Our own Christopher Ives and Sir Ives Caterers is featured in the Asbury Park Press this week as a small business in New Jersey on the move.
You can read the extensive Q & A interview with Chris who talks about his 30+ years as a New Jersey off-premise caterer. (And it only gets better from here!)
It’s not easy to maintain and grow an off-premise catering business over a span of more than three decades.
So where do we go from here? We are growing and expanding life never before: NJ wedding catering, corporate events, private home and business catering.
Look out, New Jersey.
Read More
Chef Christopher offers tips for hosting the best New Jersey graduation party
School’s out, summer’s in, and friends, neighbors, family are happy to gather together to celebrate the new graduate.
Here in NJ, we’re about a month away from many graduation parties that will be held from Bergen County to Burlington County.
Every family wants to honor their child–but not have to use college tuition money to pay for it.
Sir Ives Caterers, specializing in off-premise catering in all parts of New Jersey, has catered countless graduation parties in its 30+-year history. Christopher F. Ives, our CEO and Executive Chef, offered some of his best kept secrets for hosting a successful and fun graduation party:
The Food – When and How
“I always recommend throwing a party in mid-afternoon so your guests do not arrive starving,” Chef Christopher says. “A second key tip is to serve food and beverages at different locations (stations) to avoid the food table being swarmed with guests waiting in line.”
Drinks
Chef Christopher says the best (and most affordable) option is to forgo a full bar and set up a table with punch-style drinks. “Regardless of what you serve, keep in mind you can never have too much ice,” he advises.
According to Chef, you can expect that within the first hour each guest will have about 1½ drinks, and then one drink after that per hour. It’s safe to assume that each guest will end up using up to three drinking glasses, so buy or rent glassware accordingly. Be sure to designate a few people to monitor the beverage stations so there are at least three different non-alcoholic options for guests at all times.
How much food do you need?
Expect that each guest will eat between 6 and 10 hors d’oeuvres. Serve larger quantities of less pricey and more filling apps. For example, seasoned meatballs are a tasty dish that can be made ahead, and they are incredibly easy to prep. Make turkey, pork, beef, or even vegetarian varieties and serve them with a trio of sauces.
Roasting a chicken or pork shoulder for pulled meat sliders is an easy and budget-friendly way to feed a large crowd: Meat sliders can be made ahead, or the meats can be served buffet-style so people build their own sliders and stuff them with a custom selection of condiments. DIY sliders are fun to make and will also keep guests busy rather than overeating.
Sweets Endings
No matter how formal your celebration may be, big platters of fresh cookies and brownies are always a winning bet. Both are speedy make-head options and they’re easy on the wallet.
Consider a caterer for your graduation party
Hosting a party is a lot of work—planning, shopping, storing, preparing, serving, clean-up—and we haven’t addressed decorations, music, timing of the food presentation, seating, table covering, tents…
Many of our newer clients are surprised how affordable a professional catered affair can be. Think about the last big party you hosted—by the time you added all the expenses you incurred (not to mention tired feet)–the cumulative cost may rival that of a professional off-premise caterer.
Sir Ives Caterers has a few key dates available in late May and June to cater your party!
Sir Ives has been New Jersey’s off-premise graduation, wedding, corporate event and special occasions caterer for decades.
We’d love to talk with you about your upcoming celebration. Call our graduation party event managers at 732-521-1108 or email us at chris@sirives.com.
Read More
Congratulations to our own Executive Chef and CEO Christopher Ives for his interview on the best cities for chefs and his own take on the catering business here in New Jersey!
“New Jersey is home to very rich soil that produces the best quality tomatoes and corn anywhere in the country. We’re a small state so we have convenient access to very high-quality organic greenhouses, which turn out a wide variety of healthy and delicious fruits and vegetables. We’re also a coastal state, so the Atlantic Ocean provides very fresh seafood at competitive prices since we can buy it right off the boat.
Read the complete article
Read More
Sir Ives Caterers Manhattan Division catered a business event for 100+ Butler University alumni who live in New York City last week. They gave us free reign to design the space, define the menu and serve in whatever fashion we felt suited the occasion, budget and number of guests.
We oversee corporate catered events here in New Jersey several times a week and, increasingly, are venturing more often into New York, which is more challenging logistically, but a lot of fun for all of us.
For this catered cocktail party, held in a loft on the top floor of a beautiful brick 4-story walk-up, we had four different bars set up so no one had to wait more than a couple of minutes for a drink (very important).
Fresh and eclectic hors d’oeuvres were offered at manned stations and passed throughout the evening, ranging from hot to cold finger foods and evolving into sweeter options later in the evening.
We also included vegan, gluten free and low carb selections which were requested by the client.
Sir Ives has been catering corporate events for more than 30 years, so even the challenge of working in a 4th floor walk-up (that’s right, no elevator) was just another day at the office for us.
Read More