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Help Yourself — Tricks to Serving a Memorable Meal

We’ve all been to those events. You know the ones where they serve the completely forgettable champagne chicken with red potatoes and beans? It’s as if someone photocopied a meal in 1982 and everyone just keeps dishing out the same thing over and over. So, how can you get your guests to not only say “Mmmm” about your meal, but to tell everyone about it afterward? John Chesnut, Executive Chef at CRAVE Catering, manages to make meals and menus memorable for their many clients. Now’s your chance to know some of the esteemed Chef’s secrets.

Q. Tell me about Crave Catering and what you do there?

A. CRAVE Catering is a full service, off-site catering company for all occasions including weddings, corporate events and everything in between. CRAVE Catering offers customized menus, on-site selection, and event design. A restaurant quality menu provides many options, including fresh sushi, interactive food stations, elegant entrees, and stunning desserts.

My title is Executive Chef, however, like most chefs I wear many hats, even though many of them are not traditionally associated with a white coat. In my position, I work closely with our sales team and meet regularly with clients face-to-face to better understand their specific event needs. I go on venue site tours, manage the maintenance for our vehicle fleet, coordinate delivery logistics with our operations manager, design event decor, plan events inclusive of entertainment, flowers, food, and décor, all while creating international award-winning food innovations like our Inferno Corn. It's not just a chopping carrots kind of job!

Q. What’s the most important thing a planner should do when meeting with a caterer?

A. First, come with a budget in mind. Second, understand that it does take time to coordinate vendor partners and secure ingredients and equipment to make your event a spectacle to remember and immortalize on social media. Finally, time equals money, for both parties, and a professional chef fully appreciates that. It’s a much better use of everyone’s time to grant your chef access to your client as early on in the process as possible. Get them into the venue to understand the vision as well as the limitations they may face with production and service.

Q. What can you do to make a meal really memorable?

A. As a chef, in order to make a meal memorable, I first need to understand your client’s objective. Is it simply to have good food? Do they require a “WOW” factor in presentation style? Does the meal need to be on fire, frozen, melting, or floating? After I have all of this information, I get to work creating, and that’s nearly always a group effort with my catering team. We look for ways to innovate the ordinary. After all, food should be memorable. It should also inspire you. Most importantly, it should be delicious. We had an event recently that called for a budget-conscious, awe-inspiring, preset presentation (Typically, those terms are not used in the same sentence.) We came up with an entree that could withstand being on a table for more than two hours, put a clear plate cover over it, lit it with an LED light from the top, and placed an orb-shaped, multi-faceted, 8-inch tall dessert on top of that! From table level each guest faced a nearly 16-inch tall food display that was lit with the organization’s colors. Although, that was more about presentation than the meal, it's always important that the food looks and is delicious. Incorporating as much color and texture into items is just as important as how it’s served.

Q. What are you seeing trending right now?

A. It's all over the map, and regionally, it’s very eclectic as well. In Pittsburgh, they are featuring gourmet meatloaf carving stations. In Omaha, they're making nachos with thick-cut potato chips, beer cheese sauce, and short rib gravy. In Portland, they still love to eat from trucks, which is catching on everywhere else too! Everybody is craft beer or crafted cocktail crazy. The consistent theme is whatever is being served should be as interactive as possible. Whether verbally engaging the guest with choices and spectacle, or having them prepare their own custom item to consume, food is becoming an experience.

Q. Any other thoughts or tips on creating an unforgettable experience for guests?

A. Listen to the client, not the just words they are saying, but read their body language as well. Ask probing questions that are different from the norm, such as where they've traveled, what they enjoyed eating as a kid, they're favorite color, or what they’d want for their last meal on earth. Don't let all the questions be about food. Also, don't try to shoehorn in an item or agenda. Remember, sometimes ingredients, entrees, techniques, and presentations just don't fit. I like to bounce things off my team. Their buy in is important as they will likely be the individuals executing the custom creation at the event. If you have staff that believe something is awesome, then it's going to be awesome. Extraordinary People = Extraordinary Events.

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John Chesnut, Executive Chef | Crave Catering | jchesnut@cravecatering.com

John Chesnut's culinary training includes studies in Europe and at the Culinary Institute of America. He has made outstanding contributions to some of the country's most well-known restaurant brands, such as Nordstrom Restaurants, Morton's, and The Counter to mention just a few. For the past three years, Chef Chesnut has helmed the catering division for Kaskaid Hospitality, known as CRAVE Catering. Chef Chesnut has held the National Restaurant Association's Foodservice Management Professional accreditation since 2007, and is a chef member in the Research Chefs Association and International Caterers Association. Together with his team, they offer more than 60 years of catering experience. For more information visit www.cravecatering.com.

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