Above and Beyond Catering Blog

Men of Boston Cook for Women’s Health

2009-09-28T22:35:00.003-04:00

In 1995 before I even started my company, I was sought out to help with Codman Square Health Center’s fund raiser, “Men of Boston Cook for Women’s Health.” It was an ingenious idea of Ashley McCumber who created this event. The idea is they would recruit local celebrity men and pair them up with restaurants to serve the food. I did the entire back end organizing from the tables and linen, to the tent, to answering the restaurants questions and providing them with anything they needed. My team is in charge of layout, set up and breakdown of the event. During the event we run all the bars and keep the place looking presentable. This year we did a cupcake themed table and boy they were the best cup cakes I ever had. Lemon Meringue, Boston Cream with Chocolate Glaze, Banana Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting, Chocolate Dulce with Carmel Mascarpone and Carmel Apple Cupcake… Yum yum YUM. My staff love working this event. The people are great and it is a feel good place to be. I want to thank all those who participate and donated; it is such a worthy cause. Here is a picture of our over sized Cup Cake. Thank you Staff of Above and Beyond Catering for making Codman Square Health Center’s Event Flawless.
Picture credit:IPN gt.gartley 617.435.3005

Argentinean Menu at Larz Anderson Auto Museum

2009-05-31T22:14:00.015-04:00

So many things have been happening here at Above and Beyond Catering. Spring is here and things are really busy in our office and kitchen. Boston’s Catering season really picks up this time of year.

The food coming out of our kitchen is bringing in lots of new events. I have attached some pictures of a great Birthday Party which took place at the Larz Anderson Auto Museum. Our Client sewed her own table linen to go with the whole theme. The food was an Argentinean menu by request from our client. This is the menu which Above and Beyond Catering Developed for her.

PASSED HORS D’OEUVRES:
Green Chili Chicken, Cheese and Sweet Corn Empanadas with Peach-Habanera Salsa

Chicharrones Bites with Smoky Paprika-Caper Mayo, (Crispy Pork Bites)

Fried Eggplant Rounds with White Anchovies, Melted Tomato & Basil Oil

Mussels in Asian Spoon with White Wine, Olive Oil, Parsley and Chili Flake

BUFFET DINNER:
Carne Asado
Mixed Grill of Skirt Steak, Marinated Beef Shortribs, Chorizo and Chimmi Churri Sauce

Herb Crusted Seared Salmon with Romesco Sauce

Fried Potato Croquettes

Grilled Zucchini, Summer Squash, Cherry Tomatoes and Sweet Onion

Mixed Lettuces, Yellow Grape Tomatoes, Kohlrabi and Scallions with Oil and Vinegar

Grilled Focaccia and Assorted Rolls with Garlic Olive Oil

BEVERAGES:
Malbec Wines, Champagne, Cachaca and Beer

Caipirinha

DESSERT:

Dessert Crepes with Dolce de Leche, Vanilla Ice Cream and Roasted Apples with Hazlenuts

Birthday Cake with Porsche Logo

Store Sale

2009-05-20T00:22:00.010-04:00

Above and Beyond Catering does a wide range of events. This past week we had the oppurtunity to work on Newbury Street for one of my favorite stores. I am not a shopper, but this event was truely fun, and the invitees thought so too. I was told 70 percent of the people who attended spent money and took home some goodies.

They had the five components of a great event which made it successful; incredible staff, beverages, not just one bar but five, one on every floor, food, groovey music and great service.

Pre Party

2009-05-16T01:55:00.005-04:00

Artist for Humanity Epicenter. These shots I took pre party for one lucky graduate.

Making It Through the Economic Slow Down

2009-05-07T01:13:00.002-04:00

Picture to the left is Short Bread Cookies made to look like makeup in a mirrored box on display at Neimans in Coply Mall. Made right here at Above and Beyond Catering.

People are always asking me how business is. It is true, as a caterer we feel the effects of the economy first hand. Before explaining what is happening right now with our business, you have to understand where we are in the scale to other Catering businesses. Above and Beyond Catering is on the higher end in range. The reason is the quality of our product is superior to most others. We have our own Pastry Chef on location who takes a lot of pride in making items the day of the event. God bless her heart for sometimes starting at 3 am or even earlier. Same with our Chef; other establishments will be buying premade frozen product, thawing it out and throwing it in the oven. Not here. Chef Steele will put in long hours making items like our mango summer rolls. So now that you know a little back ground, I can fill you in. Starting last March the corporate drop off breakfasts and lunches were no more. I saw this coming and was able to go after other business which carried us through. Even with the decline in the corporate business, last year was our best year yet. The 4th quarter we saw a drop when the doom started coming over the airwaves. Layoffs were happening everywhere, so companies had to save face and scale back or even cancel their Holiday Parties. We lost some events, but we managed to pick some up as well. How you may ask? Well the ones in the food industry that were hurt the most were the ones on top. Some companies cancelled their events at such places as the Weston Waterfront or the Four Seasons. They scaled back to an office party, and that lead to our phones ringing. Hint, using a caterer can save you tons of money, especially doing an open bar compared with doing an open bar at a 4 or 5 star hotel located on prime real-estate.

At the beginning of the new year is when everyone was seeing the effects of the economy. At this time everyone saw their numbers drop except a few. Before I tell you the few, I will tell you what happened here. It seemed like after 9/11 when things came to a screeching halt. This lasted from January to February. The truth is we had business the year before, but it had been all the corporate small jobs. We knew this business would not be returning the way the economy was forecasted so we had been prepared for this. Now the few I mentioned that actually saw an increase in their business were efficient small businesses. I know a small marketing firm who was going gang busters. Why, well some firms cut out the bigger expensive firms and moved their work to small firms to save money. My mechanic was busy. People stopped buying new cars so they needed the cars they had maintained and fixed. My take on the economy is the mortgage industry really messed it up for all of us. Since they were giving bad loans, they created this spiral effect which made the banks stop loaning and even cutting lines of credit to good strong credit worthy customers. Now that I feel the bubble has been corrected a bit, we are on the rise again. There were a lot of people hurt, but the truth is, most money that was lost was peoples savings and not their day to day spending money. I have a good feeling that by this summer we will be a-okay. I just hope the Federal Government does not spend too much of our money hurting us down the line. This all happened for a reason, we should take it as a wakeup call. Bailing out inefficient businesses is not going to help anyone. Honestly I can say there is a chance I could even grow my business this year due to our efficiency and quality.

My Introduction into Catering

2009-04-27T00:01:00.002-04:00

Welcome to my Blog. I am one who always knew what I wanted to do and have stayed on course since the beginning of my education. I thought I was going to end up running a large hotel, similar to some you may see depicted in TV shows or in movies. You know the ones were the General Manager makes his/her rounds to inspect their army of diligent worker bees. Well after my first experiences with hotels which took place at the Weston Hotel Copley Place, I realized that my stubborn streak and patience was not going to work in a place where my creative side could not shine. I saw that I wanted to add too much to an existing machine which was resistant to change, and there was going to be a lot of red tape tying me down. Once I started catering when I graduated UMass Amherst with a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management, I was very lucky to find myself running the catering jobs soon after I started. At the time I never realized how very lucky I was. Running catering jobs, you have the support of the mother company, but you’re on your own when it comes to dealing with the client. Every job I would read up on the situation if I had not already been prepped for it, and then worked to fulfill the vision which was depicted to me in picking out the décor for the event. On the jobs after I delegated all the tasks that had to be done, my favorite thing was to what I call “Fluff” the event. This would be designing the flow of the event, to decorating the buffet tables and bars with flowers and greens. Picking out some vases and placing light sticks in them so they glow. Every event is different, some more conservative and some over the top. To know what to do for each event came very natural to me. I realized I found my calling. Now my company Above and Beyond Catering is my passion which I am extremely proud of, and I have to say, we are the best caterer in Boston.