Blog

About three years ago I was setting up an intimate dinner party at a home in Salt Lake City. When the client arrived home, I introduced myself as Ryan Crafts, her event captain for the evening.

“Ryan Crafts, like Culinary Crafts?” she asked, “Or is that just a coincidence?”

“No, it's not a coincidence.” I replied, “I'm one of the family. Ron and Mary, the owners, are my parents.”

She paused for a moment to sort out what this meant and then said, “Oh, how sweet. Your parents named you after their company!”

Although it would be a deeply heartwarming story, I was not named after the company. Nonetheless, I do have a strong personal attachment to Culinary Crafts. I grew up in the thick of the catering world. As young boys, my brother and I would spend our summers playing in the large open fields around our kitchens and would come in at the end of the work day to help put away all dishes the chefs had used. That was almost twenty years ago, so those open fields are now occupied by the huge Mighty Light factory and the UPS Utah County Sorting Facility.

In all the years that I've worked with the family business, I've worked in just about every capacity in the catering industry. From dishwasher to event manager to payroll secretary to senior grill master to fleet manager to certified foodie, I've done it all.  Although my interests are varied, catering is really a passion of mine and I hope to share some insights into the catering world: what goes into pulling off a fabulous event, some snapshots from behind the scenes, and of course, some of the more humorous moments as they unfold in the world of special events.