National Culinary Review

FEATURES
BIG BUSINESS

Heading up an established catering company that is among Chicago’s largest offers a different set of challenges and opportunities, says Paul Larson, executive chef at Blue Plate.

through Direct by Blue Plate, its
corporate office drop-off program. “We
provide food for business meetings, and
this work is more consistent,” Larson
says. “We’re not just tied to weddings
and big corporate events.”
Larson, who has a degree from the CIA in
Hyde Park, N. Y., has been with Blue Plate
for three years. Before that, he worked
for another Chicago catering company for
seven years; however, he began his career
as a traditional hotel restaurant chef. “I’m
a big believer that you need to go out
and see everything before settling into
catering,” he says. “Every day is a different
menu and a different cuisine. You need
to take what you’ve learned through the
years and pull it all together.”
As executive chef, Larson does not do
much cooking, but, rather, oversees a
team of 500, plans menus for events and
participates in major sales meetings.

Blue Plate was started 25 years ago by
founder/CEO Jim Horan, who ran the
business out of his apartment. Today,
Larson says Blue Plate’s large sales
volume helps the company manage
during slower times of year. “We try to
grow each year. We have a sales force
of 20-22 salespeople, and we’re on
85 different venue lists in the city at
museums and places where people host
weddings and events.”
He says while Blue Plate has done
menus such as Italian, Chinese,
Japanese, Bengali and Indian food, the
company focuses on local and seasonal
food. One interesting trend he is seeing
is an increase in farm-to-table requests,
with Blue Plate working with farmers in
Illinois and Michigan on special menus
for events.

OUT OF THE KITCHEN
COMFORT ZONE
Bradley Dickinson, chef/owner of Pearl
Bar & Dining in Bellevue, Wash., says
operating the catering arm of a restaurant
can be demanding. The high-end
restaurant carefully chooses catering
jobs, but, “It’s a challenge for restaurant
people to do catering—they are
restaurant people. Catering is different.
The restaurant needs to be set up for
it, or it can put a lot of pressure on the
individual restaurant.”
At a restaurant, you have everything at
your disposal, he says. “With catering,
if you know the venue and facilities, it’s
great, but you might be on a boat or
in a cabin in the mountains where the
facilities are not normal. It’s part of the
fun, but also the challenge.”
The company also does a significant
amount of business with companies