My six years at Zingerman’s Catering actually started long ago when I was 16. I was working in the restaurant industry, I got hooked, and have never left it! I went to culinary school and was a chef for many years. Following, I learned how to work the dining room, bartend, and oversee all aspects of a restaurant.

I have to admit to over 33 years of experience working in the hospitality field and that time involves many, many offsite catering events. Working with groups as small as 5 and as large as several thousand in many different states, all with a variety of different themes and occasions. Each one I go on is a new experience, and more fun than the last!

I ask every host we work with to think about what they want the guests to say about the event after they go home, and share that with us.

When I look back on the highlights, I think about the event we did for UPS corporate. It was a beautiful day, and the event was outside. We set up in a tent but once you entered, you had the feeling of being in the most beautifully appointed banquet space. There were around 100 guests, and we served a plated lunch, and had a bar set up for all of the executives. Creating real elegance in a canvas tent was a thrill!

I have been catering for 20 years. Of those, five have been with Zingerman’s. Now that I am in Ann Arbor, Zingerman’s amazing food and exceptional service has been a perfect fit for me.

When I started, I was hired to manage a catering event for an Off Broadway show. I’d never worked in food service before and I was naive enough to think it was going to be easy. The show was in the Park Avenue Armory in New York. Working in such a beautiful setting with extraordinary food was a combination I couldn’t resist. I had never worked harder but I was hooked.

Speaking of hard work, every event is hard work. One I want to tell you about was on a football Saturday. We did 8 complicated, separate, tented tailgates in one day. It required chefs cooking on site, fun decor, service staff, and obviously lots of food. Many of the clients were major corporations with high expectations for the food and the staff. It took an enormous amount of planning and it went off flawlessly. Each event had its own personality, its own menu and all of the guests had a great time. In fact the following year, they had us do it all again!

Whether you have five people or five hundred, Great food is a terrific icebreaker. Great service tells your guests how important they are to you. The combination makes any event one that your friends will be happily talking about long after the night is over.

I love food. I started working in a pizza store when I was 15. I traded my time for food and money to play pinball. I started as a busboy in the early 70’s and have worked in the industry ever since. October 2008, will make four years that I have been here with Zingerman’s. I have had the opportunity to plan events as small as two people and as large as a picnic for 2200.

Regardless of the crowd, the event always takes more time to plan than the actual event itself. From the initial idea, to scheduling spaces, planning décor, entertainment, shopping for and then preparing the food, set up and clean up of the entire event, it is much easier to let someone else take care of all the details. Doing that lets you enjoy your time with family, friends or co-workers.

Here’s an example. We served five tailgates on the Ann Arbor Golf and Outing course in the same day. We were the only caterers on site. We set up a kitchen tent with each group having a different menu. We even made hand painted signs for each. The success of that event directly correlated with the time we and the event organizers took to plan it and, once all the planning work was done and the guests were enjoying themselves, you just have this great feeling that all the hard work paid off!

During the five years I have been with Zingerman’s Catering, I have had the opportunity to have many different memorable experiences. A couple of years ago I was at an event in southeastern Michigan. The event took place in the middle of a vineyard and we were even able to use some grapevines as the wood for the fire. The group of over thirty people loved the grilled Paella we served. Amazing food for a perfect event.

When I sit down to start planning an event with you, I like to draw out the vision in your head of what your perfect event will be like. From there, we work together in close communication to execute the details that will bring that vision to life.

I love working with food and I love how each day is different in the world of catering.

During the two years I have been with Zingerman’s, the one thing I have learned and would like to pass to everyone who is planning an event is that you need to remain calm! Get what you are looking for, but listen to the ideas of your friends and family. And, trust the knowledge of the person planning the event with you.

One example, recently we catered a Bat Mitzvah in Royal Oak, Michigan. It was a huge event, over 300 people with many different food stations meant to recreate a night in New York City. What made this event so successful was that our customers developed a really strong relationship with the planners here and had a good and experienced event planner to bounce ideas off of.