keep it all in THIS

pucker up with THIS

flip through THIS

protect with THIS

shade yourself with THIS

get wavy with THIS

relax under THIS

strap on THIS

We loved collaborating with Jenni Kayne from Rip + Tan on her Mother’s day brunch. The afternoon was beautiful, calm, and mothers got to spend quality time with their littles ones.  Sweet treats were provided by the tasty Valerie Confections, and refreshing cocktails were made by Pharmacie. The decor inspiration for the brunch was sweet, springy, with a touch of wild English backyard. Kristen from Moon Canyon designed gorgeous floral arrangements, and the table could not be complete with out vintage chairs from Found Rentals, and glass wear from Borrowed Blu. Thanks Jenni for having us! xoxo Paige & Kelly

Photos by Jesse Chamberlin

When we set out to plan our clients events, we think about every single moment. We walk the space in our minds from the time a guest arrives to the last guest to exit. We think about the beginning, the middle, the end and how we can heighten all the senses of the guest experience. We work with some unbelievably talented people in our production and love to showcase them here for readers to get to know. These people make our job better, more elevated, and unbelievably unique.

We met Steve Fortunato of roomforty three years ago and immediately found his passion for food, design, and service infectious. A tip for all you laymen out there, there aren’t a lot of caterers thinking about the guest experience from all levels. Steve does. He is collaborative, excited, and serious about his work and the intention behind it. His approach elevates our game. And once you see and taste the food, you will understand why he was the pioneer of  “farm to form”.  A few words from the master himself:

Event food has essentially looked the same for the past few years—torn parchment, wood grain—etc. I think a part of that is because events need to FEEL WARM, and refined is often perceived and/or experienced as cold. I believe that elegance has more to do with attention to detail and composition than it does format. To me—“elegant”  is different than “fancy”. Elegance to me, means, essentially—refined. That is part of what I believe roomforty is pioneering, a movement from “rustic” to “refined”. What people are looking for in their events is warmth, excellence (which includes quality of product), community and most importantly….memories. So for us—the mission has been to show that refined can be fun, elegance can be accessible—and composed doesn’t mean cold. And all of it comes straight from the farmers and taste unbelievably delicious.

When we work with designers and planners, they are about resonance and cohesion. There is ACUTE attention to detail paid to every aspect of an event—the flowers, the napkins, the lighting, the silverware—it’s artistry in hospitality. So what we’re trying to do is reflect that artistry in the catering. Not just in the food, but in the service as well.

Most companies hire random staff. Not us. The choice we’ve made to not use staffing agencies for servers is a very strategic one. We’ve experienced that one of the tendencies that further entrenches the perspective and paradigms that people have with catering, is that the service is a forgotten piece—because there is no cohesion, and very little barrier to entry for people wanting to be on a staffing company roster. They have never worked with the chef, the manager, the planners, they don’t get the intention. With a rotating in-house team of staff, that never happens. They take just as much pride in the outcome as I do. We want servers who not only know how to serve and clear correctly—we want servers that can be passionately articulate about our food product—and you can’t get that from a roster of people you outsource to a staffing agency.  When you’re making house made vinegar, your server needs to know that.

“Farm to table” became a movement that guys like Jim Denevan (Outstanding in the Field) made very novel and really cool. “We’re going to put a table in a field, pluck some arugula from the ground next to the table, dress it with some lemon from that tree over there, and finish it with some olive oil we made on the property, while a Berkshire pig that was raised here, turns on the rotisserie.”  Bam. Awesome.  It was an activist movement when the recession hit…..obviously as Thomas Keller and Alice Waters and Tom Colicchio began highlighting the farmers and foragers they worked with — that took off like wild fire.  But in the event space—it was Jim Denevan of Outstanding in the Field that turned eating on a farm into an actual event…..and the warmth of that, the ease of that —became how people envisioned the food at their event (one big table, platter of a lamb that just got pulled off the spit) and it’s great…but “farm to table” is being understood and experienced as “rustic” in how food is presented and served—and often there is nothing else “rustic” about the event. If the event is in a field, next to a barn, and there’s cows on the horizon—get out the damn farm tables, and the rotisserie—awesome.  But if it’s not—if you spent more than $500 on your flowers, then let composition and technique and attention to detail be applied to the food and service (catering) the same way it is being applied to every other aspect of the event.

There is very little technique in the way food is made with the ‘farm to table’ movement (specifically in events)…and so what happens is a gap between the great restaurant experience and the “special-once-in-a-lifetime” event gets wider and wider…..because the service was handled by a staffing agency, and the food had very little technique or depth of flavor or something unexpected that blew your mind and was memorable.

More than anything, people want memories with their events. People remember great dining experiences and they remember great service….and I would argue that they remember it MORE than great flowers. So many aspects of an event serve to elevate the host or guest of honor. But FOOD is the one aspect that truly NOURISHES the guest.

FOOD is where you return the favor.  Food is where you nurture those that came to celebrate you. 

 And it’s embarrassing when the one place you can nurture your guests, is forgettable. At roomforty, we expect all of your guests to have an elevated experience and never go away feeling they didn’t have a once in a lifetime experience. 

Well said, Steve.

xoxo,

Paige & Kelly