Maria Soto

Maria Soto went from owning a 150-seat Mexican restaurant in Lemon Grove to coordinating meals for thousands at the San Diego Convention Center, where she began as a server in 1993.

After three months, she was promoted to captain and in less than a year was named banquet and operations manager for Centerplate (formerly Volume Services America). Her own restaurant, Claret, closed in 1982.

Soto’s largest assignment as manager was several years ago when her crew provided sit-down meals and coffeebreak service for 8,000 at a Microsoft function. Microsoft returned a couple months ago, but Soto says it was a smaller event — only 3,000 people.

Depending on the event’s size, Soto supervises from five to 350 people. Her primary challenge is seeing that hot food moves promptly from the kitchen, which is in the middle of the convention center. Food is transported in hot boxes, each containing 150 covered dinner plates.

Soto, a TWIN recipient in 2002, recalls the 1996 Republican national convention as a mass of people, guards, security dogs, and “one entrance to the kitchen.”

Some aspects of how Soto does her job changed after she was diagnosed last August with multiple sclerosis. She walks with a cane or rides through the convention center in a cart purchased by her employer. She works with CAD (computer-aided design) drawings to set up banquets. “It’s just different,” she says of the adaptations.

What hasn’t changed is the enjoyment her job provides. “I get to meet a lot of people from all over the world,” she says. People from India brought their own chefs and food. People send her postcards from their homes in Germany and Spain.

Although the convention center is “not a restaurant,” it provides kosher, vegan and gluten-free meals. Patrons also enjoy action stations. The most popular are the carving station and one serving risotto. Also gaining popularity, Soto says, is a station featuring 10 to 20 types of mushrooms and many sauces.

— Liz Swain