Catering & Me

The previous two parts of my story are very good prep for this episode, either read them now, or after you read this post. Or don't. This post will mostly cover planning our participation in catering over 25,000 meals in the two week period before, during and after the Republican National Convention of 2000 that took place in Philadelphia, based at The First Union Center. Headquarters of the Union Pacific Railroad. Their history is great stuff. The first client we had for the RNC was the Union Pacific Railroad and by mid May or so most of the menus and pricing had been settled on and contracted. Max had actually been flown out to Omaha to UP headquarters to see the antique rail cars we would be serving on and meet many of the folks we would be interacting with ahead of time. The Electric Factory. Republicans once stampeded here. I'm not sure of the exact date, but our second client for the RNC came to us through our Electric Factory connection. Rob Jennings, who ...

In Part One I started the story with what led up to my employment at Max & Me Catering. This post will start with my first day and lead up to about the beginning of the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia in the summer of 2000.  Some of you have asked why I am doing this, and there are a number of reasons. One is that when I started blogging a few years back I had always planned to tell the story of the best job I have ever had, my years as GM then partner at Max & Me Catering. I think many of the stories over those years are very interesting and make a good read, many of you have told me that it is in fact nice to read. I also plan on writing at least one book some day, so this is practice, and also maybe advance work that I can cut and paste later into a manuscript. Another reason is that for those of you in the catering business these stories can also be educational, with many things you can learn both to do and not to do. Finally, I love history, and this s...

I'm really determined to get back to this blogging thing in a big way. One of the many story ideas I had planned on from the inception of the blog was a detailed chronological history of Max & Me Catering from my viewpoint. I had written an ongoing brief history from 2003 on, as it was happening, so I have a lot of benchmarks and important events chronicled as they happened. This account will be embellished from my original (which only about 15 or 20 people have read) with as much interesting info that I can remember. Unfortunately many of the great pictures that I could have used to enhance the narrative are not available to me. I'm frustrated. Need more Max & Me era pictures to share on this blog. Got any? As most know, Max & Me Catering was the brainchild of Max Hansen, who was a close friend of mine since my senior year of high school in Bucks County. We had many great adventures together, including a move to Steamboat Springs Colorado together in 1979 to ...

I'm not sure exactly when I discovered BizBash, the media/tradeshow company that IMHO is more tapped in to the national & international special event industry than any organization or competing company. This is a resource all of us in the industry need to stay current in all aspects of the business. Reading the magazine and surfing their amazing website is a given, and can be done in the comfort of your office or home. But ours is an experiential business, right? So when all the talent and connections of BizBash spring to life at BizBash Live! on October 28th at the Javits Center in NYC, you should reschedule any appointments you can and get yourself and your colleagues to the show. Whether you are a planner or a supplier, the amount of knowledge and connections you will get from BizBash Live will be invaluable, I'm guessing you will thank me next Wednesday. If you decide to go please let me know, email me harryspivak@gmail.com or tweet @harryspivak so we can say hi. ...

It's been over two years since I have written a new post. I guess I felt like I ran out of interesting things to say and I didn't feel the passion. I did two "best of" blogs highlighting some of my favorite posts then I just stopped. I'm restarting the blog with a 3 part series on my recent trip west. Part one will cover the work aspects of the trip, part two I plan to cover the foods and beverages that I enjoyed along the way, and part three will likely be a rambling stream of consciousness on the road in general and my great experiences this time around. Katie & Josh, serving up the veggie burgers in Boulder I recently was offered the opportunity to travel around the country to help one of my favorite catering clients, Innovative Catering Concepts, manage the food sampling at major consumer events for Morningstar Farms and their vegetarian burger products. It was an extremely attractive offer to me, not so much for the work, but for the travel. It ...

My nephew in front of his dad's cookshop. I spent the past 4 days helping my brother Jon at his recently opened business, Chive Cafe & Catering. Located adjacent to Peddler's Village in Bucks County, Chive is a great place for breakfast and lunch. One of Jon's goals is to have the best sandwiches in Bucks County and he is definitely a contender if you listened to the comments of his guests.  And of course I must mention his catering. As most know, Jon was Max's partner at Max & Me Catering way before I joined the team. He was as responsible for the growth, quality and success of the business as Max was, it just wasn't his name on the door. In positioning Chive's catering, Jon will hold to the same high quality standards he had at Max & Me, but he is aware of the new reality of the catering buyer's need to be much more budget conscious than many were from the mid-'90s through 2008. My buddy Erin Lambert with Duff from TV Food Network...

One excuse for no recent blogs. Mountains to climb, Mt. Evans CO 14,264' I was going to do this on the first anniversary of my first blog post but I didn't get around to it. That was back in mid-June. I think it will be good for those of you who are just starting to read my blog to look over some of the old posts. I have selected some of my favorites for you here, with brief recaps, and links to the original posts. A new post is coming, probably tomorrow, lots to catch up on: travels, events and new projects. It's been a great summer so far, hope you are enjoying it too. First blog post, June 13, 2011.  Link to blog post #1  This post discusses why I started blogging and what I intend to cover. Back in the dark days before I figured out how to put pictures in the blog. A great new venue, featuring farm to table at it's freshest! This blog post from October 11, 2011 is where I explain what I do for a living in the world of catering and special events. Learn h...