I continued working with a couple different catering companies located near Mystic. Theses companies run all year round. But the bulk of the work is during Wedding season. Starting in May and going through mid October. Yes people get married all year. These dates are the bulk of weddings during the year.
I did work more than weddings. Smaller events as well. In houses, fields, boats, barns, all sorts of places.
Catering upped my game tremendously. In a restaurant things are fairly static. True the days can be all over the place. But you are in a familiar area. You know where things are and if you run short of something there are hopefully backups in the walk-in or dry storage.
Traveling catering is way different. You go to kitchens, garages, parks, halls. Places you may have never been to. And if you are missing something you have to figure out how far you are from home base or where the nearest store is. And is it worth the trip.
There is a lot of descion making on the fly. And you have to be ready to change your plan at any moment. I have witnessed some pretty amazing shit take place when it was not looking good. This is where the teamwork comes into play.
I had the honor to see some chefs, coordinators, waitstaff, utility people pull off some amazing stuff through the years. All the while the clients never knew their event was on a cliff.
I actually took time out to learn some amazing cooking techniques, plating, planning and organizing that I use every day.
I learned that just becase a chef is in her 20's doesn't mean she isn't a bad mother fucker. And I should learn as much as I can from her. Or a grumpy sixty year old has seen alot and can pull you out of the fire.
I think I learned more catering part-time for 10 years taught me more than 50+ hours a week for 30 years.
Plus the weird thrill of almost crashing and burning then still being a part of 200 beautiful plates going out is an amazing high.
I grew to love it. I had folks I was excited to see I was working with when I got to an event. I knew I was going to learn something. Have some laughs. And crush an event. And sometimes I would see who was working and know we were fucked. We would pull it off but it wouldn't be pretty.
This has been a long story to get to the part when I talk about how I got to wanting to be a private chef. I know but we have covered where I had been. And how my passion for beautiful food and meals was nurtured.
Next: A great idea born over frustration and tequila
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