Caterers stay busy with events

Local caterers are kept busy with all sizes and types of special events both business and social. Ryan Tiller, a relative newcomer to the catering industry with his company, Dining by Design, said he's done very well despite the fact that his company opened for business Sept. 24, 2001, just after the Sept. 11 attacks.

"December was the second biggest month that I've had, and I was open exactly two months," Tiller said. "The amount of catering that I did that month went beyond anything that my business plan showed that I would do within the first year."

He added that his sales continue to be "absolutely incredible."

Sam Hudgins, the director of food and beverage and executive chef at Mikayla's Grill, said he too is seeing an increase in business.

"We're actually up over last year by almost 12 percent in the number of catering jobs that we do," Hudgins said. "The groups are smaller this year than they have been in the past we're seeing more groups, just smaller groups.

"I think a lot of it is that companies have downsized and they are just not entertaining the whole company. If they're entertaining, they're doing it more for the key people or key clients. They're keeping it down to more of a selective group."

Mikayla's typically caters to groups in the 50-person range, Hudgins said.

Dining by Design

Tiller worked for Atlas Communications for five years as sales marketing manager, then he took a position in sales with CSI Tools for about seven months before starting his own business.

"I found that cooking was where my talent was," he said.

A Springfield native, Tiller started cooking for both large and small groups at his church while he was still in college at Southwest Missouri State University. When he realized he wanted a job change, he began to develop his own business plan using the Web for research. He started his company in September 2001 and has stayed busy ever since.

Tiller purchased the former James River Nursing Home at 1330 E. Cherry St. and remodeled the kitchen and office space for his business.

The company does everything from large catered events of 300 people or more to single family meals. Tiller has 15 people who work for him on a part-time basis as servers. His mother and his grandfather sometimes get into the act and help in the kitchen when things become too hectic.

"What I'm finding is that people are looking for a company that does catering and serving, and does it well," he said.

To accommodate smaller parties of 50 people or less, Tiller has his own tables, chairs and linens. He uses rental equipment for large groups. On the corporate side of the spectrum, he serves several local companies on a regular basis for parties and meetings. He also caters weddings, anniversaries and family reunions.

Tiller has developed a number of recipes on his own to give them a personal touch. In the beginning he combed through older cookbooks, then customized the dishes with his own ideas. The company already is known for its pies and cookies, Tiller said.

"Desserts are my specialty," he said.

Tiller provides delivery service when people send food as a gift. This service was very popular during the holidays.

"People send a card to announce that rolls or a pie are coming. We then deliver the food fresh at the last minute," he said.

While his catering jobs are going well, Tiller said that he's noticed that many customers don't necessarily want a grand-scale event, but just to be able to pick up food to take home to their families. To that end, Tiller said, he's getting ready to establish regular business hours and a retail operation at Dining by Design, which will allow customers to come in, get their food and take it home.

"I think people are at a point that they're tired of going out to eat, but yet, people still aren't wanting to cook on their own," Tiller said.

Wild Fork

Kathy Ehly, owner of Wild Fork, knows a thing or two about the demand for catering in the local market. Wild Fork, located at 1013 N. Kenneth in Nixa, opened for business three years ago. Originally Wild Fork was a restaurant and a catering service, but Ehly closed the restaurant after two and a half years so that she could keep up with the demand for her catering services.

Ehly caters about 25 events per week for businesspeople including meetings for pharmaceutical representatives and open houses for real estate agents hosting other agents. She also caters a variety of social events including weddings and family reunions. She noted that she doesn't do catering jobs unless they will serve 10 or more people, and she said most of her jobs serve 40 or more.

As for what she serves, Ehly said about 80 percent of her business is for full-meal catering.

"That's one type of meat, some type of potatoes, some type of vegetable, a salad, tea, coffee, they get all the disposables (tableware) with it. It's a complete packaged meal," Ehly said. Wild Fork also provides desserts.

Ehly caters a lot of events at Elfindale Mansion and Honey Branch Cave near Sparta. During the first 2 1/2 years of business, Wild Fork was both a restaurant and catering service. The catering side of the company became so busy that she closed the restaurant to keep up with demand.

"I think the reason we stay so busy is that we make everything from scratch," Ehly said.

Ninety percent of Ehly's business comes from word of mouth. "Food in mouth is how we put it," she said. Also, she said, nothing is served from Styrofoam, but in chafing dishes, because "Styrofoam is not quality. I don't like those Styrofoam containers," she added.

Because Ehly has traveling refrigeration equipment, she has been able to cater events in Branson, Bolivar, Monett and Mountain Grove.

Ehly said that she does get calls from people who want to come in and buy family meals, but she tries to steer clear of doing that because it's time-consuming.

Mikayla's

Mikayla's Grill, located at 3700 E. Millwood Dr. inside Millwood Golf and Racquet Club, caters up to four events per day for both members and nonmembers, according to Cathy Sheetz, catering manager.

Mikayla's hosts business meetings, showers, rehearsal dinners, golf tournaments and other types of events. Some events are limited to members only.

"We do everything from barbecues to sit-down dinners by the pool," Sheetz said.

The facility has its own equipment for special events. Occasionally rental equipment is used when audio/video equipment is needed, she said.