Holiday parties are a great way to show your employees appreciation for the hard work that goes into to making your business a success.  It is also an opportunity to strengthen ties with vendors, business associates and steady clients. Good will abounds throughout the holiday season and inviting people to celebrate in your “corporate” home adds to your good will and esteem. Receiving an invitation from you for your party shows the recipient you care enough about them to include them in your holiday celebration.

Whatever kind of party or event you are holding for your Christmas party this it is more than likely food will be a big part of it. You will have enough on your plate trying to coordinate all that is needed to stage a successful corporate holiday party. Consider all the elements for example a possible venue change from the office for a more relaxed atmosphere, decorations, invitations, entertainment, and, of course, food and drink.

Sure, you could plan and execute most of these tasks like booking the venue, hiring the entertainment and you could probably put together a “prom-like” decorating committee comprised of fellow employees who can spend time prettying the place up. You may have to outsource the food.

Why not outsource it all. Through hiring an experienced Event Planner, you can sit back, relax, smile and receive all the credit for a fabulous fun time!

Food caterers like Just Corporate Catering provide all-in-one services that through consultation will allow you to design the event you really want. The Event Planner will execute the party design that you all agree upon.

And, your party guests will benefit from your great wisdom choosing party planner professionals that will make you look, sound, and taste great assuring your corporate holiday party is the talk of the town.

Greet your employees, vendors, associates and clients with a holiday party that absolutely spreads your good cheer!

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Justin Cook stirs up his recipes concerning corporate catering, event planning and other dining related topics on his Just Corporate Catering blog. Please feel free to add comments to his posts and contact Justin with questions or other communication at justin.cook@justcorporatecatering.com

Things are really hoppin’ around here! Not only are we here at Just Corporate Catering all abuzz about our new Meals on the Go recipe program, you can now follow us on Twitter as well as MySpace.

This is great news!

I have compiled a ton of recipes for busy people like you that we can share on Twitter as well as MySpace. And now, all our visitors can check out any party services by visiting Party Pop where you select the Message Board, viewing Just Corporate Catering posts for valuable information about planning and staging your next corporate catered event.

At Just Corporate Catering, we want to help our business clientele obtain the highest quality catering services possible in the industry including meal preparation, event planning, bar and wait staff, venue rental and entertainment for any sized event.

We are happy to participate in the Twitter as well as MySpace worlds. Look for us soon on Facebook, if you have a quick recipe to share, send these to recipes@justcorporatecatering.com. We can share these with the world, making any busy person happier with more knowledge that can provide a good, tasty and quickly prepared meal so we can get back on the go!

We are happy to participate at Party Pop where you will find our services as well as many others so your next event is covered from all angles – planning, food, venue, staffing, entertainment and more!

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Justin Cook stirs up his recipes concerning corporate catering, event planning and other dining related topics on his Just Corporate Catering blog. Please feel free to add comments to his posts and contact Justin with questions or other communication at justin.cook@justcorporatecatering.com

A great concept for catering has just been announced that will meet the needs for a very underserved segment of the business community – private aircraft food needs.

That’s right. Private aircrafts log millions of hours from airports all over the world, These travelers need to eat and they should eat well, too. Therefore Just Jets Catering was created. Here’s their story:

Just for Jets Catering, the nation’s first discounted in-flight catering service for private jets, has launched services to 26 private jet airport centers in California, Florida, Nevada and Texas.

“In today’s economy, about the only cost center the private jet customer has control over is the price of catering,” said Joe Linkenheimer, VP of Marketing of Just for Jets Catering.  “Through our network of locally based gourmet caterers, we are able to offer the same high quality food service at discounted rates for private jet catering customers who still demand a premium product but appreciate getting it at a lower cost.”

Just for Jets Catering operates a network of state-of-the-art food preparation facilities near the FBOs (Fixed Base Operations) it serves in California, Florida, Nevada and Texas.  Each facility is HCAPP compliant as well as inspected and licensed by the FDA and state and local authorities.  The company’s team of chefs and managers has over 50 years of experience in the catering industry.

“We’ve been in the catering business for a long time, and view the private jet catering customer as an underserved market,” said Linkenheimer.  “We feel we can make a difference with our superior service and emphasis on premium quality products at a reasonable cost.”

Just for Jets Catering services are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  Menu items, pricing and a list of the 26 locations currently served can be found on the company’s website at www.justforjetscatering.com.

For additional information on the company’s services, email info@justforjetscatering.com or call 800-764-4704.

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Justin Cook stirs up his recipes concerning corporate catering, event planning and other dining related topics on his Just Corporate Catering blog. Please feel free to add comments to his posts and contact Justin with questions or other communication at justin.cook@justcorporatecatering.com

There’s a great bit of buzz and excitement all about Just Corporate Catering centering on the launch of our new feature – Meals on the Go Recipes!

I’ve searched about seeking the best – and quickest – recipes that can provide you and your family great food at modest prices with fast always kept in mind. There are many favorite recipes passed on to me from my mom, Gina, from whom I get my Italian heritage, as well as friends and other relatives – aunts, uncles, cousins and old culinary arts college buddies.

We live in a fast-paced world where oftentimes “grabbing” something to eat while heading out the door is our only choice. Sometimes the end result is getting on line at a local fast food drive-thru. However, in these days of being more economically conscious, paying to eat out frequently can become a financial burden.

Therefore, everyday, we will present a good and quick meal recipe that can not only satisfy your appetite, but also your time constraints and pocketbook needs.

Furthermore, we welcome comments as well as other recipe suggestions you wish to share with all our viewers. Send your favorite quick and easy meal recipes to recipes@justcorporatecatering.com.

Although slowing down would make a great option, we do not have to settle for quick food that doesn’t taste good or costs a lot. Save your money for a great night out on the town by cooking up a choice from one of our new MEALS ON THE GO RECIPES!

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Justin Cook stirs up his recipes concerning corporate catering, event planning and other dining related topics on his Just Corporate Catering blog. Please feel free to add comments to his posts and contact Justin with questions or other communication at justin.cook@justcorporatecatering.com

I received a query recently about banquet catering. The question that was posed was from someone who showed an interest in starting their own catering business. Banquet catering can be the most impressive form of catering but it can also the most expensive to start up. In banquet style catering you will need a place  big enough to store , prepare and serve food . Even in the smallest of facilities the equipment needs are enormous . Broilers , ovens , kettles , slicers , ranges , are all necessary  pieces of equipment . Not to mention fryers , steamers and mixers . Prep areas need to be big enough to allow enough room for all of the work that goes into throwing the kind of functions in which a catering business would specialize.

The kind of functions at a banquet facility tend to be more in the way of weddings , anniversaries , retirement parties , bar mitzvah’s and proms . So another item to consider is refrigeration . Most of the places I have worked at or visited as a guest have walk in refrigerators as big as some small homes , and some have multiple walk ins . Banquet facilities have as much need for cold prep areas as for hot foods . Cold food platters , ice carvings , salads and desserts all require there own areas . In most facilities raw foods are stored separately from cooked and prepared foods . Dishwashing and pot washing for a large or even a small facility alone can also be daunting.

Another thing to consider is the dining area . Most banquet facilities have at least one very large room that can be divided to hold several smaller parties or may even have a large room and several smaller rooms as well . These rooms have to be well decorated and appealing for banquets . All of the rooms have to be in close proximity to the kitchen to make serving the food as easy as possible. All of these rooms will have to have a dance floor and room for the entertainers .

Sure you could start small and grow over time or possibly buy an existing business that may be for sale , but  a banquet catering business is no small undertaking . There are other things to consider like licenses for food and alcohol . What I did recommend was off site catering . Off site catering can still be a huge undertaking but the requirements are a lot less as far as the facility goes . All that is needed is enough room to prepare store and cook the food . Dining areas aren’t needed and food is usually prepared in advance or can be an item that can be prepared on site and is usually an item that can be broiled or grilled .

So what I do recommend to you if you are interested is to consider becoming an affiliate of Just Corporate Catering. We have all the tools to help you get started and all that is needed is to click on the link to become an affiliate to find out more.

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Justin Cook stirs up his recipes concerning corporate catering, event planning and other dining related topics on his Just Corporate Catering blog. Please feel free to add comments to his posts and contact Justin with questions or other communication at justin.cook@justcorporatecatering.com

A luau can be a lot of fun and is a popular theme for a corporate event. When staging a luau the first thing to consider is where to hold it. Depending on the season it could be held indoors or out. It could be held in a room at a hotel, a catering hall or at the beach. Some upscale hotels may have pools and large outdoor seating areas.

Be mindful of the decorations. A lot of palms, tiki torches, water lilies on the tables and of course plenty of leis for the guests. Strings of miniature lights are great. Some may consider sand but I wouldn’t recommend it. Bringing it in and cleaning it up could be a disaster.

Whether serving alcohol or not tropical drinks can be served, the virgin varieties are very popular at these events. Be sure to include the proper garnishes. You will need plenty of sliced pineapple, cherries, and of course those cute little umbrellas. Drinks can be served in coconut shells for that tropical feel.

For entertainment, of course, Hula dancers. Entertainment companies all provide a variety of acts to make a luau seem authentic. Have a limbo competition with Hawaiian music. People love to see how low they can go. There are other traditional danced beside the hula and your entertainers will be glad to help you decide.

As for the food at a luau. Appetizers could range from chicken wings to shrimp and crab puffs, along with beef, chicken and seafood kabobs. Be sure to have plenty of tropical fruit like mango, pineapple and bananas. For the main course Chicken with ginger and snap peas. Duck ,beef chicken and seafood are all very good choices, even though in most tropical locations the most readily available food item is fish, so to seem more authentic include, crab, lobster and other varieties of fish.

For your desserts think about fruit sorbet. They come in a variety of tropical fruit flavors like pineapple, mango, guava and coconut.

So consider a luau for your next event and remember to say aloha.

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Justin Cook stirs up his recipes concerning corporate catering, event planning and other dining related topics on his Just Corporate Catering blog. Please feel free to add comments to his posts and contact Justin with questions or other communication at justin.cook@justcorporatecatering.com

A recent visitor to the blog inquired about diet restrictions. She herself is a diabetic and needs to be very mindful of the food she consumes, especially when it is prepared by someone other than herself. There are other things to consider when planning a menu for a function. Some people may have high blood pressure and hypertension. Others might have recently experienced heart problems, while others might simply be trying to lose some weight. Whatever the situation is, there are plenty of things to consider.

When I first got into the food service business the country didn’t seem to be as health conscious as it is becoming today. And even today we (the American people) as a whole don’t seem to be embracing as healthy a lifestyle as we should, as quickly as we should. Some even still have the attitude that it’s not a big deal. It’s only for a day. That attitude doesn’t fly anymore with some. This kind of thinking is what got us in trouble in the first place. We are becoming more aware on a daily basis, but change takes time. Back in the day when someone brought up the subject of diet restrictions for a function of any sort, the popular response seemed always to be, “they can eat salad.”

According to statistics, we, the American people, have larger waistlines than all of the other nations of the world, and it is getting worse. Many other countries also rank much higher than we do when it comes to life expectancy. So it is not just diabetes and heart disease that we need to think of but also of just plain old good health.

It is a lot easier than most people think to prepare and serve food at a catered event that is both healthy and tastes good than previously thought. The simplest way to achieve this is by incorporating an assortment of herbs and spices. Using herbs like basil, oregano, thyme, parsley and cilantro liven up the flavor of all kinds of foods. Spices to consider may include cumin, coriander, chili powder and turmeric. Using juices from oranges, limes and lemons also add flavor and can be used in chicken fish, beef, and vegetable dishes. Just adding some of these items and using less salt and fats will make the food you serve healthier and better tasting. Also consider using corn starch or arrowroot as thickening agents as opposed to flour and butter. This is by the way one of the most overlooked ways to reduce calories and fat that I can think of.

The most difficult menu items to offer when trying to provide healthier choices are desserts. Use very little sugar or sugar substitutes to prepare them. Offer desserts with less fat content like ices and sorbets. The healthiest choice to offer of course is fresh fruit, which choices can be dictated by the time of season, but some fruits are always available year round.

Lastly, another way to make your food choices healthier is in the cooking method you choose. Broiling, baking, and sautéing in a small amount of olive oil or cooking spray are healthier ways to prepare food than grilling and frying. Grilling over a flame instead of on a flat surface is also a better choice to reduce fat. So it may not be necessary at all events to offer these kinds of choices but to include them is not as much a bother as one might think either.

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Justin Cook stirs up his recipes concerning corporate catering, event planning and other dining related topics on his Just Corporate Catering blog. Please feel free to add comments to his posts and contact Justin with questions or other communication at justin.cook@justcorporatecatering.com

A recent email I received asked about an Italian menu for a catered event. Italian food is one of the most popular styles of food to serve especially when serving buffet style. Serving food from a buffet is preferable to many guests and is easier to manage than an event with a wait staff serving tables. One of the biggest advantages is the variety that can be offered. Although you will definitely want to include dishes with red sauce there are a multitude of Italian dishes to serve so that each dish doesn’t have to seem the same. Parmesan is the most popular and should almost always be included and a variety of chicken, shrimp, eggplant, meatball and sausage will satisfy almost anyone. Veal is a very popular choice but is also very expensive.

Try a few different items at your next event. As mentioned before, some people only think of red sauce and cheese when an Italian menu is suggested. There can and are so many other choices to consider. As far as the types of sauces that should be offered, there are red sauces of course and there are many varieties , such as marinara , bourguignon or pesto rosso, which  combines ground sun dried tomatoes and almonds, and many more. Other sauces to consider are béchamel based sauces, white or red wine sauces, alfredo and there are many dishes that include oils and butters as the base ingredient.

Italian food items include a very wide variety of meats vegetables and fish. The types of ingredients were originally selected by region, season, and the weather. You will find Italian menu items will include a lot of beef chicken and veal dishes. Seafood is also a very popular choice in this Mediterranean country. The biggest factor in the variety of Italian dishes is however the regions of Italy.

Northern Italy for example differs from the rest of Italy in a number of ways. Unsalted butter is used in this region as opposed to olive oil and polenta and risotto are very popular pastas. In northern Italy there are many different regions and cuisines as there are in the south as well. In the south one region, the Puglisi region is classic Mediterranean with an abundance of olive oil and fish, coupled with bread and wine, but that will be discussed in a later blog.

The purpose of this particular blog is to get you to think outside the box a little. This can be a great way to impress guests by offering something a little different and therefore a wider variety of choices. Keep in mind though not going too far outside the box. One or two unusual choices will usually suffice. I have discovered that a lot of us Americans like our spaghetti and meatballs and chicken parmesan. To stray too far outside the box can sometimes be a disaster. So always remember to offer the old tried and true but it won’t hurt to include a different kind of choice to your next event when going Italian.

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Justin Cook stirs up his recipes concerning corporate catering, event planning and other dining related topics on his Just Corporate Catering blog. Please feel free to add comments to his posts and contact Justin with questions or other communication at justin.cook@justcorporatecatering.com

A catered breakfast can be a lot more than just eggs and bacon. When having a catered breakfast, there are a lot of menu choices of which people seldom think. Eggs are, and will always be, the number one staple for breakfast as we all know. But there are a lot of different ways to serve and prepare them. Some I’m sure you may have never considered and they don’t have to be restricted to breakfast either. They can be served for lunch and dinner as well.

Consider breakfast burritos or tostadas. When eggs are served with Mexican salsa and spices they can seem totally different than what we as Americans are used to eating. There are many variations to serve at a breakfast. To serve them with guacamole and hot sauce with sour cream may surprise a lot of your guests. Other variations can include beef, chicken and a variety of vegetables. A burrito can be stuffed with any variety of ingredients you may imagine. They can also be prepared right in front of your guests or prepared in advanced and served buffet style.

Another way to impress guests at a catered function is to have omelet stations. People are always impressed when food is prepared right before them, specifically for them. Omelets are always a great choice because of the variety of items with which they can be filled. It is such an easy and efficient thing to do at a function. Eggs are also one of the least expensive items to serve.

And most people like them. Table top burners are all that is needed when all of the other ingredients are prepped in advance. Cracking eggs can be somewhat tedious but whole cracked eggs are a great idea and readily available.

Another item, and probably the easiest egg item to serve at a catered event, is soufflés and casseroles. It is also the easiest to serve. They can be prepared in advance and the variety can be endless. They can be prepared with as great a variety of ingredients as omelet. Eggs are probably compatible with more food items than any other food item that you may consider. They can be mixed with beef, chicken, fish, and a variety of cheeses and vegetables.

So whether for breakfast, lunch or dinner, consider putting eggs on the menu. They are without a doubt the most versatile food item imaginable.

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Justin Cook stirs up his recipes concerning corporate catering, event planning and other dining related topics on his Just Corporate Catering blog. Please feel free to add comments to his posts and contact Justin with questions or other communication at justin.cook@justcorporatecatering.com

A recent visitor to the blog asked about desserts. Are they important to have and why? It depends on the guests. At almost every kind of event, at least one dessert is available for the guests. At some parties, there may be a variety of desserts to choose from, but I can’t remember attending or working any function where at least one choice was not available. So, yes it is very important. It could be a terrible disappointment to have a great meal and not offer a great dessert. Even people who don’t usually eat desserts will allow themselves to indulge at a catered event.

Whenever one choice is available it is almost always a cake. The reason for this is simple. Almost everybody likes cake. It is definitely the best choice for the staff. Cakes can and are made in all shapes and sizes. It is relatively easy to feed the most amounts of people with a large sheet cake or two. All that is needed is a knife and plates .The only trick is to have a kind of cake that everyone does like and that is easily accomplished by having a variety of fillings in one cake. Your guests will be able to choose their favorite and you’ve only brought one dessert. If you would like choice of different kinds of cake and pies, then a dessert cart may be a good choice.

At other times you may choose to have several different choices from which to pick. A choice between a pudding and an ice, for example, is nice. You could also consider ice cream. A good and healthier choice is to serve a fruit cup or compote.

If the event is to be a large gathering, a dessert station could be set up. This could be very impressive. It is also the best way to offer the widest variety of treats to your guests.

This is another way to free up staff towards the end of a function. Fresh and cut fruit could be offered as a healthy alternative. A variety of chocolates is always nice, along with a variety of cakes, pies and cookies. Another great item could be puddings. Rice, tapioca or just chocolate and vanilla are good choices. A variety of custards could be offered as well . Whatever you choose it is always wise to have a dessert available .

At some events that I have attended , desserts were the only thing available . This is usually a short meeting or party where food is eaten elsewhere or the time is limited to  being devoted to the business at hand . Whatever the event is, always offer a dessert .

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Justin Cook stirs up his recipes concerning corporate catering, event planning and other dining related topics on his Just Corporate Catering blog. Please feel free to add comments to his posts and contact Justin with questions or other communication at justin.cook@justcorporatecatering.com