, a four-story-high tipping bucket, fountains, spray guns and a basketball pool with three hoops.

In addition to the new attractions at the water park, Lumsden says, Camelback is also expanding its culinary offerings. The new rides will also bring a new dining experience.

“We’re putting in a big new ride for this summer, and with the ride, we’re going to do a new foodservice area,” Lumsden says. “They’re going to change the feel in that area by putting in 20 cabanas and having waitress service to the cabanas.”

Rex says the student exchange program will likely turn out to be a vital part of the resort’s expansion plans. The influx of students from overseas will give the resort a strong and stable base of employees to draw from.

“With our growth that we are on the cusp of, the need for having qualified staff is growing, and the competition around us is also growing,” she says.