Three Venues, 1,200 Guests: How Footers Catering Made It Seamless

*The Footers Catering team preparing whiskey-flambeed pork belly for Colorado Pork Belly Green Chili.*

By Liese Gardner

Photos by Elevate Photography

Catering 1,200 guests is demanding enough. Doing it across three distinct spaces, two floors and eight culinary experiences—while contending with Colorado’s unpredictable weather—is a logistical triumph.

Denver’s Footers Catering pulled off the event, which was produced by Maritz, for the 70th-anniversary celebration of the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). Rather than creating one large reception, the Footers team designed three completely different experiences, each with its own atmosphere, menu and personality. The venues included two historic buildings—Mile High Station and Ironworks—as well as the courtyard connecting the two.

For Footers—a member of ECEP, a growing organization of top global caterers—the event was months in the planning, overseen by Tabitha Hossfeld, senior sales coordinator. At the client’s request, the company made sure to showcase local specialties on the menus, with design elements that complemented the culinary experience.

Venue 1: Mile High Station

At Mile High Station, part of a historic complex originally built in 1897 as the Midwest Steel and Ironworks building, guests stepped into an energetic celebration inspired by NACE’s anniversary. Platinum accents reflecting the 70^th milestone, lively gathering spaces and interactive food stations set the celebratory tone.

*The Chicken Sesame Noodles station was one of the menu highlights inside Mile High Station.*

The food stations included:

Parmesan Wheel Cacio e Pepe: Orzo pasta with butter Parmesan sauce with freshly cracked pepper, hand-tossed in a Parmesan wheel by a chef attendant and topped with seared scallop

Chicken Sesame Noodles: Roasted chicken with glass noodles, pickled cauliflower, white shoyu sauce and white sesame seeds

Venue Two: Outdoor Courtyard

The vibe of the courtyard between Mile High Station and Ironworks embraced Colorado’s outdoor culture, with relaxed picnic seating, rustic décor and casual fare that encouraged guests to mingle under bistro lights beneath the open sky.

*The Colorado Picnic Station served local smoked turkey and gouda sliders with Hot Honey & Peach Burrata Cups*.

The food stations included:

Colorado Campfire Station: Colorado Pork Belly Green Chili with whiskey-flambeed pork belly or Colorado Veggie Green Chili, served with queso fresco and locally sourced Kalera Farms micro cilantro

Colorado Picnic Station: Colorado Summer Sliders with local River Bear Smoked Turkey on ciabatta, smoked gouda, Kalera Farms romaine and cranberry mustard, and Hot Honey & Peach Burrata Cups with grilled peaches, arugula and hot honey vinaigrette

Cookie Plinko Station: A Footers-designed set-up inspired by the classic Plinko game from “The Price Is Right,” with a “Cookie DJ” who drops soft chocolate chip cookies in branded clear discs through the board. The slot where each cookie landed determined how it was served: “Dip It” (warm chocolate ganache dip); “Dunk It” (cold milk and oat milk dunk); “Stack It” (two cookies stacked with cream cheese frosting); and “Top It” (rainbow sprinkles over sun butter).

*A Footers original, the Cookie Plinko station sends chocolate chip cookies through a Plinko board to slots that determine how the sweet treat is served.*

Venue Three: Ironworks

From the courtyard, guests entered Ironworks, part of what was originally a steel and iron factory. The space kept much of its original industrial brick structure and gilded architecture—character that was perfect for a speakeasy-inspired lounge complete with mood lighting and spaces designed for quieter conversations.

Passed hors d’ oeuvres included:

New York Strip Steak Bite withpeppercorn crust, Parmesan artichoke truffle mousse |and fresh chive

Crispy Tuna Bite:Spiced ahi tuna tartare, crispy sushi rice and pickled mustard seeds

Sugar Donut Pork Belly Bite: A cinnamon sugar donut withbraised pork belly, green apple and black pepper maple syrup

Crispy Caesar Bruschetta Bite: Caesar tomato bruschetta, crispy seasoned waffle fry and herby plant-based ricotta (vegan)

Pueblo Chile Mac & Cheese Croquette with local roasted Pueblo green chiles, smoked gouda cheese sauce and blackberry jam

The dessert display included:

Tiramisu Mousse Cup: Tiramisu mousse in a chocolate cup with espresso bean

Mini Lemon Basil and Rose Bite: Lemon basil meringue pie bite with graham crust and rose whipped cream

Chocolate Hazelnut Truffle Pops:Caramelized sugar, chocolate and hazelnuts (vegan)

Sunshine Bites: Sour cream pound cake with passion orange guava layer and bay Italian meringue

Strawberry Rhubarb Basque Cheesecake Bite: Mini Basque cheesecake with lemon whipped cream and strawberry rhubarb compote

Chocolate Honey Pots De Creme Soiree withwhipped cream and honeycomb candy dust

Coconut Passionfruit Soiree: Coconut budino with passion fruit curd, mango chutney and chili threads

Advance Prep

“Working across not only three very large spaces but multiple floors, it’s easy to get spread thin during set-up,” Hossfeld says. “Simple tasks like finding the hammer or gaff tape can easily take 30 minutes of your time wandering all the spaces looking.”

*Three large spaces with multiple floors made careful advance planning a must.*

To avoid this, the team was hyper organized throughout planning. “Everything from separating the food and the equipment into three different trucks for each area, to assigning set-up teams with clear tasks and timelines, to orchestrating breakdown into sections before loading the trucks at the end of the night helped,” Hossfeld says.

*A Footers chef prepares Hot Honey & Peach Burrata Cups.*

Colorado Weather Doesn’t Read Event Schedules

“Colorado is known for its ever-changing weather,” Hossfeld says. “You never know what could happen. Add to that, a large portion of this event took place in the courtyard, which was uncovered. We had multiple back-up plans for placement of our stations and how to manage a large crowd if everything needed to move inside.”

*To combat strong winds, the Footers team secured outdoor snack walls to iron fencing.*

Although the weather stayed dry, the staff had to contend with strong winds. “Our food stations outside included many vertical walls, which did fall down a few times during setup,” Hossfeld recalls. “We were able to move the placement of the outdoor snack wall [vertical walls with grab-and-go popcorn packets and spicy pickle pretzels with custom logos] and secure it to iron fencing. The walls of our picnic station fell over, and we ended up setting the entire station at an angle so we could strap them to the farm table structure. We also had to dress up sandbags with linens and decor for the cookie Plinko station.”

Design Heroes to the Rescue

To ensure all the food stations reflected the original vision, four dedicated “design heroes,” along with two design team managers, were on site. “Typically, we have about one or two of these specialized people assigned to an event,” Hossfeld says. “But the size of this event, and the weather forecast, called for more.”

The sole responsibility of the design team was to oversee installation, maintenance and eventual breakdown of every decorative element. On site they were able to mitigate several design issues that sprang up due to the wind. “Quick thinking and flexibility were key,” Hossfeld says.

*A Footers server passes hors d’oeuvres outdoors.*

That, of course, was only possible through careful planning, exceptional teamwork and countless behind-the-scenes decisions.

While guests enjoyed an evening celebrating a milestone achievement, Footers Catering orchestrated a seamless experience across three connected venues—proof that the most successful large-scale events often make the hardest work look effortless.