November 27, 2006
Be our guests | Despite the challenges, restaurants see catering as a way to boost revenues
By Chris Churchill
Chicky's Fine Diner is a restaurant at the heart of the revitalization that has in the last few years overtaken downtown Westbrook. Though its décor and atmosphere seems better suited to Austin, Texas, than a Cumberland County city widely known as a mill town, the space is warm and inviting, its tables arranged in front of a stage on which some of the Portland area's best bands routinely play.
But the restaurant's owners ˆ Chicky Stoltz and Blake Smithson ˆ want to generate an increasing percentage of their business away from this pleasant dining room. They want to grow the catering side of their business, with Chicky's Fine Diner, which opened less than three years ago, morphing into "Chicky's Fine Catering." "We've done a fair amount of catering since we opened," says Stoltz, "but we're looking to expand upon that. It's a good safe bet, as opposed to opening the doors every night and not knowing how many people are going to come in. It's a good steady revenue stream for us."
Chicky's is hardly alone. Many Maine restaurants are looking to grow their catering revenue and steal business from those who make catering a full-time occupation. That's especially true this time of year, when holiday parties have some catering companies scrambling to keep up with demand. But moving into catering isn't easy. It's a challenging and demanding business full of pitfalls of its own. It's so challenging, in fact, that some Maine restaurants have thrown up their hands and abandoned catering on the side ˆ even if it was lucrative.
The guys at Chicky's, who both worked previously at Portland caterer Aurora Provisions, aren't wearing blinders; they say they know the challenges presented when they take their food to outlying sites. "Sometimes it's as complicated as setting up a whole restaurant at another location," Smithson says, "in a kitchen you've never worked in before."
Adds Stoltz, "You really have to think on your feet to be good at it."
Who'll pass the snacks?
Most restaurants have a set number of employees, each scheduled to work on certain nights. The schedule is predictable. Catering presents a new set of staffing needs, requiring that a restaurant have a reserve of willing employees it can call and convince to come out for a night's work.
Forget about the obvious solution, say restaurant owners: You can't take those workers from the restaurant, at least not without letting service slip below the expectations of long-time customers. Stoltz and Smithson, however, say they haven't had trouble gathering catering workers willing to staff a party. "There's nobody that turns down the money that you offer for catering," says Stoltz, adding that the workers, who typically have full-time jobs away from the restaurant, get paid $15 to $20 an hour.
But staffing has been problematic for other restaurants. The Beale Street Barbeque chain of restaurants, which has locations in Bath, South Portland and Augusta, ran a successful catering business for years, says co-owner Rebecca Quigg, speaking from the company's headquarters in Bath. But catering was a headache, she says, leading the chain to abandon its operation several years ago.
The problem, Quigg says, was consistency. The catering business ebbs and flows, reaching peaks around the winter holidays and during the summer, when weddings provide a large segment of the catering business. "It's sort of an all-or-nothing situation," Quigg says.
How do you hire staff, she asks, during the summer peak and keep them once the catering business ebbs in the fall? They'll rightly move on to other jobs, forcing a business to hire anew when the catering business again starts to rise. "You can't hire staff unless you're doing it consistently," Quigg says.
Your place or mine?
Some restaurants prefer to have the party come to them. Michael Gagne, owner of The Robinhood Free Meetinghouse in Georgetown, says he "infinitely prefers" to cater a party at his site on Robinhood Road than load up the food and take his fine dining to customers. That's especially true because he's in a rural location, so the trip is likely to be lengthy, and it's especially true for smaller catered events. "It takes a lot of effort to move 20 meals," he says, "and not much more to move 200."
But Gagne's position is far from universal. Beale Street BBQ has never had parties at its restaurants, Quigg says, because the establishments are proudly open every day of the year, save Christmas and Thanksgiving. Beale Street does, however, offer "bulk take-out," allowing a customer to pickup food for as many as 75 people. It's the best the restaurant chain can do for those wanting it to provide food for an event. "People still call all the time" asking about catering, Quigg says. "People think it would be fun to have a barbeque function."
Chicky's will close its restaurant for private parties, but prefers not to. That's mainly because Stoltz and Smithson don't like to "shoo away customers" ˆ folks who perhaps drove by, saw a crowded and lively restaurant full of people enjoying live music, and thought they'd like to pop in and join the good time. "We'd rather cater events away from the restaurant," Stoltz says. "That allows us to do it on nights when we have the restaurant up and running."
Stoltz says Chicky's caters about four events a month and by mid-November had about four holiday parties on the schedule. Catering, he and Smithson say, comprises about 10% of the restaurant's revenue stream. "We'd like to get it up to 20% or 25%," Stoltz says.
Chicky's has done a limited amount of advertising for its catering services ˆ a prominent sign in its window proclaims its willingness to provide its southern-influenced food to holiday parties. "But most of the business we get is from people who have been to the restaurant or a Chicky's event," Stoltz says.
Smithson and Stoltz say the winter holidays seems to be the busiest time of year for catering, save the summer wedding season. But Gagne says fewer and fewer businesses seem to be hosting holiday parties and the December catering business is declining. New Year's Eve, he adds, remains a big night for catering.
The Robinhood Free Meetinghouse can cater four events in a day, a schedule that would stagger some restaurants. And with the Meetinghouse's prices at catered events averaging about $45 a head, the service is a nice supplement to income derived from the restaurant, says Gagne.
Chicky's is less expensive. It will drop off appetizers for $15 a head and charges about $30 a head for fully catered events. Those events might include live music; Smithson and Stoltz are trying to promote bands that regularly play the restaurant as suitable entertainment for private, off-site parties.
And they are parties, after all ˆ which is part of the appeal of catering for the Chicky's owners. "It's fun, and that's one of the great things about catering," Smithson says.
Adds Stoltz, "The majority of people at these functions are not paying, so they're in a good mood."
But the restaurant's owners ˆ Chicky Stoltz and Blake Smithson ˆ want to generate an increasing percentage of their business away from this pleasant dining room. They want to grow the catering side of their business, with Chicky's Fine Diner, which opened less than three years ago, morphing into "Chicky's Fine Catering." "We've done a fair amount of catering since we opened," says Stoltz, "but we're looking to expand upon that. It's a good safe bet, as opposed to opening the doors every night and not knowing how many people are going to come in. It's a good steady revenue stream for us."
Chicky's is hardly alone. Many Maine restaurants are looking to grow their catering revenue and steal business from those who make catering a full-time occupation. That's especially true this time of year, when holiday parties have some catering companies scrambling to keep up with demand. But moving into catering isn't easy. It's a challenging and demanding business full of pitfalls of its own. It's so challenging, in fact, that some Maine restaurants have thrown up their hands and abandoned catering on the side ˆ even if it was lucrative.
The guys at Chicky's, who both worked previously at Portland caterer Aurora Provisions, aren't wearing blinders; they say they know the challenges presented when they take their food to outlying sites. "Sometimes it's as complicated as setting up a whole restaurant at another location," Smithson says, "in a kitchen you've never worked in before."
Adds Stoltz, "You really have to think on your feet to be good at it."
Who'll pass the snacks?
Most restaurants have a set number of employees, each scheduled to work on certain nights. The schedule is predictable. Catering presents a new set of staffing needs, requiring that a restaurant have a reserve of willing employees it can call and convince to come out for a night's work.
Forget about the obvious solution, say restaurant owners: You can't take those workers from the restaurant, at least not without letting service slip below the expectations of long-time customers. Stoltz and Smithson, however, say they haven't had trouble gathering catering workers willing to staff a party. "There's nobody that turns down the money that you offer for catering," says Stoltz, adding that the workers, who typically have full-time jobs away from the restaurant, get paid $15 to $20 an hour.
But staffing has been problematic for other restaurants. The Beale Street Barbeque chain of restaurants, which has locations in Bath, South Portland and Augusta, ran a successful catering business for years, says co-owner Rebecca Quigg, speaking from the company's headquarters in Bath. But catering was a headache, she says, leading the chain to abandon its operation several years ago.
The problem, Quigg says, was consistency. The catering business ebbs and flows, reaching peaks around the winter holidays and during the summer, when weddings provide a large segment of the catering business. "It's sort of an all-or-nothing situation," Quigg says.
How do you hire staff, she asks, during the summer peak and keep them once the catering business ebbs in the fall? They'll rightly move on to other jobs, forcing a business to hire anew when the catering business again starts to rise. "You can't hire staff unless you're doing it consistently," Quigg says.
Your place or mine?
Some restaurants prefer to have the party come to them. Michael Gagne, owner of The Robinhood Free Meetinghouse in Georgetown, says he "infinitely prefers" to cater a party at his site on Robinhood Road than load up the food and take his fine dining to customers. That's especially true because he's in a rural location, so the trip is likely to be lengthy, and it's especially true for smaller catered events. "It takes a lot of effort to move 20 meals," he says, "and not much more to move 200."
But Gagne's position is far from universal. Beale Street BBQ has never had parties at its restaurants, Quigg says, because the establishments are proudly open every day of the year, save Christmas and Thanksgiving. Beale Street does, however, offer "bulk take-out," allowing a customer to pickup food for as many as 75 people. It's the best the restaurant chain can do for those wanting it to provide food for an event. "People still call all the time" asking about catering, Quigg says. "People think it would be fun to have a barbeque function."
Chicky's will close its restaurant for private parties, but prefers not to. That's mainly because Stoltz and Smithson don't like to "shoo away customers" ˆ folks who perhaps drove by, saw a crowded and lively restaurant full of people enjoying live music, and thought they'd like to pop in and join the good time. "We'd rather cater events away from the restaurant," Stoltz says. "That allows us to do it on nights when we have the restaurant up and running."
Stoltz says Chicky's caters about four events a month and by mid-November had about four holiday parties on the schedule. Catering, he and Smithson say, comprises about 10% of the restaurant's revenue stream. "We'd like to get it up to 20% or 25%," Stoltz says.
Chicky's has done a limited amount of advertising for its catering services ˆ a prominent sign in its window proclaims its willingness to provide its southern-influenced food to holiday parties. "But most of the business we get is from people who have been to the restaurant or a Chicky's event," Stoltz says.
Smithson and Stoltz say the winter holidays seems to be the busiest time of year for catering, save the summer wedding season. But Gagne says fewer and fewer businesses seem to be hosting holiday parties and the December catering business is declining. New Year's Eve, he adds, remains a big night for catering.
The Robinhood Free Meetinghouse can cater four events in a day, a schedule that would stagger some restaurants. And with the Meetinghouse's prices at catered events averaging about $45 a head, the service is a nice supplement to income derived from the restaurant, says Gagne.
Chicky's is less expensive. It will drop off appetizers for $15 a head and charges about $30 a head for fully catered events. Those events might include live music; Smithson and Stoltz are trying to promote bands that regularly play the restaurant as suitable entertainment for private, off-site parties.
And they are parties, after all ˆ which is part of the appeal of catering for the Chicky's owners. "It's fun, and that's one of the great things about catering," Smithson says.
Adds Stoltz, "The majority of people at these functions are not paying, so they're in a good mood."
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