It's not new for restaurateurs to expand their reach into catering, where the day's customer counts and staffing needs are predictable.
Libre Management, whose restaurants include Cuba Libre in Old City and Atlantic City, bought into the caterer Max & Me five years ago, and took control two years ago.
Co-owner Barry Gutin said Max & Me, which has its own executive chef and a sales staff of 11, stages 600 events a year at off-site locations, including the National Constitution Center and the Independence Visitor Center, where it has exclusivity. Next year, counting business booked at the new Please Touch Museum, Max & Me revenue is expected to rival that generated by the restaurants, Gutin said.
To tap this new end of their business, most restaurateurs already have much of the necessary infrastructure, including prep kitchens, kitchen staff and waiters, and catering and banquet departments.
Off-premises work adds another layer. Deals must be cut with venues and, in turn, with event planners. For Starr, this is where Simon Powles comes in.
Starr found Powles in Chicago, where the British-born food-service manager ran day-to-day operations for Guckenheimer Enterprises Inc., an $80 million company that handles the food served at the headquarters of such companies as Nike and Abercrombie & Fitch. Before that, Powles was vice president of operations for Wolfgang Puck Catering & Events.
"My goal is to become a premiere provider in the city, and to reinvent the event, if you will," said Powles, who works with a staff of six out of Starr's offices next to the Continental in Old City. Until a catering kitchen can be built, food is coming out of two closed Starr restaurants - the former Blue Angel/Angelina at 706 Chestnut St. and the former Washington Square on Washington Square.
