John Crisafulli, left, president of San Diego catering firm Behind the Scenes, with Executive Chef Paul Marshall.

As athletes around the globe gather to compete in the 2006 Winter Olympic Games, a team of chefs, bakers and hospitality staff work together on one of the year’s largest catering events. Behind the Scenes, a San Diego catering and event management company, is serving breakfast, lunch and dinner to some 7,000 journalists covering the Olympic Games in Torino, Italy, beginning Feb. 10.

John Crisafulli, owner of BTS, began his catering career in high school working for a small company that catered to backstage concerts. He stayed with the company and worked his way through SDSU, where he obtained a business degree.

After graduation, he and his sister, Teresa Villa, bought the catering business, renaming it BTS. They also switched from backstage concert catering to production catering.

In 1995, BTS got its first big job, catering the International Broadcast Compound for the America’s Cup sailing regatta. A year later it catered for all the major broadcast and cable networks at the Republican National Convention in San Diego, sparking a relationship between Crisafulli and the staff of NBC, which is televising the Games.

“Broadcasting is very relationship-based, kind of like a family,” says Crisafulli. “Once you’re in, you’re in. That’s how your business grows. That’s how our business did grow.”

BTS provides its clients with meals on demand, catering to different diets and eating habits. Rotating shifts ensure the editing and satellite crews have access to meals 24 hours a day. “There is never any downtime for us,” Crisafulli says. “People are always working.”

Crisafulli has been working with a staff of about 250 in preparation for this year’s Olympics for which he has a $5 million contract. Most of the staff is local, which Crisafulli says helps bring his clients a true sense of Italy’s cuisine. He has hired students from five of Italy’s culinary and hospitality schools and is training them with professional chefs.

Crisafulli already is preparing for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. “There’s always something new; it keeps it fresh,” he says. “As we travel, we bring back recipes and manipulate them for our local clients. It’s a win-win.”

— Sarah Strause