Catering & Me

The Electric Factory is the very first special event venue I ever experienced and also worked in. When I was ten years old my father, Joseph “Jerry” Spivak hired me to alphabetize the mailing list of the Factory. The pay was $1 per hour, they had about 40,000 names on small metallic plates, and I got half way through the letter “B” before I retired to focus on my 5 th grade studies.  A packed house at the Electric Factory Larry Magid's New Book The original Electric Factory was a converted tire warehouse at 22 nd and Arch Streets in Philadelphia, it opened in 1968 and closed in 1971. The original opening group was my father, his two brothers Herb and Allen, Shelly Kaplan and Larry Magid. When the Factory closed they began using the name Electric Factory Concerts and took most of the business to bigger venues such as The Spectrum. Larry went on to become the face of the business and with Allen running the business side they made EFC one ...

While you all wait patiently for my Electric Factory post, here is some valuable information to read today. The following article from the New York Times shows very clearly why you need real catering professionals to execute off premise events. Restaurants are usually very good at making food in their home arenas, but put them in an unfamiliar venue and watch out. It's not that they can't learn, but often their egos get in the way. Anyone ever had this happen to them? http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/08/sixty-chefs-in-the-palace-and-still-just-average/?ref=dining How do you avoid having problems like they did in Versailles in the above linked article? One way is by doing a thorough site evaluation. Mike Roman, the founder and head honcho at Catersource, (the most important catering industry magazine and trade show) has a blog, and he did a post back in May that is the best outline for a site evaluation I have ever seen. Here it is: ...

Pauline Parry and her company Good Gracious Events do great work. They produce some of the most innovative food station design work I have seen.      http://foodfunandlove.blogspot.com/2011/07/escape-to-church-estate-vineyards.html

My favorite chef, Jenn Carroll, and her 10 Arts crew at Best of Style Party. Back to the blogosphere. I have been working on my first Site Inspection story on the Electric Factory, it's not quite ready yet, but I wanted to relay some of the fun happenings I took  part in this past week. Tuesday was the Ultimate Networking Party at Chenango, the new restaurant inside the Arrow Swim Club, next to the Piazza in NoLibs. Fun time, decent food, and the highlight for me was that Uncle Bart was going to lend me some swim trunks so I could take a dip. I did not take him up on it though, fear of not fitting and/or ripping them. Moshulu at Night, nice. Wednesday I spent the whole day in a seminar on blogging. Very informative if a bit tiring, look for some of my new techniques in future posts and marketing efforts. Wednesday evening was perhaps the premier event industry networking event of the summer, HSMAI's Bash on the Moshulu. The Philly area event industry's most import...

A cool Fourth of July Food Station, Max & Me, 2003 As promised, here is my long holiday weekend of meeting and eating. I was pretty good in my never ending battle of the bulge by not over eating, staying away from starches for the most part, and even a bit of excercising. Thursday, Alex’s Lemonade Stand, Advanced Staging, West Chester PA Excellent Burgers, Dogs, Potato Salad, Slaw, Caesar Salad and a nice selection of Desserts. A great kick-off to the holiday weekend, feel good fundraiser and great hosts in Steve and Donna. Friday, Poolside Libation’s with Peter & Joanne Breslow, North Wales PA Sparkling Wine, Coppola Chardonnay, Peaches and Plums. Relaxing afternoon by their beautiful pool, nice brainstorming and hanging with the Breslow's. Friday Evening, Opening of Rosey’s BBQ, Ambler PA BBQ Chicken, Smoked Turkey Breast (incredibly juicy, maybe best turkey ever), BBQ Beans and Mac’n Cheese. Delicious, authentic food. Go here,...

An Event at the NCC The Fourth of July holiday brings back Max & Me Catering memories. Eight years ago we opened the National Constitution Center, and as the exclusive food service operator we were under tremendous pressure to perform at an extremely high level from day one. The building was to open to the public on the Fourth, but our biggest project was the Gala opening dinner followed by the "Red, White and Blue To Do" on the evening before. Catersource, the premier national catering magazine, wrote a cover story on the opening of the NCC from the caterers perspective. Here is a link to the summary of the original article, I can't seem to find the complete article in my files or on line. It's a good story though and I have lots more to write about the NCC at a later date including how we were able to win the contract bidding against all the biggest food service contractors in the world. I may even discuss why I left Max & Me Catering and the NCC. Cater...

Battleship New Jersey The Forecastle Area I can't do it. I can't post every day. Oh well, many of my trusted advisers think that posting less often will heighten interest. I hope so. I have been kind of waiting to do certain types of posts until I taught myself how to insert pictures. I gave up and asked for help today, thanks Jules for teaching me. Now I need to round up a larger inventory of pictures. Last Wednesday one of my clients, Feast Your Eyes Gourmet Catering held a promotional party to introduce their clients and prospective clients to the Battleship New Jersey, a new venue for them that they share exclusive catering status with one other company. The event went really well, the turnout was slightly more than expected, the weather was perfect and Chef Lynn Buono's food was spectacular. Some of the menu highlights for me were the paella, short ribs, fried cauliflower and mini cheesesteak springrolls. The Battleship is a phenomenal place to do a special event...