When a joint venture that includes the automaker BMW Group telephoned from Germany on June 10 to ask Beacon Hill Catering & Events to submit a proposal to put on a groundbreaking, the small Spokane company knew it would face logistics issues and a tight deadline if it won the job.

The joint venture, SGL Automotive Carbon Fibers LLC, a combination of the SGL Group, a Wiesbaden, Germany-based maker of carbon-based products, and BMW Group, the giant Munich, Germany-based automaker, had generated headlines when it announced earlier that it would build a carbon fiber manufacturing plant in Moses Lake, Wash.

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire would attend the July 7 groundbreaking, as would numerous other dignitaries, including some from Europe.

All would have to be out of the sun, comfortable, fed, and given something to drink.

There wasn't much time. The event was scheduled in 27 days.

As Beacon Hill described it later: "The challenge: execute a high-end, internationally attended, catered, groundbreaking event for 100 guests that would parallel the cutting-edge technology of the client and their new project, set to take place in the middle of the desert in an undeveloped field lacking a water or power source on July 7th—a mere four weeks away and falling just two days after a national holiday."

Lydig Construction Inc., then one of the finalists for the construction contract for the plant and later chosen for the job, had suggested Beacon Hill to the joint venture, says Ellie Rayner-Aaro, who with her father, Pete Rayner, owns and operates Beacon Hill, at 4848 E. Wellesley. After SGL called, it sent Beacon Hill a written request for the information it needed.

"It was like, here's the download," she says. "They had a recommendation from Lydig and had been on our Web site, so they had vetted us."

Given the time difference between Europe and Spokane, Beacon Hill had one business day and the weekend to submit its proposal.

"I had to e-mail it to them Sunday night, so they would have it Monday morning," says Rayner-Aaro.

SGL asked for more details and sent additional requirements, and it wasn't until June 17 that Beacon Hill learned it had the contract, leaving it 20 days before the event.

On July 30, five days before the event, Pete Rayner mused, "It's a good thing I'm a real estate developer and know something about logistics. They didn't even have a driveway."

Still, he said, "It's been a roller-coaster ride. It's been fun."

While the rest of the nation celebrated Independence Day, Rayner went to Moses Lake on July 5, for the laying of 10,000 square feet of sod at the groundbreaking site.

For any community, the plant would have been a plum. SGL describes it as an important part of the joint venture's strategy to commercialize manufacturing of lightweight carbon fiber reinforced plastics for the BMW Group's future Megacity Vehicle. BMW says the lightweight carbon components will offset the additional weight of the electric vehicle drive train in its Megacity Vehicle, which is to debut in 2013, and will give the vehicle greater range.

As the groundbreaking neared, Beacon Hill had to handle such matters as arranging for an executive-level portable bathroom, build a driveway and level the site, find vendors to provide tents to shield dignitaries from the sun, and make sure myriad other details were handled.

A dozen subcontractors were involved, including five Spokane vendors, Event Rents, Prodigy Arrow, Designer Decal, Plese Printing, and Pacific Wholesale Florist, plus five Moses Lake vendors and others.

Then there was the food. Beacon Hill Executive Chef Ryan Jordan faced the difficulties of developing what Beacon Hill called "a modern menu that not only needed to satisfy the sophisticated taste of the international client, but that would also have to withstand the two-hour drive, over 90-degree temperatures, and without the option to cook on site."

The company titled the menu "Modern Picnic." It included chilled watermelon gazpacho; endive spears with blue cheese, apple, and hazelnuts; ahi tuna tartare on grilled flatbread; stacked BLT club sandwiches; black bean sliders with chipotle-cilantro aioli; and raspberry sorbet with fresh berries.

"We felt like it needed something really refreshing," Rayner-Aaro says.

As preparations unfolded, the joint venture shipped to Moses Lake an automobile roof made from the carbon fiber.

"It weighed 11 pounds—and was stronger than steel," Rayner-Aaro says.

A BMW M3 car, made with one of the lightweight roofs, also came.

"I got to sign for a $76,000 BMW that arrived in this field," she says.

The event went off without a hitch, Rayner-Aaro says.

"We relied on every single capability that we have here," she says. SGL apparently liked the result, because it said it might use the company again.

Beacon Hill, which employs seven people full time, had handled government dignitaries, media management, and preparation of a site before, but never had done an event in which it juggled all three.

"It kind of opens up a new business for us on the event-management side," Rayner-Aaro says. She adds that she'd like to see Beacon Hill do three or four such events a year.

Two days after the groundbreaking, however, Rayner-Aaro said, "I'm just not feeling at a sprint pace today." There had been enough of that already.