Q&A
31 OCTOBER 2013
REGIONSBUSINESS.COM
27
SIMON POWLES: Stephen Starr Events President Simon Powles (left, with Corporate Executive Chef Martin Heierling at the launch event of their new commissary kitchen on North Broad St.) knows what it takes to throw a good party. And when you have Stephen Starr’s restaurants at your disposal, it’s safe to say that party is going to be done right. Region’s Business talked with Mr. Powles about how the busy Fall/Winter season is treating Starr Events and what separates the company from the rest of the pack.
What’s the elevator pitch for Starr Events? We are a special events caterer and a full service food service provider for cultural institutions and high level business environments. We bring to all areas real restaurant-quality food and an overall experience very much like the restaurants that we operate. Does the catering/events side work closely with the Starr Restaurants side of the business? Correct, we feature menu items from several of our signature concepts, so its important we really know the direction and the concept and vision for each of those restaurants, and the food that they serve. Because if we’re serving the edamame dumplings, which are one of the signature dishes in our Buddakan New York restaurant, they are prepared and served at the same level that you would get if you were sitting at a table for two in our restaurants. What’s a typical day like for you? I would say that 75 percent of my time is spent actually being with people, be it our team and our people that are on the front lines serving our guests. I generally try to get out to events. I spend a lot of my time interacting with our clients at cultural institutions. We consider ourselves a very high-touch company
A STAR AT STARR EVENTS where we’re very integrated into what our clients’ needs are, what their goals and objectives are, and we work very closely to stay in touch with them, even at the very senior levelto make sure that each and every day we’re really striving in perfection in what we do for them. In 99 percent of the cases, the food, catering… it’s a secondary thing for our greater goal of what our clients are trying to achieve. An auto company doing a product launch of a new car may throw a big party, but the evening is about the new car and what they’re launching, so what we provide is a component of the overall experience of that evening, so at every point we’re representing what our client is trying to achieve and we’ll do it. We’re not this corporation where people are sitting behind desks... we really manage it from the front lines. What’s keeping Starr Events busy in Philadelphia? Spring and fall season are the two biggest times of the year. The Philadelphia Museum of Art just opened their newest special exhibition, Léger, so we’ve been working heavily with them on cross promotion. If you go to Parc restaurant you’ll see we have a Léger dessert that’s on the menu, you’ll’ see, when you get your check, information about the Léger exhibit. We’ll have a specialty cocktail that is themed around the exhibit, too, so we’re working really hard on all of that. StarrEvents.com