| Segment Spotlight |
Creative Catering Three chefs discuss the benefits and trends when catering to today’s customers // By Amanda Baltazar
A
CF Chef Jon Papineau threw in the towel at the police department he was working at in 1998 and decided to open his own restaurant. He had no culinary training, just a desire to cook and serve food to people. By 2006 he was working for the Denver Merchandise Mart, a large catering operation, and since then has worked as a caterer for various operations, from hotels to a convention center and a ski resort. Currently, he serves as director of catering and events for Larkin’s Restaurant Group in Greenville, S.C. Chef Papineau loves catering. “It’s always something different and I love the personal satisfaction side of it,” he says. He also loves the problem-solving, the “‘how are ACF Chef Jon Papineau we going to pull this off?’ aspect.” Larkin’s hosts about 360 events per year, including everything from casual gatherings to high-end weddings, and mostly offers on-site catering at its two event spaces. But there’s a big increase in off-site events, says Chef Papineau. For on-site events he can cater to around 250 people due to space, but offsite “the sky’s the limit,” he says. Chef Cassondra Armstrong, CEC, grew up preparing food for a Jewish caterer in a Jewish synagogue, alongside her mom and grandmother. When Chef Armstrong graduated from culinary school in 1988, she launched a catering company — and a restaurant for a time — before moving exclusively into catering and personal cheffing. “I love to entertain so catering has always been my fancy,” says Chef Armstrong, who has catered events for up to 600 people. “I love to put on fabulous events, and I appreciate when people eat the food and the plates come back empty.” Typically, her events take place in homes — intimate dinners for two to eight people — as well as at various venues for weddings, and she also caters corporate events. She loves the larger events, she says, where she has more support staff. “Then I
44
NCR | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024
Larkin’s Restaurant Group in S.C. (owned by ACF Chef Jon Papineau) hosts about 360 events per year, including casual gatherings and high-end weddings, at its two event spaces.
can truly command the floor and be the captain of the whole thing. I can see how it looks front of house.” Working in hotels when he was younger was when ACF Chef Keith Blauschild, CEC, executive chef of The Cook and the Cork in Coral Springs, Fla., and owner of the 17-year-old Parkland Chef Catering, first developed an appetite for catering because of how it offers the ability to showcase various skills, from the pastry arts to butchery to foodservice management. Starting out in the industry with a catering business worked well, he says, “because there’s so many items you can rent without having to invest in it.” Now his work is split fairly evenly between the catering business and the restaurant.
