A century separates the gourmets of Russian nobility and today's captains of commerce and industry. But yesteryears' tsars and today's would-be's share a common compulsion for banqueting big-style. They mirror each other down the ages in thinking that eating is entertainment — that feasting is to be done in a regal way.

Indulging those appetites, today as in royal times, has been the consuming passion of a high-class catering company — French, naturally — that has renewed an historic association with Russia, links severed with the monarchy's fall.

Suppliers now to the Court of Capitalism, the chefs and sommeliers of Potel & Chabot have regained residence in a country that, long years ago, helped build the company's reputation as Europe's leading organizer of what modern marketing men would doubtless proclaim are elite dining experiences.

Their return to Russia recognizes that this country "has again become receptive to the art of entertaining," company officials say.

"We made a bold move coming back in 1988 since everything needed to be built from scratch — our profession no longer existed here. It's been a long time since we last did one of those sumptuous dinners for the tsar."

Today, principally in Moscow and St. Petersburg, this Paris-headquartered company supplies food for corporate entertainment and promotional get-togethers, such as prestigious incentive and reward trips for big customers, new product launches and office openings. In Moscow, Potel & Chabot is official big-occasion caterer for the mayor's office and the French Embassy.

"But we're not just a caterer," said sales and marketing manager Herve le Bail. "We're an events planner and our work has many facets, including finding appropriate venues, arranging musical entertainment and devising themes."

A dinner in the Armor Hall of the Kremlin, an evening on board Aurora, the ship from where the 1917 revolution was launched in St. Petersburg, or a Russian buffet in a private theater built last century — these are some of the events that characterize the opulent world of Potel & Chabot's clients and their guests.

Not just in Russia, either. "We supplied an official reception for the French Embassy in Uzbekistan, we've worked in Kiev, Tashkent, Bukhara and Samarkand — they're all a long way from Moscow, but we have the resources," said le Bail.

Today, that is. But it was a different story 12 years ago. "We felt like an explorer in unknown territory," said le Bail. "As a pioneer, we had to adjust to different attitudes, a highly unusual customs regime and to problems with bringing in raw materials.

"We went through the bartering period. In St. Petersburg, for example, we had a rather unusual agreement with the curator of the Yusupov palace. Every time we used this exceptional venue for an event, instead of paying rental charges, we had curtains made or paintings restored. By starting out that way, we won an exclusive agreement with the palace."

A similar arrangement worked with St. Petersburg's School of Hotel Management, an institution with a long-standing tradition.

"Since our business relies so heavily on people, we first needed to train Russian personnel quickly," said le Bail. "We introduced a catering class within the school and now train 30 young people a year. Our maitre d's and executive chefs have been teaching there since 1993 through an apprenticeship system.

"The two best students from each of the kitchen and waiting classes are sent to Paris for an additional apprenticeship. This reward is an incentive for our students and has helped us create a wonderful breeding ground for talent in Russia."

Today, some 25 permanent staff run kitchen, administration and support operations in Moscow, headed by an expatriate management team at the company's base on Prospekt Vernadskogo in the city's southwest, close to the MKAD outer ring road. As demand dictates, these are supported by teams of "casual" waiters 40-strong in Moscow and numbering up to 80 in St. Petersburg, where the company also has an operations base.

It's from the kitchens in both cities that menus reach venues, delivered by truck. Final preparation of hot dishes is carried out on arrival, in etuves, or ovens, that accompany the team.

Potel & Chabot's return to Russia began with its first base on a boat moored on the Moscow river, then at the Mezhdunarodnaya complex. A restaurant was opened in 1989 — the first establishment serving French cuisine in Moscow — and then the team decided to concentrate on the primary line of business, its high-class, special-event catering.

"We felt our know-how and products were an ideal match for the deep-seated traditions of the Russian nation — of a people never missing the chance to celebrate an occasion," le Bail said.

"Early on, there were no event planning services. The fact that we have supplied the service has created the demand, and we've organized around 700 events a year.

"In the process, it's made Russia more appealing to Western companies seeking a new destination."

Catering for clients demanding the best means the search for high quality produce and accompanying equipment takes top priority.

"This is not the Russia of 10 years ago, and if we find equal-quality food on the local market, we buy here," said le Bail. "Some things, like fish, we have to import — there's no alternative and there's no compromise."

How can there be, the company asks, when guests at the annual Potel & Chabot New Year's Eve Tsar's Ball in the St. Catherine Palace at Tsarskoye Selo near St. Petersburg, pay $900 dollars a head for the privilege of being there?

This is the company's own promotional spectacular, and one that must beat them all. Since 1994, it's been recalling a St. Petersburg tradition by reliving one of the most lavish celebrations of the last century in one of the city's most beautiful palaces.

Last year, some 250 of the world's richest bought tickets to a unique extravaganza that is publicized and marketed internationally.

It's an event that takes 72 hours of on-the-spot ballroom preparation before the candles are lit. An event where miles of fabric and ribbon are handmade into custom-cut tablecloths and where a symphony orchestra and ballet dancers perform for the guests.

And it's where, though in the grip of Russia's deep winter, the ice they use is trucked in from Paris. Ice for table sculptures, that is, not for the drinks.

As Herve le Bail explained, Russian equipment makes ice blocks that are opaque and full of bubbles. "We want ice sculpture that are crystal clear and diamond bright to mirror the lights in the ballroom. It's all part of the magic, all part of the glitter."