Customization Keeps Caterers on the Mark

Keeping on top of the catering market in Northwest Arkansas might be less about the food and more about the presentation.

Mark Henry, owner of Catering Unlimited in Springdale, said what keeps his business on the cutting edge is not the food product alone but the way the food is displayed.

He said he competes for business more with other restaurants than other caterers.

“On one particular date there can’t be one caterer for 10 events,” Henry said. “So we refer business back and forth.”

Shellie Morrison, co-owner of The Event Group in Fayetteville, said helping the customer make the event and the food presentation unique is a key element in her business.

Morrison said the advent of cooking shows on the Food Network, in addition to area newcomers as customers, has changed the catering business a little in Northwest Arkansas.

Morrison, whose event business has been open for 10 years, attends catering shows each year to find innovative serving methods. For example, The Event Group brought the concept of cocktail shrimp in a shot glass to this market last year.

The mashed-potato martini bar, a food trend where potatoes are served in a martini glass with customized toppings, was “big” on the East and West Coasts about five years ago, Morrison said.

But much like fashion, food trends sometimes take longer to hit markets such as Northwest Arkansas. Morrison said they introduced the mashed-potato martini bar here about two years ago.

“Basically we try to customize the event,” Morrison said. “If we have a client that we work with a lot, then we try to make it different and unique for them.”

Customizing might mean a signature drink at a wedding. Aside from being unique, the drinks also provide a more cost-effective way for clients to serve alcohol, she said.

Morrison said alcohol accounts for less than 5 percent of her total sales.

Morrison said her business does a majority of hors d’oeurve-type parties, but the parties with the largest profit margin are probably corporate dinner parties. The firm employs three full-time and 20 part-time people.

“It’s not as much price as it is volume,” Henry said. “It’s just as easy to produce food for 200 people as it is 20 people.”

Henry said if he is servicing two weddings on one day, for example, he will try to marry those two events as closely as he can to improve his margin.

Unlike restaurants, that may order items on a weekly or monthly basis, Henry orders his food within 36 hours of when the event takes place.

“The nice thing about the catering industry is you don’t have on-hand waste,” Henry said.

Henry said 30 to 40 percent of his business is weddings, with individual or corporate functions accounting for the rest.

He said the majority of his business is based on a $10-per-plate cost and a typical party size is 150 people. Morrison said her average event is for about 200 people. A typical week would include six events, she said.

But Henry said he probably does an average of two events per month that have more than 1,000 people.