Why Pinterest is making your caterer crazy
By Heather Cole – Bekker’s Catering | Expert Advice
We all love Pinterest. I am also not immune to its pull: the convenience of storing creative recipes, adorable ideas, outfits, wedding ideas and anything else I could dream up. However, as a caterer, the word alone makes me cringe. The second a couple comes into a tasting and says “well, I saw this on Pinterest…” I brace myself. Why, you ask? Why is it so difficult to replicate the adorable tiny shotglass of tomato bisque with the teensy-tiny grilled cheese sandwich precariously balanced on a toothpick? In this article, I will explain!
Making cute hors d’oeuvres for a dinner party is a blast. I love nothing more than spending hours crouched over in my kitchen, crafting intricately carved radish roses and phyllo wrapped treats. However, the stakes are a little different when we are making the same adorable items for 150 people.
On a busy Saturday in August, we typically cater between 10 and 20 events. If you figure that each of those 20 events has at least 100 people, and one of them has 1,000, that is 2,900 people we are catering for in one day. We have days where we cater for less, and days where we cater for far more, but let’s let that be our average. Now, let’s say 4 of those parties want intricate hors d’oeuvres that they found on Pinterest. On a day where we need to prepare food for 2,900 people it is extremely difficult to find the space and manpower in our kitchen to wrap 250 tiny cucumber tuna wraps, to nestle 180 tiny tacos in limes with wedges cut out of them, to hollow out and fill 125 tiny red potatoes with sour cream and chives and to balance the 200 toothpick grilled cheese sandwiches I mentioned earlier. This is not to say that it cannot be done, but the amount of time and manpower required makes these little treats into a rather expensive endeavor. I get asked all the time “why would it be so expensive? I can make that at home for next to nothing!” True, most Pinterest hors d’oeuvres are made from commonplace ingredients which are not typically very costly, but the labor makes them pricy. However, in catering, as in most of the world – if you are willing to pay for it, we will do it!
In conclusion, Pinterest is amazing. I love every bit of it, but I realize just how much work goes into everything! I am by no means attempting to dissuade you from the adorable bounty of tiny treats which Pinterest has to offer, just want to shed a little light on the work that goes into them!
