A Never-Ending Quest for Perfect Caterer : Variety of Services Are Available

Maybe Orange County working couples have less time to prepare food for their parties.

Or perhaps events at the Performing Arts Center have provided a new excuse for entertaining.

Or possibly end-of-the-year worries about the new tax laws and a resulting short-lived frugality created the pent-up party fever that broke out at the beginning of the year.

Orange County caterers can only guess at the reasons for the recent surge in catered parties, but many agree that business was exceptional in early ‘87, with reported increases of 5% to 400% over the same time last year--typically their slowest period.

Parties are big business across the country. The National Restaurant Assn. estimated gross sales for social catering in 1986 at $1.39 billion, with sales of $1.47 billion expected this year. No figures were available for the county; however, Robert Pennington, a Santa Ana caterer, ventures a guess based on his 26 years’ experience in the business that the county is the fourth-largest market for catering, trailing New York City, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles, but not by much. “(This is) no longer a hick village,” he said. “Orange County has come into its own.”

For sophisticated hosts and hostesses, not just any caterer will do. Finding the perfect one is crucial--though perhaps as tough as finding the perfect mate. The caterer who supplies less-than-tasty cuisine, arrives ill-prepared or hires surly helpers can cause the best-laid party plans to go awry.

When prices can range from $5 to $75 per person for food alone--with labor charges, tax, gratuities, rentals, decorations, drinks and entertainment extra--party givers say they have a right to be picky.

Laguna Beach resident Sheila Sonenshine, a justice on the 4th District Court of Appeal, says she has yet to find a caterer who is perfect in every respect.

Her Greatest Concern

“One may be very organized. One may be very good at presentation,” she said. “One may be very good at keeping within budget, but I’ve never found one who is good with everything.”

Sonenshine says that, aside from the food, her greatest concern is organization. “I like to have all the preparation finished at least an hour before company is expected because nothing is ever perfect. You don’t have the right silver out or you don’t like the way the napkins are folded. I’ve had parties where the caterer is still setting the table when the guests are arriving,” she said.

Sonenshine uses few caterers, but when her husband, Ygal, a hotel and restaurant designer, were hosts for a party for the Orange County Wine and Food Society, Culinary Classics in Laguna Hills fit the bill for the tango-themed evening.

Socialite Joan Woolley says she insists on good food, originality and an activity to keep the guests occupied at her parties. A few parties ago, she chose Culinary Classics for a fete that featured a fairy godmother.

“I consider myself a creative person,” Woolley said, underscoring the opinion by describing the costumed carolers at an old-fashioned Christmas fling, the 75 Waterford crystal party favors she once dispensed to departing guests and a sultan’s table, complete with rattlesnake, wild boar, fried grasshoppers and chocolate-covered ants, that she personally set down at the grand opening of her former husband Bob’s Embassy Suites Hotel. (She added that the bill for the opening, which also included belly dancers, psychic readers and a welcoming committee of Arabian horses totaled $80,000.)

‘You Eat With Your Eyes’

Newport Beach hostess Barbara Glabman, who along with husband Jim owns the Glabman’s Furniture chain, says she hires caterers often. “I don’t think there has to be an occasion for a caterer--just when you feel like having people over. It could be for brunch when the weather’s nice,” she said.

Her choices have included Newport Beach’s Showley-Wrightson for small dinner parties and L.A.’s Somerset for a Newport Harbor Art Museum gala, both because of Glabman’s concern for presentation of the food. According to Glabman: “You eat with your eyes.”

For publicist Gloria Zigner, creativity carries the most weight. “I don’t like standard, boring parties,” said Zigner, who singled out the Golden Truffle for originality but added that she uses many different caterers.

Zigner says that she also looks for flexibility, citing one incident where the caterer’s ingenuity rescued a party from disaster. The client had requested hors d’oeuvres but sent out invitations stating that dinner would be served.

Zigner recollects her discovery of the error, along with her ensuing conversation with the caterer. It took place over a tray of bite-sized sesame chicken kabobs.

“I said, ‘We’re having a dinner party,’ and he said, ‘No, we’re having a cocktail party,’ and I said, ‘No, we’re having a dinner party,”’ she said, recalling the caterer’s race to the market for more food. “When he came back, he took the sesame chicken off the skewers and made it into an entree with ham and noodles. Then he made a salad and cooked the crudites into a side dish. We already had the petit fours for dessert.”

Cooked by Flashlight

In this case and others, a resourceful caterer saved the day.

At Jill and Michael Watkins’ black-tie wedding, held at an old Spanish mansion, the generator blew out, forcing Marvin Surrock of L.A.’s Parties by Marvin to cook by flashlight.

“The house was over a hundred years old,” recalled Jill, whose husband is a sports agent and financial planner. “So when the band came and plugged in their equipment, there was a major blackout--the rest of the night was spent black. There were people tripping around, dropping glasses. The only good part was that people kept saying how nice it was with all the candles, but it really wasn’t.”

Melinda Moiso says she has hired Surrock for every major party that she and her husband, Rancho Mission Viejo President Tony, have held in 10 years. Commending his perfectionism, Moiso said: “Marvin is a stickler for detail. I hate it when there are empty drink glasses all over, when the ashtrays are full and there are napkins laying around with toothpicks on them.”

Although she considers herself a conservative hostess, Moiso was certainly surprised by a birthday ball that was a gift from her husband. Surrock says it was his most extravagant. For the occasion, he created a Gatsby-era supper club with koi ponds, cockatoos, costumed flappers and a black, white and mirrored tent. Just the bill for dyeing the carpets black came to $6,000, he says.

Themes to the extreme come at a price.

$20,000 Party

For “chocaholic” U. T. Thompson’s birthday, his wife, Judy, reported a party tab estimated at $20,000 by Jay’s Catering in Garden Grove, which orchestrated the chocolate-themed party for 550 at the couple’s North Laguna hilltop home.

“Even now, when I meet people, they say, ‘I want to get to know you so I can get invited to the next chocolate party,’ ” Judy Thompson said.

Commercial real estate developer Ron Soderling says he’s learned to save money by hiring his own help and picking up platters from restaurants such as Trees, Hemingway’s and the Quiet Woman. “I use a party coordinator and together we go to the various restaurants that have catering services. By buying items individually, I find I can get greater variety and cut party costs down substantially,” he said.

But no matter how much work the host handles himself, few parties are inexpensive. However, Alan Greeley of Costa Mesa’s Golden Truffle claims a $1-per-person party to his credit. (Of course, he also reported a Cannes Film Festival bash he catered that averaged $12,000 per guest. “It included renting a castle,” he said. “We’re talking about serious parties here.”)

Greeley says he took on the $1-per-person shindig 10 years ago on a bet.

“It was for charity and there was no budget for decorations, so I turned all the tables upside down, crushed cloves of garlic onto them and stapled on some cheesecloth. I closed the doors for a couple days, so that when the people opened the doors, they just walked in and smelled the garlic, and already they thought the party was terrific.”

Still Talking

“We served spaghetti, lots of bread and a romaine and anchovy salad. The wine came from Trader Joe’s at 75 cents a bottle. They’re still talking about that party today.”

Party prices vary not merely because of the food, tax and typical 15% gratuity. Parties require far more than food preparation, says Betsy Moulton, a consultant with Meyerhof’s catering division, who lists some other costs:

At a typical four-hour party with an open bar, the beverage tab should average $3 to $8 per person, depending on the quality of alcohol served. If drinks are confined to inexpensive beer and jug wines, the bill can drop to $1.50 or $2 a head.

“As a rule of thumb, people will consume about a quart of liquid in a four-hour period,” said Moulton, emphasizing that the quart may include wine, alcohol diluted with a mix or soft drinks.

She said that labor usually costs $15 per person per hour, with one server required for every 25 guests at a simple, serve-yourself buffet. For a seated dinner, she suggested one server for each table, plus a kitchen staff of one to 10 people, the range depending on the number of guests and complexity of the menu.

If rentals are required, Moulton estimates the basics, such as tables, chairs, linen, china, glassware and silver, at $10 a head. With substitutions of bone china, crystal stemware, gold-plated silverware, better chairs and possibly fingerbowls, she says prices could rise as high as $35 per person. She cites special Chiavari chairs as an example, renting for $7 each as compared to the standard folding model at $1.10.

Flowers can cost $35 for a single arrangement or thousands of dollars if an elaborate wedding is under consideration, she says. Other potentially pricy items she cited for a major event included tents, artificial grass, carpeting, dance floors, heaters, lighting, a sound system, valet parking and entertainment.

There are, Moulton concedes, no limits to party costs.