Caterer

Q. Describe the most common types of jobs you do for your clients.

A. Weddings, including wedding cakes, holiday parties, mostly for corporations, small at home dinners, ladies luncheons and tea parties, large church dinners, and romantic dinners for two.

Q. Describe three recent jobs you've completed.

A. My Personal Chef Services include cooking several meals at a time, containerizing and freezing them for clients that have a reason for not cooking evening meals. I recently was cooking for a lady that had a severe illness. She has recovered and is very grateful for my services.
I catered a large luncheon for the Chamber of Commerce and a tea party for a high school class and their parents.

Q. What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A. I sell a service, not a commodity. If you find ways to cut the price you tie my hands. I have catered for 18 years and I know what I am doing. You won't be disappointed if you let me do my job as my services are guaranteed and I have never had a complaint. I recently catered a wedding for a couple that had decided to have a friend make their bridal cake, in order to save money. I watched (from a safe distance, thankfully) as the wedding cake slowly fell over. This is not something any of us want to see.

Q. If you were a customer, what do you wish you knew about your trade? Any inside secrets to share?

A. This is hard work and we are willing to do it. You will be ever so much more relaxed and able to enjoy your event if you let us do it. We will do everything to please you. We want your return business and referrals. It would be really nice of you to place a testimonial on the social media on our behalf.

Q. What do you like most about your job?

A. Being among people who are celebrating something.

Q. What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

A. What's your favorite thing you make? My answer is always:
making people happy with their choice.

Q. Do you have a favorite story from your work?

A. We were waiting for the bride and groom to finish the ceremony and come into the reception tent. One of my employees discovered one of the table decorations with burning candles had dropped fire onto the silk candle rings and it was on fire. We all were on that fire immediately and saved everything. The newly weds and their guests did not even know about it until much later.

Q. What do you wish customers knew about you or your profession?

A. That we provide a service, not a commodity. People like to always get the lowest price and often are not pleased. When a client argues about a price and cuts all the good things out of the menu in order to do it "cheap", they are in essence lowering the value they place on their relationship with their guest, then blame the caterer for a lack of value. We pay for more than food on our end of the deal. We pay for the insurance that says every bite you take is guaranteed to be the best, good help, continuing education, food safety managment and many other things behind the scenes. Please don't tie our hands, let us do the job you actually want.

Q. How did you decide to get in your line of work?

A. Since I was a child I have always loved to cook. When we moved to Texas I volunteered to cook for my church. I began with Wednesday night dinners. It soon grew from 15-80 folks that loved what I prepared. Then there were questions: "Can you make a wedding cake?", and "Will you come over and help me cook for company?" I was surprised to find that I was in business whether I wanted to be or not. I had already had some baking and cake decorating classes before we came here. My husband thought of a name for the business, I passed the food safety test, got a license and began in earnest. I took more classes to be sure I knew what I was doing, we built a commercial kitchen and here I am, 18 years later, still loving what I do.

Q. Do you do any sort of continuing education to stay up on the latest developments in your field?

A. I am constantly reading recipes and studying different cooking methods and techniques. I like to try different ethnic dishes. When I have time I watch cooking shows on TV. I love new appliances and gadgets and stay up to date as much as I think is necessary. I love my work so I try to keep up.

Q. If you were advising someone who wanted to get into your profession, what would you suggest?

A. The very first thing you need to get ready for is hard work.
You will be on your feet sometimes many hours before you begin to serve the people. Wear comfortable, reliable shoes. Cover your business with insurance. You need to know what you are doing and assure your customer with your competence and quiet confidence. You can't say anything negative when you are hiring help but you can be sure to look them over. Dirty nails, stringy unkempt hair,disheveled clothing is a red flag. Hire people you can be proud of. If you aren't, it's your reputation that will suffer, not theirs. Buy a reliable vehicle and good signage for it. Create a logo and tag line. The one thing I do that not everyone agrees with is this: ignore your competition. Let them do what they do and you do what you do. There is enough business for everyone.

Q. What is your greatest strength?

A. My love for what I do.