corporate event planning
The Chef’s Table owner and chef David Magnasco holds a glass of wine behind the bar at his business in Milwaukee’s Walker’s Point neighborhood.
Forging business relationships at The Chef’s Table
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t’s exactly the type of building you’d expect to find in Walker’s Point. Faded strokes of paint on the converted two-story warehouse’s brick exterior still spell out the name “Badger Mirror Co.,” a glass manufacturer that hasn’t inhabited it since 1942. For different stretches over the past 103 years, it has housed multiple manufacturing operations and a knitting company. Its earliest tenant, R.E. Locher & Scheffrin Co., was described as a “dealer
BY BEN STANLEY, staff writer
in rags, rubber, metals and other waste materials” in a May 4, 1918 issue of a nowdefunct trade publication called “The Waste Trade Journal.” Aside from well-tended trees and bushes lining its walls and the handsome wooden staircase leading to its front door at 500 S. Third St., it blends into the stock of brick industrial buildings speckled throughout the neighborhood that are either undergoing or awaiting renovation. But since 2014, it’s been home to a
private event venue that’s gaining traction among local businesses. The Chef ’s Table, which bills itself as “Milwaukee’s only private, personalized dining experience,” has earned a small following over the past two years for a unique service: personalized business dinners that allow clients to connect with guests, discuss sensitive business issues and relax with a meal in a private setting. The space is rich in unique personal touches. Many of its most impressive
pieces were handcrafted by the owner and chef, David Magnasco — the long, southern yellow pine table made from one of the building’s former walls, the stained glass windows behind the bar, the chandelier made from an old pot and pan rack. Magnasco has hosted birthday parties and rehearsal dinners, and has sold tickets to themed dinners, but found an untapped niche in small corporate events for as few as two and as many as 34 people. “There’s plenty of great places in Milwaukee you can go out to eat; we have an awesome food scene here,” Magnasco said. But when company leaders want to rent out space at a restaurant for a board meeting or to impress clients, he explained, “typically you’re in a back room with divider walls and usually there aren’t any windows and you’re still sharing the
Situated on Milwaukee’s Lakefront War Memorial Center is the perfect location for your event or meeting. With a modern banquet hall, unique meetings rooms, built in AV capabilities, downtown location, extensive catering list, indoor and outdoor event spaces, and on-site parking; your event will be the one that everyone is talking about.
Host an event before December 16th and receive 15% off rental Milwaukee County War Memorial Center 750 North Lincoln Memorial Drive | Milwaukee, WI 53202 414-273-5533 | events@warmemorialcenter.org
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