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TLE & The NFL Draft 2024
From April 19th until April 28th 2024, during the NFL Draft in Detroit, we successfully served over 3,500 people, providing high-quality meals for the production crew, dedicated volunteers, and guests at the Draft Eve party in Eastern Market. Despite facing "four seasons in one week" while operating out of an on-site kitchen that we built from scratch, our team remained undeterred, and committed, delivering 3 meals and coffee service daily on time and earning such a stellar reputation that attendees from other areas frequently tried to gain access to our dining area to eat with us. Our team maintained seamless synchronization with the client's evolving requirements, demonstrating a level of flexibility that earned glowing praise from both the organizers and our guests.
MBBA & TLE : A DREAM TEAM
The Michigan Black Business Alliance worked hard to ensure that the NFL was inclusive in their vendor selection and that they truly reflected the make-up of our city. Through an intensely rigorous RFP process we submitted and were the only Black and woman owned catering company awarded a contract to provide food service within the downtown Draft footprint. We also had the pleasure of catering the annual NFL Pre Draft Party in Eastern Market.
TLE & THE DRAFT KICK-OFF PARTY
In March 2024, the NFL Draft organizers and MBBA hosted an event at Garden Theater where we catered our infamous grazing table and it became a major highlight of the evening. Many guests raved about the table, with some remarking that it looked like a beautiful "little city" and was almost too pretty to eat.
NINA LOVE REPRESENTING TLE
DETROIT WXYZ interview.
TLE MAGIC AT WORK:
NO KITCHEN, NO PROBLEM.
We turned an empty tent into a fully loaded, high-performance kitchen. From installing sinks and monitoring propane to coordinating refrigeration and power, we built the entire infrastructure from scratch. To meet strict NFL safety codes and power through 20-hour workdays, our leads stayed onsite in an RV, ensuring we never missed a beat. The payoff was worth the grind: diners traveled from their designated areas just to eat our food, and our NFL direct report commended our team for flawlessly executing every pivot.
We didn’t just staff an event—we built the engine that ran it. We did that.
TLE & The Draft Eve Party
On April 24, 2024, we brought our culinary vision to life for 375 guests at a Draft Eve party in Eastern Market, featuring elegant buffet lines, dessert displays, and "rolling" passed appetizers. To complete the experience, we partnered with Hell on Wheels for professional bar service and Petite Sweets Detroit to ensure every detail of the event was both seamless and delicious
TLE Draft Week Snapshots
While this footage offers only a glimpse, it captures a week of relentless hard work and dedication from the TLE team. A standout highlight was welcoming Keith Lee to the TLE family, where he spent time with the crew and sampled our menu. Though our NFL Draft experience was short lived, the lessons learned and memories made continue to define our execution and push our standards to new heights.
