You can work with a venue doing off site catering for years and then suddenly they decide they want to create their own in-house service. Having Il Mercato has been great. In 2015, Il Mercato won a Louisiana Landmarks Society Award for excellence in historic preservation. We’re very proud of that. In 2016 — our first year of operation, we hosted 70 events, including a lot of weddings, but also fundraisers, corporate events, other social events and photo shoots.
Q: How do you market your business? Having been in operation over 20 years we definitely get a lot of business from word of mouth, but we’re also really focused on developing relationships with every part of our industry, including event planners, wedding planners and all the various venues. We’re also active in industry groups like NACE (the National Association for Catering and Events). We recently joined the Leading Caterers of America (LCA), a collection of the top independent caterers in the country. Most cities in the U.S. only have one member in this group — larger cities may have two. We’re the only member in the state of Louisiana.
n Past clients of Joel Catering include: Private Events
President Barack Obama, President George Bush, President Bill Clinton, Senator Hillary Clinton, Senator John Kerry, Nicolas Cage, “All The King’s Men” World Premiere, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” Screening, Brad Pitt’s Make it Right Charity Corporate Clients
Q: Can you talk about one of your more challenging events? We’ve done so many, and of course every event has its own challenges, but one that stands out for me was a dinner we did recently for a group of local businesspeople on a footbridge over Bayou St. John. Logistically, that was a real challenge. There was of course no on-site kitchen, no running water, no electricity, but we still managed to create a multiple-course seated dinner for 100 people on the footbridge. The evening started with cocktails at the Pitot House nearby and then the St. Augustine marching band led everyone down the street to the footbridge. It was a really fun and unique event.
American Express, Saks Fifth Avenue, CBS Eyemark, SAP, Dom Perignon, Veuve Clicquot, Eastman Kodak, Viacom, Gucci, Wolfgang Puck, Microsoft, The Food Network, The NFL, The NBA, Tiffany & Co., JP Morgan Private Bank, Louis Vuitton
Q: You said a majority of your business is weddings — what’s new in wedding catering? Mixology is really huge right now — crafting high quality specialty cocktails. We have actually created a separate component of our company that is dedicated to this. We spend days steeping tequila or infusing vodka. We offer multiple choices in glassware — offering everything you’d expect from a really great bar. This is an example of one of our company philosophies, and that is that we always push to get ahead of our customer, to offer them things they didn’t even know they wanted before they have the chance to ask. Our chef creates cocktail tastings for us to try new creations. We’re always working on something new. When we started getting into cocktails, our clients would be coming to us asking for things like a vodka martini or an old fashioned. Now they’re starting to come to us and just say, “I trust you to create something amazing because I know it’s going to be great.” That’s where we want to be.
Q: What are your goals for the future? In the most immediate future I have to say I could not be more excited about the fact that we’re in the process of bringing a new person onto the team — a special projects manager. Almost every business owner knows that there is always that list of things that you would love to do, a to-do list that you’d love to get to but, with all the daily tasks, there never seems to be the time to get to those things that you know would make the company better — take things to the next level. This person will be spearheading those projects, things like updating our website and logo, increasing our social media presence and taking charge of all those ideas we brainstorm during the summers when things tend to slow down in the hospitality industry.
Q: With holiday event season in full gear, what advice to you have for businesses when it comes to choosing and working with a caterer? I would say that people may not understand the importance of a caterer at an event. We have a lot to do with how a party runs. We have a lot of staff on site and we play a very important role in how things flow. I think the first step when you’re planning an event is to decide what you want to get out of it. Are you looking for something where your sales team can network? Are you wanting something that’s more teambuilding and casual? What is the ultimate goal? As a caterer we’re looking to get as much information as we can about who is coming to an event and what the host is looking to do. Is this a group that is entertained a lot? Do they know each other well? Are they local or from out of town? I think people also sometimes worry about sharing too much when it comes to their budget, but here again, the more we know, the better. The budget range for events can be gigantic — say $45 a person to $250 a person. People use words like “normal,” and “average,” and those things mean different things to different people. The more we know the better we can help you plan the perfect event at the perfect location with the perfect food and drink.
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Other Joel Dondis Projects
Joel Dondis, founder of Joel Catering & Special Events is also behind the following local ventures: La Petite Grocery – 2004 Sucre – 2007 Grand Isle Restaurant - 2007 Salon by Sucre - 2015
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