Caryn Hasslocher Fresh Horizons Creative Catering By Ashley Festa Photography Greg Harrison
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fter being in the business for 30 years, Caryn Hasslocher knows a thing or two about catering. But her foodie background goes even further back than the opening of Fresh Horizons Creative Catering in 1981. Hasslocher is the daughter of Jim Hasslocher, founder of Jim’s Restaurants.
she found herself asking: “What’s going to take us into the next couple of decades?” What was lacking in the food service business her father had built?
The answer, she discovered, was catering. So she Hasslocher’s father left the military after his service in began studying the industry and opened Fresh World War II and began his first business, renting out Horizons to help fill that gap. army surplus bicycles and selling chilled watermelon on Broadway. Though she doesn’t remember her She quickly fell in love with the work. “It’s a people father’s earliest food adventures, Hasslocher does kind of business and a business that’s always remember growing up around grilled hamburgers changing.” and freshly made lemonades and limeades at the Frontier Drive-In. Today, Fresh Horizons tailors its services for a number of different occasions. Some, such as weddings, “It was just a way of life,” she said. Her friends quinceañeras and corporate events, are expected. especially enjoyed eating lunch at the drive-ins Others are a little more out of the ordinary, such as growing up. being the only San Antonio caterer to earn a contract for Pope John Paul II’s papal Mass in 1987. But it was growing up around the food business that made Hasslocher decide she wanted to do something That contract was a big deal for the business, which else with her life. She pursued the fashion business, had opened its doors only about six years before. “We all the while developing her cooking skills in Latin were honored to be chosen and to be representing America, where she lived for several years. San Antonio in that way,” Hasslocher said. Her team of about 50 employees is accustomed to serving “I enjoyed cuisine,” Hasslocher said, “and when I between 250 and 1,500 people at most events, with moved back to San Antonio, I realized I really did the largest bringing up to 2,500 attendees. But for have a love and passion for food.” the Mass, “we prepared food for tens and tens of thousands of people,” Hasslocher said. The Mass It was then that her early education in the food- drew several hundred thousand worshipers. service industry paid off in a big way. When she’s not preparing food for half a million She joined her father’s business working in people, Hasslocher enjoys experimenting with new commissary products and in the restaurants. Soon, recipes in her own kitchen, and she admits she has a September-October 2011 | On The Town 83