Creating weddings that capture a couple’s personalities is what it’s all about for event planner Brian Worley.
Based in Atlanta, Worley has produced and designed about 250 weddings in his career—including his own mother’s. CFE recently caught up with Worley to get his take on wedding design trends and to learn what inspires him when planning a couple’s big day.
At the annual symposium for Elite Catering + Event Professionals (ECEP), top catering business owners come together with thought leaders to exchange ideas and best practices. From HR and operations to culinary, kitchen, sales and finance, the event is a dynamic gathering of collective hospitality wisdom. Attendees leave with actionable insights designed to elevate their business and further the relationships started that week.
As ECEP prepares for its 2025 Symposium in Napa Valley, California, we’ve summarized five of the most impactful sessions from previous symposiums, with actionable strategies to help any catering business grow and prosper.
At the Florida Restaurant Show in Orlando in November, Chef Maneet Chauhan shared this advice to attendees who gathered to watch her prepare Tandoori Shrimp & Grits: “Be as authentic as possible.”
It’s a maxim Chauhan has clearly followed herself as she’s charted a meteoric rise in the culinary world since arriving in the U.S. in 1999 to study at the famed Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Hyde Park, New York.
John Crisafulli—ECEP founding member, and president and CEO of Behind the Scenes (BTS) Catering in San Diego—has produced food at 13 Olympic Games. He’s seen it all, from Covid restrictions to frustrating red tape to perhaps the most exciting challenge—preparing a culinary experience in Paris, the city that sets culinary standards.
With his 15th cookbook, “Everyday Delicious,” Rocco DiSpirito celebrates what inspired him during the pandemic-induced time at home—a renewed appreciation for “what the core of cooking is all about, which is really taking some ingredients, transforming them, and creating a moment around the table.”
Weeks after opening his newest restaurant in the Hamptons—Il Pellicano Southampton, serving coastal-inspired Italian cuisine—DiSpirito spoke with CFE about the cookbook, food TV, the challenges of catering and his upcoming appearance at the California Restaurant Show in Los Angeles on Aug. 26.
While a kitchen renovation may be high on the wish list, it often gets relegated to the backburner due to cost, disruption and the time you know it will take. And yet, it’s often a major key to growth.
Consider the stories of Ridgewells Catering in Washington, D.C., and 24 Carrots Catering & Events in Costa Mesa, California, two of the largest caterers in the country. The first stands on the precipice of a significant renovation. The latter has been basking in the success of its extensive renovation since 2018. Both owners understand that while kitchen rehauls present many challenges, the investment will pay off for years to come.
A new catering industry group, Elite Catering + Event Professionals (ECEP), is harnessing the power of the master mind for the benefit of its members.
The group got its start in 2021, in the midst of the COVID pandemic, when executives from four companies came together to elevate the battered catering and events industry through innovation, education and advocacy.
Pauline Parry, the award-winning founder and CEO of Good Gracious! Events, shares recipes and memories in “My Culinary Love Story.”
Lucky for me, I grew up in a family where food was an expression of love. My Cuban grandmother affectionally referred to us as “Cubish” (Cuban and Jewish), which meant that we had some serious food coming across our dinner table, combining the flavors of Latin and Jewish/Russian/American cuisine, depending on who was cooking.
Chris Tucker worked as a hair stylist for nearly a decade before pivoting to a baking career, drawing on a love instilled in him as a child by his Southern grandmother. A turn as a contestant on ABC’s “The Great American Baking Show” led him to opening Betta With Butta, a Los Angeles-based bakery.
