Welcome to Camera Eats. I'm your host, Felix Bazgan. On the show today, we'll hear from Mike Bicocchi. He's the executive chef at Elegant Affairs, a full service catering company serving the Manhattan, New York City, long Island, and the Hamptons. I'm May Mike get the recent Cater Source trade show in. Hughes, some of our Canberra go boxes in a presentation on off-premise logistics.
In this interview, we're gonna talk catering trends and his outlook for 2023. Let's get to the interview with us today. We have Mike Bek, he's the executive chef at Elegant Affairs. Hi Mike. How are you? I'm well, thanks. What's going on, Felix? Doing very well. Very well. So we saw Mike at the recent Cater sort show.
He he, he actually gave a presentation there. Is that, Yeah. Yep. We talked about off-premise logistics. Okay, great. Great. Well, we'll, we'll, we'll get to that in a little bit here, but a little about your background and kind of where you are. So, elegant Affairs is a full service off pre premise catering company, correct?
That is correct. Okay. Yeah. And you guys service you guys are in New York, just outside of New York City, right? Yep. Okay. You guys service Manhattan, New York City, long Island, and the Hampton. Yep. Sounds rough. Sounds like a rough roll over. We cover some, we cover some ground, you know, in, in season, but it's nice cause the, the summertime we mainly are out in the Hamptons and then the wintertime the city market picks up for us.
Okay, great. Great. So give us a little bit about your background before you get into kind of what you're doing now, kind of what got you into a food. So I got interested in cooking probably when I was like 12 or 13 watching Food Network and it was guys like Emeral and Ya Can Cook. And like, vital in like the beginning days of Food Network.
And so cooking at home in, in the kitchen with my parents. And then I started as restaurant chef. So a lot of years in Manhattan running restaurant called Flex Muscles. So it's kinda like one of the most, you know, Proudest, like, you know, accomplishments was dealing with that restaurant and what we were able to do there and like how it's still kind of thriving all these years later.
And so then from there it was kind of like trying to. A little bit of a lifestyle back. So I got into catering and started exploring the off-premise catering, like event side business. Ok. So, you know, Monday through Friday it's more of a reasonable schedule and then, you know, we're heavy on the weekends.
And so that's kind how I got into the off-premise catering deal. Okay. And then worked for company called for some years and, you know, did a lot of off. Them. That's how I met the GM of a company that I'm at now. And just coming outta Covid, I kind of reconnected with him. I was doing some freelance work and that's how I ended up landing at at ea.
So it's, you know, it's only about a year and a half I've been exec here. Okay. So, you know, settled in now and kind of, you know, really getting going, looking forward to this next season. Okay, great. Great. You know, it's kinda in a nutshell. Great. Terrific. Okay, so you, you've been there just a little over, like you said, a year, year and a half here.
Coming up on that tell us a little bit about, obviously, The company, I read quite a bit about it. It, it was started in its own by Andrea Coryell, is that correct? Yeah, yeah. She started, I mean, we're, I think we're about 30 years old the company, and she started it like in her basement, you know, and she's kind of built it into this, you know, powerhouse that we are.
I mean, we're doing really large events now in big weddings, and it's, you know, it's really nice to kind of be working on those type of, of parties. You know, she's done a really, really good job of kind of keeping up with trends and like helping everybody stay current and really push the design and the presentation.
So, you know, hats off to her for, for a lot of years of really working in a tough industry. Right. Yeah. And I'm sure competition must be, you know, you're, you're in definitely a, a high-end competitive marketplace there. What, what kind of a makes your, you guys kind of stand out? What, what are the things you pride yourself?
I think our, our presentation our service, definitely. I'd like to say the boot, you know, obviously we're trying to hit a different level. We're trying to, Reimagine what catering food is and what it can be. Right? And it's kind of, people have this misconception a lot of time of what, you know, catering food is and limitations.
And so you know, we wanna be able to raise the bar. So that's kind of what I think separates us as our, our team. We've got a really great strong and talented team that works real well together as a unit. And so I think that's a huge asset of ours. And so we have also have a good vision from our leader.
And so, pardon me. So, you know, that's that's what I'd say is really gives us the edge, you know, it's our people, our team. Definitely. Definitely. Yeah. It's, I think there's a lot of industries, especially in you know, the, when you're serving people, it's definitely the, the, the people, right? It is, it's, and it's tough cuz people struggle for good employees and good workers, you know, and, and it's hard to kind of retain good people.
So, you know, we, we put a lot of focus on that and, and work really working on our culture and being able to, you know, identify the like-minded people and, you know, get them interested and get them motivated to, you know, hang with us for the long term. Sure. So, okay, great. Obviously I, I know from obviously talking to a lot of folks, 2022 is like a big rebound.
We're coming off of obviously covid, a lot of pent up demand for events, things like that. Are you still seeing some of that as a settling anymore into a normal pattern or are you guys always looking to kind of grow? I mean, we're always looking to grow. But I'd say that, you know, this year's looking just as busy as last year was.
I think we're seeing a little spill over that pent up demand still happening because there were, you know, weekends where last year you couldn't get booked. So I think people might have pushed things even further out. But you know, just as busy as last year, we are actively trying to, you know, grow the portfolio.
We do have a brick and mortar that's gonna be coming online this year. Okay. So we'll be like our first like actual. Catering facility as opposed to the off premise that we do. So that's really exciting. We're looking forward to that. And you know, from there we'll see what happens. Okay. So that's kind of like a place where you're gonna be able to host events kind of a thing.
We're gonna host events. Yeah. So that, that we own that, you know, we'll have exclusive rights too, and, okay. It'll be a nice spot out in the Hamptons where people can go and have parties. Hopefully that'll kind of give us something to do in the offseason as well. But it's indoors, so if you wanna have a Hamptons event in the off season, but you know, obviously weather's an issue.
Hopefully that's something that'll, that'll, you know, kind of push us and kind of grow our offseason business. Okay, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Tell us a little bit about your presentation at Cater. So we talked about off-premise catering logistics, which is like a super broad, you know, topic. So we, we kind of.
Did like a case study. Kind of in a nutshell. This is what we do on a daily, weekly basis. This is kind of how we attack our organization and packing and, you know, all of these things from like our, you know, menu meeting in the beginning of the week to then, you know, execution obviously on, on the event, right?
So I presented with our GMP and, you know, we talked about. You know, specifically in the kitchen, like how we use the Cambro products to pack and ship our stuff, keep it cold or hot, you know, and some of the selling points, I guess, if you will, that, you know, I, I, I think make them good, you know, items to have if you're doing off-prem catering.
So you know, Pete spoke more about like our systems and you know, how the meetings are run and like some of, some of those things and like, you know, site visits and evaluating the space that you can go walk into and, you know, so many things. So we kind of tried to keep it broad and give just like a, like a sweeping overview of, of what we do and how we do it and let people hopefully take a al or two, you know, right.
And, and take it home with them and help 'em. Yeah. I, I could tell you definitely talked a little bit about our go boxes because right afterwards in, in the booth we had quite a few folks combined. Yeah, good feedback. Wanna to talk about it? Yeah. Awesome. It's good to see that immediate gratification, right?
They left the, the presentation and went straight up. Definitely, definitely. Great, great. Okay, so tell me a little bit about kind of some of the things that they've seen. In in your time, obviously, in not only just the restaurant side, but catering, what are some of the trends you are, you're seeing as far as either changing or just something you, you're noticing?
So something interesting that kind of came out of Covid funny enough was the idea that we're doing these like mini meals and like individual small plates and stuff, right? As opposed to like these big sprawling buffets where everyone's kind of picking and touching. And so it started to kind of satiate that.
Like the sanitation and people wanted to have parties but didn't want to have, you know, germs and all this, but like they've kind of stuck and our salespeople like selling them. And so something that we spent a little time in the off-season developing. And so we've got a couple styles of them where, you know, either a, they'll just come outta the kitchen composed.
Or we'll have a chef on a station actually, you know, building, you know, beautiful little plates and kind of having 'em all, all displayed so you could build a cocktail hour with just, you know, a series of these stations. So that's something that, that is definitely growing. And then, like the use of certain equipment, like SUV is something that's becoming more commonplace in.
Catering side cuz definitely, you know when you're working with limitations and power and things like that, you know, it's, it's a huge asset to be able to go to something like that. Yeah. So, so different techniques say that, you know, the, the SUV's been a, a big thing. What else? As far as trends, like mini stuff, everyone wants little things miniaturized and a little mini hotdog and a little mini bun.
It's so simple and people, you know, go nuts for it. And they sell it on every job. Little things like that. Like the whimsical stuff is still Yes. Super popular, you know? Yeah. Okay. Seasoned with you know, emotion and, and sentiment and things that are, you know, people want stuff that like speaks to their relationship and, you know, when they're getting married and everyone's got like their little thing that they want to have that's theirs.
Right? So like specialty beverage or like some special item that speaks to a time that they met in Paris and eat this little, you know, like this is the level that we're going to with, with some of these events. You know? It's fun though, cause Yeah. Get to do stuff different every day. Yeah. That's cool. It makes it real personalized for the, for the events.
Yeah. Okay, cool. So I'm always curious what's one ongoing misconception about catering that you, you're always hearing from, from the public? What's something you'd, you'd want people to, you'd wanna address? I guess that, you know, it doesn't have to be. You know, buffet food, it doesn't have to be, you know, slop and plot mashed potatoes.
Like you can really elevate it with some good knowledge of logistics and, you know, some good experience of like setting up these field kitchens because with the right resources you can do it, you can set up a full kitchen and really put out like a restaurant sell service. So that, that's where I think like my restaurant background and my executive sous chef also has a restaurant background.
We kind of bring. To the catering side and try to approach it more like restaurant, like how the food goes out, the way we finish onsite versus, you know, having things done and cooked at our kitchen and then like sent hot. You know, like we actually bring everything cold and we finish and we, we do some cutting.
We do things onsite, you know, at the day of the event. So the freshness is there, you know? Right. And we're able to kinda elevate a little bit that way. So I'd say that's, that's. The most important thing for me is, you know, you're able to do really fine things if you plan right and you have the right resource.
Right. Excellent. Great. Well I definitely want to thank you for your time today. I really appreciate it. Thank you. And wish you a really great 2023 and hopefully we'll see you again at Cater Source, if not in Hamptons. Thanks. Yeah. Lemme know if you guys are out this way. You know, I'd, I'd be happy to host you, but for sure we'll see you cater sauce next year.
Definitely. Thanks a lot. Thanks. Good to see you again. Take care. Thank you for listening. As always, visit camber eats.com for more information on this and other episodes. Until next time, stay hungry.
In this interview, we're gonna talk catering trends and his outlook for 2023. Let's get to the interview with us today. We have Mike Bek, he's the executive chef at Elegant Affairs. Hi Mike. How are you? I'm well, thanks. What's going on, Felix? Doing very well. Very well. So we saw Mike at the recent Cater sort show.
He he, he actually gave a presentation there. Is that, Yeah. Yep. We talked about off-premise logistics. Okay, great. Great. Well, we'll, we'll, we'll get to that in a little bit here, but a little about your background and kind of where you are. So, elegant Affairs is a full service off pre premise catering company, correct?
That is correct. Okay. Yeah. And you guys service you guys are in New York, just outside of New York City, right? Yep. Okay. You guys service Manhattan, New York City, long Island, and the Hampton. Yep. Sounds rough. Sounds like a rough roll over. We cover some, we cover some ground, you know, in, in season, but it's nice cause the, the summertime we mainly are out in the Hamptons and then the wintertime the city market picks up for us.
Okay, great. Great. So give us a little bit about your background before you get into kind of what you're doing now, kind of what got you into a food. So I got interested in cooking probably when I was like 12 or 13 watching Food Network and it was guys like Emeral and Ya Can Cook. And like, vital in like the beginning days of Food Network.
And so cooking at home in, in the kitchen with my parents. And then I started as restaurant chef. So a lot of years in Manhattan running restaurant called Flex Muscles. So it's kinda like one of the most, you know, Proudest, like, you know, accomplishments was dealing with that restaurant and what we were able to do there and like how it's still kind of thriving all these years later.
And so then from there it was kind of like trying to. A little bit of a lifestyle back. So I got into catering and started exploring the off-premise catering, like event side business. Ok. So, you know, Monday through Friday it's more of a reasonable schedule and then, you know, we're heavy on the weekends.
And so that's kind how I got into the off-premise catering deal. Okay. And then worked for company called for some years and, you know, did a lot of off. Them. That's how I met the GM of a company that I'm at now. And just coming outta Covid, I kind of reconnected with him. I was doing some freelance work and that's how I ended up landing at at ea.
So it's, you know, it's only about a year and a half I've been exec here. Okay. So, you know, settled in now and kind of, you know, really getting going, looking forward to this next season. Okay, great. Great. You know, it's kinda in a nutshell. Great. Terrific. Okay, so you, you've been there just a little over, like you said, a year, year and a half here.
Coming up on that tell us a little bit about, obviously, The company, I read quite a bit about it. It, it was started in its own by Andrea Coryell, is that correct? Yeah, yeah. She started, I mean, we're, I think we're about 30 years old the company, and she started it like in her basement, you know, and she's kind of built it into this, you know, powerhouse that we are.
I mean, we're doing really large events now in big weddings, and it's, you know, it's really nice to kind of be working on those type of, of parties. You know, she's done a really, really good job of kind of keeping up with trends and like helping everybody stay current and really push the design and the presentation.
So, you know, hats off to her for, for a lot of years of really working in a tough industry. Right. Yeah. And I'm sure competition must be, you know, you're, you're in definitely a, a high-end competitive marketplace there. What, what kind of a makes your, you guys kind of stand out? What, what are the things you pride yourself?
I think our, our presentation our service, definitely. I'd like to say the boot, you know, obviously we're trying to hit a different level. We're trying to, Reimagine what catering food is and what it can be. Right? And it's kind of, people have this misconception a lot of time of what, you know, catering food is and limitations.
And so you know, we wanna be able to raise the bar. So that's kind of what I think separates us as our, our team. We've got a really great strong and talented team that works real well together as a unit. And so I think that's a huge asset of ours. And so we have also have a good vision from our leader.
And so, pardon me. So, you know, that's that's what I'd say is really gives us the edge, you know, it's our people, our team. Definitely. Definitely. Yeah. It's, I think there's a lot of industries, especially in you know, the, when you're serving people, it's definitely the, the, the people, right? It is, it's, and it's tough cuz people struggle for good employees and good workers, you know, and, and it's hard to kind of retain good people.
So, you know, we, we put a lot of focus on that and, and work really working on our culture and being able to, you know, identify the like-minded people and, you know, get them interested and get them motivated to, you know, hang with us for the long term. Sure. So, okay, great. Obviously I, I know from obviously talking to a lot of folks, 2022 is like a big rebound.
We're coming off of obviously covid, a lot of pent up demand for events, things like that. Are you still seeing some of that as a settling anymore into a normal pattern or are you guys always looking to kind of grow? I mean, we're always looking to grow. But I'd say that, you know, this year's looking just as busy as last year was.
I think we're seeing a little spill over that pent up demand still happening because there were, you know, weekends where last year you couldn't get booked. So I think people might have pushed things even further out. But you know, just as busy as last year, we are actively trying to, you know, grow the portfolio.
We do have a brick and mortar that's gonna be coming online this year. Okay. So we'll be like our first like actual. Catering facility as opposed to the off premise that we do. So that's really exciting. We're looking forward to that. And you know, from there we'll see what happens. Okay. So that's kind of like a place where you're gonna be able to host events kind of a thing.
We're gonna host events. Yeah. So that, that we own that, you know, we'll have exclusive rights too, and, okay. It'll be a nice spot out in the Hamptons where people can go and have parties. Hopefully that'll kind of give us something to do in the offseason as well. But it's indoors, so if you wanna have a Hamptons event in the off season, but you know, obviously weather's an issue.
Hopefully that's something that'll, that'll, you know, kind of push us and kind of grow our offseason business. Okay, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Tell us a little bit about your presentation at Cater. So we talked about off-premise catering logistics, which is like a super broad, you know, topic. So we, we kind of.
Did like a case study. Kind of in a nutshell. This is what we do on a daily, weekly basis. This is kind of how we attack our organization and packing and, you know, all of these things from like our, you know, menu meeting in the beginning of the week to then, you know, execution obviously on, on the event, right?
So I presented with our GMP and, you know, we talked about. You know, specifically in the kitchen, like how we use the Cambro products to pack and ship our stuff, keep it cold or hot, you know, and some of the selling points, I guess, if you will, that, you know, I, I, I think make them good, you know, items to have if you're doing off-prem catering.
So you know, Pete spoke more about like our systems and you know, how the meetings are run and like some of, some of those things and like, you know, site visits and evaluating the space that you can go walk into and, you know, so many things. So we kind of tried to keep it broad and give just like a, like a sweeping overview of, of what we do and how we do it and let people hopefully take a al or two, you know, right.
And, and take it home with them and help 'em. Yeah. I, I could tell you definitely talked a little bit about our go boxes because right afterwards in, in the booth we had quite a few folks combined. Yeah, good feedback. Wanna to talk about it? Yeah. Awesome. It's good to see that immediate gratification, right?
They left the, the presentation and went straight up. Definitely, definitely. Great, great. Okay, so tell me a little bit about kind of some of the things that they've seen. In in your time, obviously, in not only just the restaurant side, but catering, what are some of the trends you are, you're seeing as far as either changing or just something you, you're noticing?
So something interesting that kind of came out of Covid funny enough was the idea that we're doing these like mini meals and like individual small plates and stuff, right? As opposed to like these big sprawling buffets where everyone's kind of picking and touching. And so it started to kind of satiate that.
Like the sanitation and people wanted to have parties but didn't want to have, you know, germs and all this, but like they've kind of stuck and our salespeople like selling them. And so something that we spent a little time in the off-season developing. And so we've got a couple styles of them where, you know, either a, they'll just come outta the kitchen composed.
Or we'll have a chef on a station actually, you know, building, you know, beautiful little plates and kind of having 'em all, all displayed so you could build a cocktail hour with just, you know, a series of these stations. So that's something that, that is definitely growing. And then, like the use of certain equipment, like SUV is something that's becoming more commonplace in.
Catering side cuz definitely, you know when you're working with limitations and power and things like that, you know, it's, it's a huge asset to be able to go to something like that. Yeah. So, so different techniques say that, you know, the, the SUV's been a, a big thing. What else? As far as trends, like mini stuff, everyone wants little things miniaturized and a little mini hotdog and a little mini bun.
It's so simple and people, you know, go nuts for it. And they sell it on every job. Little things like that. Like the whimsical stuff is still Yes. Super popular, you know? Yeah. Okay. Seasoned with you know, emotion and, and sentiment and things that are, you know, people want stuff that like speaks to their relationship and, you know, when they're getting married and everyone's got like their little thing that they want to have that's theirs.
Right? So like specialty beverage or like some special item that speaks to a time that they met in Paris and eat this little, you know, like this is the level that we're going to with, with some of these events. You know? It's fun though, cause Yeah. Get to do stuff different every day. Yeah. That's cool. It makes it real personalized for the, for the events.
Yeah. Okay, cool. So I'm always curious what's one ongoing misconception about catering that you, you're always hearing from, from the public? What's something you'd, you'd want people to, you'd wanna address? I guess that, you know, it doesn't have to be. You know, buffet food, it doesn't have to be, you know, slop and plot mashed potatoes.
Like you can really elevate it with some good knowledge of logistics and, you know, some good experience of like setting up these field kitchens because with the right resources you can do it, you can set up a full kitchen and really put out like a restaurant sell service. So that, that's where I think like my restaurant background and my executive sous chef also has a restaurant background.
We kind of bring. To the catering side and try to approach it more like restaurant, like how the food goes out, the way we finish onsite versus, you know, having things done and cooked at our kitchen and then like sent hot. You know, like we actually bring everything cold and we finish and we, we do some cutting.
We do things onsite, you know, at the day of the event. So the freshness is there, you know? Right. And we're able to kinda elevate a little bit that way. So I'd say that's, that's. The most important thing for me is, you know, you're able to do really fine things if you plan right and you have the right resource.
Right. Excellent. Great. Well I definitely want to thank you for your time today. I really appreciate it. Thank you. And wish you a really great 2023 and hopefully we'll see you again at Cater Source, if not in Hamptons. Thanks. Yeah. Lemme know if you guys are out this way. You know, I'd, I'd be happy to host you, but for sure we'll see you cater sauce next year.
Definitely. Thanks a lot. Thanks. Good to see you again. Take care. Thank you for listening. As always, visit camber eats.com for more information on this and other episodes. Until next time, stay hungry.
