That Guy

 

I have been drawn to catering for years, Kris knows that... it might even be an illness, really work at night, on weekends, busy when normal people are having fun... but she has always been my biggest supporter when I do an event.  A couple of months ago our friends Rochelle and Dan were talking about his parents upcoming 50 wedding anniversary.  Dan was saying that they will probably get   Italian Beef Sandwiches and Polish Sausages from Portillos or some other chain caterer.  Kris stopped him with the question, "Dan, have you met my husband Bryan... the guy that has made food for you... you remember it, you almost cried when he made Christmas Dinner at your house, why don't you talk to him."

On the way home Kris apologized to me for offering my services, but I think that deep down she knew that she wasn't throwing me under the bus, she was making it clear that she wants me to do something that I love even as a side business.

As the time drew near I was putting together the menu and getting everything in order...

Oh the menu....
Chicken Breast with a Vodka Cream Sauce
Polish Sausage with Sauerkraut and Apples
Potato Pancakes
Macaroni and Cheese
Green Beans
Fresh fruit, cheese and Charcuterie (fancy pants word salty cured meats)
Oysters on the half shell
and almost as an afterthought, Focaccia I have made that for them before

In the days before we launched we discussed what to call the business we bounced around several ideas here are some:

BFine Catering
Lunah (play on Mr. Man and Miss Lu's names)
RELN catering (a play on all of the kids names)
Bryan's Bistro to You
Taste and Savour
Spatter Catering
Sinful Spoonful

Actually, Miss Lu and I liked "Splatter" I think for the scary movie undertone but it just didn't seem  to give the right feel.  We wrote  all of these on a whiteboard with a bunch of others and bounced  the ideas around for a couple of days then...
Hmm it seems to happen a lot, life got in the way. As I was making dinner for 70 I was expressing my regret for not getting business cards made for a business that we hadn't named yet and Kris said, "well if we get anyone interested I'll just write your name on a napkin and say it is 'That Guy's Catering.'"  We both stopped there, "That Guy"  hmm that kind of works, not pretentious, easy to remember.  I like the (ok, showing my age here) Marlo Thomas "That Girl" reference.

Can you believe that my sous chef made more in tips than I did?

Anyway it worked!  I did have people ask about using my services!  and we did write "That Guy's Catering" on a a few napkins and got the information needed.  So I put together a good dinner and had two or three people interested in my services overall it was a great night.

I have talked about my kitchen a few times it is a small galley style kitchen... here is how it looks after I cook for a big party...  I swear it was clean when I started cooking this is the aftermath when we got home.