With about a dozen restaurants and dining services, plus a catering and convention center, the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, TN, dishes out about 2.5 million meals a year. Executive Chef Michael Swann brings tremendous organization and creativity to the "table" and oversees every detail.

"Five of the eating establishments are full service," Chef Swann explained. "Findley's Irish Pub and Rusty's Sports Bar & Grill are high-grade, quick-serve type restaurants. Stax is our hamburger restaurant. Paisano's Pizzeria & Vino is, as the name implies, a pizza restaurant. We have two caf? services with specialty coffees and pastries. The resort, of course, also offers room and pool-side service."

Old Hickory Steakhouse is the resort's high-end dining establishment, featuring "1855" brand Black Angus beef. Seafood is the Cascades Terrace Lounge specialty, and there is also a Japanese sushi bar. Ristorante Volare offers upscale Northern Italian cuisine, specializing in wood-fired pizza. Water's Edge Marketplace is the resort's concept of a buffet, but with most items cooked in front of patrons. Jack Daniel's Saloon offers steaks and drinks.

The bulk of the foodservice at Gaylord Opryland, however, comes from its catering and convention end, where about 2 million of its annual meals are served.

Gaylord Entertainment Co., which has four resorts in the United States, originally developed its Nashville, TN, resort in 1977. It is not associated with, but is adjacent to, the Opryland USA theme park, Grand Ole Opry and General Jackson Showboat. Gaylord Springs golf course is also nearby.

The resort originally opened with 600 guest rooms, a 20,000-square-foot ballroom and 30,000 square feet of convention space. But within a few years, the company had added another 30,000 square feet of supplementary ballroom space, another 467 guest rooms and the Garden Conservatory, an atrium that rounds out the enclosed ecosystem. In 1988, it added even more guest rooms to total 1,891, more ballroom space and the Delta atrium -- a New Orleans-themed environment surrounded by a quarter-mile-long manmade river. By 1996, continued expansion set the number of guest rooms at 2,881.

"Today, our convention center has 660,000 square feet of meeting space," said Chef Swann. "Plans are underway to add another half-million square- foot expansion. I am currently in the process of designing a 24,000-square- foot state-of-the-art kitchen. It will have the capability of cooking for banquet-sized groups of people but will function like a restaurant. Our cooking stations will be wheeled out onto the dining room floor, and meals will be prepared directly in front of guests. This is the true distinction between our operation and others that serve convention-size crowds."

In one year, the resort uses about 350,000 pounds of bacon, 600,000 pounds of beef, 300,000 pounds of potatoes, 375,000 pounds of fish, 500,000 pounds of chocolate, 100,000 cases of wine and about 40,000 pounds of mushrooms, which are obtained from FreshPoint Nashville, a Sysco-owned company, and sourced from To-Jo Mushrooms in Avondale, PA. With too many items to list, the resort purchases about $4 million a year of fresh produce.

Despite the gross amount of food flowing into the resort's kitchens, Chef Swann oversees the operations with a distinct eye toward trends and movements. He has determined convictions regarding food quality and stringent criteria regarding food safety.

"I source organics and locally grown produce as much as possible," he said. "We pre-purchase entire farms of spinach, tomatoes or other produce. Our organic products come from across the country seasonally. And we source by the quarter-year in order to tie seasonality into our dishes. At any given time, we will have contracts out on melons, celery, lettuces and other items to help to ensure the volumes we need and prices, should weather or other issues affect crop conditions."

Besides ensuring high quality and volumes, working with top distributors like FreshPoint Nashville provides Chef Swann with other benefits, such as guidance when incidents occur, like the Salmonella saintpaul outbreak earlier this summer.

"Some items are easier to replace with alternatives," he said. "But replacing tomatoes would be a major hardship. We turned to our suppliers for advice and guidance, and they provided us with guidelines of which varieties were eliminated from association with the outbreak. The protection of our guests and the integrity of the resort's brand remains our top priority."

The price of the tomatoes to which Chef Swann switched was higher, but there was no hesitation in his decision. "The incident was a good example of strong supplier-customer partnerships," he said. "We have the greatest trust and faith in our suppliers, and we depend on them just as they depend on us. It's the culture of Gaylord to build these types of relationships with vendors. We have the greatest respect for them, and they reciprocate equally."

As for his use of fresh produce in dishes, Chef Swann whips up an endless list of creations. One, his beet salad, is repeatedly requested.

"The dish includes baby beets, goat cheese, Greek oregano, chives and baby arugula, then topped with balsamic verbena vinaigrette," he said. "Another dish customers frequently request is the saut?ed sweet potatoes with caramelized onions, fire roasted scallions and pancetta cracklings."

Even main-course protein dishes are served with a special touch of fresh produce. Rave reviews come back to Chef Swann constantly for his pumpkinseed crusted rack of lamb with warm rosemary potato salad served with Roma tomatoes, slivered garlic and green onion fondue.

Tennessee farm-raised trout, another classic, is made by pan searing the toasted almond trout and serving it with goat cheese polenta and fire- roasted asparagus.

Chef Swann's contribution to Gaylord Opryland, which he joined in 2004, has helped the hotel secure some of the industry's top honors, including the Gold Platter "Elite" Award (2004, 2005 and 2006) and Gold Platter Hall of Fame Award (2005, 2007), given by Meetings & Conventions magazine. He has also been recognized by countless organizations over the years for his leadership, community service and culinary expertise. Chef Swann has been featured in magazines, and he makes regular appearances on television programs throughout the year.

To-Jo Mushrooms Inc.

"Because Gaylord Opryland is serviced by FreshPoint Nashville, our direct contact is to call on them occasionally to let them know about new products and services, and to see if there is anything we can do for them," said Paul Frederic, senior vice president of sales and marketing for To-Jo Mushrooms Inc.

Chef Swann and his staff are concerned about food safety, so To-Jo extends itself to undergo the rigorous food-safety audits required by FreshPoint Nashville.

"Then we have to be able to deliver the service, diversity and volumes a company the size of Gaylord Opryland requires," said Mr. Frederic. "To-Jo produces white and brown mushrooms, and we source exotics seasonally. Our service to the company is a long-term and successful one because we deliver the quality and quantity of product they need."

Portabellas and whites are high on the list of mushrooms Gaylord Opryland uses, and it also requests exotics.

"With exotics, it's a matter of quality and availability," said Mr. Frederic. "At the start of a Morel or Chanterelle season, for example, the quality may not yet be up to the standards they want. We are cognizant of [Gaylord Opryland] interest in seasonal mushrooms and of quality, and we do whatever is possible to accommodate them."

Mr. Frederick added that Gaylord Opryland also uses dried mushrooms, such as Porcinis, if fresh are not available. These, he said, are wonderful because the rich flavor of the mushrooms is preserved in them.

In order to keep FreshPoint Nashville abreast of what products are available and when, To-Jo Mushrooms publishes a weekly e-mail list of its products and the corresponding country of origin in addition to what it expects in coming weeks.

"We source exotics from around the world," said Mr. Frederic. "Our list of suppliers is reliable, and our relationships are based on years of experience." Chef Swann offers positive feedback on the mushrooms he receives from FreshPoint Nashville, which is in turn shared with To-Jo.

"We are happy to say the feedback is good," said Mr. Frederick. "The company is happy with our service and with our product."