Catering trend brings hot meals home

Source: The Business Journal
Written by Hannah Esqueda

Several new meal service trends have come to the Fresno area this summer, ensuring customers can enjoy decadent meals served up right at home. One local catering trend offers customers a homemade weekly dinner delivered oven-fresh right to their door. Patty Ochinero of Ochinero’s Catering said she only began offering the meals to residents in Fresno and Clovis in August, but already has seen a growing demand for the service. “People love having homemade meals delivered to their doors,” she said. She has an average of 12 customers a week and plans to put a cap on the number of meals offered once demand gets higher. Orders must be placed by Monday in order to receive a meal delivered that Wednesday. The $55 meals can serve up to four adults and come with a main dish, two side dishes and dessert. Ochinero offers a fixed menu and does not allow for changes or substitutions. Ochinero cooks the food in the kitchen at Piemonte's Deli in Fresno’s Tower District where she also sells her homemeade jams and jellies. She said she tries to buy local whenever she can in order to support local food growers. In August her menus ranged from lasagna and garlic bread to skewered salmon in an apricot ginger glaze. Menus are posted on her website and Facebook page a few days in advance so people can see what they are ordering. For the most part, Ochinero said her publicity has been word of mouth. “It’s kind of a new thing, a new idea and the response has been great,” she said. The trend has already caught on in larger cities like San Francisco, said local caterer Nancy Vajretti, owner of Love and Garlic Event Design and Catering. Her company focuses on more traditional catering services but Vajretti said in the past she has offered homemade meals on a larger scale. Vajretti said she has heard of several Bay Area companies focusing on the more intimate home meal delivery trend but is unsure if it will catch on in Fresno. “It’s very big in the Bay Area because they have the mindset for it and they have the income for it,” she said. Vajretti noted that most couples in the Bay Area both work long hours and may not have the energy or time to prepare a home-cooked meal when they get home. But Ochinero said there is a similar need for the meal service in Fresno. In addition to appealing to couples who work long hours, the meals are often given as gifts. “I’ve had one customer who is a real estate agent and she will buy the meals to give to her new homeowners, it’s a great housewarming gift,” she said. The meals are meant to take the stress out of dinnertime and therefore serve as a nice gift for new mothers or when a family member is in the hospital, Ochinero said. Currently, she makes all the deliveries herself but plans to hire more help once demand grows. The delivery process takes her several hours each Wednesday, but meals are always delivered warm, she said. That component is what sets these newer meal delivery services apart from others, Vajretti said. “There are numerous restaurants in Fresno that offer delivery but few do it right,” she said. “It’s a great thing if one can receive it hot because then all [the customer] has to do is set the table.” Another local catering company is going one step further and bringing the fire directly to its customers. Clovis's Teppanyaki 2U offers clients the grilled Japanese fare while also putting on a cooking show. The business has only been operating since June but is already booked for every weekend in September, owner Eric Sunamoto said. Sunamoto said the idea for the business came to him when he was planning his daughter's birthday party. “I wanted to get a taco truck but my daughter wanted teppanyaki,” he said. That's when he realized there was a need for the mobile service. While he doesn't personally cook the meals, Sunamoto said he was trained in a Japanese kitchen and worked for several restaurants before venturing out on his own. Sunamoto said that as far as he knows, his is the only service in the country offering to cook the traditional Japanese cuisine at someone's home, but the idea is already spreading to other markets in California. “My sister is planning to start one in San Diego and I have a friend in Santa Monica who is also interested,” he said. Sunamoto said the catering services would most likely be independent of each other rather than part of a chain with his Fresno business. For now, he is focusing on meeting demand in the Central Valley. Teppanyaki 2U has six chefs on call and each one can cook for up to 50 people, he said. “We have a party booked for 250 people in January. That will probably take all my chefs but we can handle it,” Sunamoto said. Based in Clovis, Sunamoto said the business works at parties throughout the area, including parts of Tulare County. “I don't mind traveling a bit if they're willing to pay for it,” he said. There is a $300 minimum for the service regardless of party size and the business offers a selection of meat and fish including shrimp, filet mignon, lobster and chicken. Sunamoto and Ochinero represent how the catering industry is being forced to adapt as Americans change their dinner habits. “No one throws dinner parties anymore. People are busy now and less likely to want to entertain,” Vajretti said. Hiring services like Sunamoto's Teppanyaki 2U helps kill two birds with one stone as customers get a fresh gourmet meal while guests are entertained with a fiery cooking show. By tweaking the traditional idea of a catering service and emphasizing the convenience for customers, businesses are able to carve out a niche in the market, Vajretti said. The eat local and community supported agriculture movements have also helped set up a client base for businesses like Ochinero's, she said. “It’s definitely trending right now,” Vajretti said.

URL to original article: http://www.thebusinessjournal.com/news/small-business/13956-catering-trend-brings-hot-meals-home 

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