CFE News is pleased to announce the newest member of our Editorial Advisory Board: Robin Selden, executive chef and managing partner of Marcia Selden Catering and Naked Fig Catering, serving Connecticut, New York City and beyond.
The CFE News Editorial Advisory Board recently compared notes on one of the industry’s defining business challenges: how to protect profit in an environment where labor, food and operational costs remain stubbornly high. Their conclusion? The strongest operators aren’t relying on one fix.
To better understand how The Breakers creates an employee-centric culture for its culinary staff, CFE News recently sat down with Jeff Simms, The Breakers’ executive chef of banquet culinary. Simms oversees more than 100 banquet and pastry culinarians while helping to deliver cuisine for up to 25,000 guests each month.
At the 2026 New York Restaurant Show, CFE News Editor-in-Chief Sara Perez Webber moderated a candid catering panel featuring four of most respected names in New York catering: Robin Selden and Jeffrey Selden, managing partners of Marcia Selden Catering and Naked Fig Catering; Carla Ruben, founder and CEO of Creative Edge Parties; and Danielle Shapiro, regional director of sales for Elior North America.
Jill Vidal-Raines’ path to the top elected role at the National Association for Catering & Events (NACE) didn’t start in a hotel ballroom or a catering kitchen. It started with rigorous sales training in the pharmaceutical industry.
The once-ubiquitous heaping buffet platter is losing its place at the table. At corporate gatherings and weddings alike, caterers are seeing a decisive shift toward smaller, more curated food experiences that prioritize presentation and guest engagement over portion size.
That was among the key takeaways from the inaugural meeting of the CFE News Editorial Advisory Board, held this month. The board brings together leading U.S. caterers to discuss the trends and challenges shaping the industry.
With the Rocky Mountains as its backdrop, the upcoming MIBE Summit—taking place Jan. 25-27 in Denver—is embracing a theme that feels especially fitting.
“It’s called ‘Unleash Potential,’ and it’s the idea that we’re all summiting our own mountain,” says Anthony Lambatos, the founder of MIBE (Make It Better Every Day), a culture-building and training organization for business leaders. “We all have our own challenges. How are we going to get to the top?”
Black-and-white photos of the beach line the walls of Mary Rohan’s office at Bill Hansen Catering in Miami. They’re a calm counterpoint to the constant motion outside the door—and a clue to the flavor point-of-view she brings to one of the city’s busiest catering operations: Caribbean-inspired cooking with a global lens.
Before Chef Jeremy Langemann—executive chef of Bingemans Catiner ever set foot in a professional kitchen, his love of food was kindled in the warm, familiar embrace of his grandparents’ home. It was there, in the heart of a Mennonite household, that the first sparks of his culinary passion began to grow.
When Keith Lord launched Strateje Fourteen in January 2020—just weeks before the pandemic shuttered the events industry—he knew one thing for certain. After decades running high-volume restaurants and catering operations, he was ready to “give back and teach others.”
