COLORADO SPRINGS — For one local catering business, they’ve found a way to pivot, and rebound from our deficit of large events.
Over three decades ago, Michelle Talarico made a commitment.
“We started our business back in 1989,” Talarico said.
She made a commitment that, for better or for worse, she was in the catering game for the long haul.
“I think that if you’ve owned something for 30 years, you’re either really good at it, really stupid, or really lucky, or maybe a combination of all,” she said. “We say all the time that we’re kind of MacGyvers… We literally take a restaurant, sometimes up to 20 times all over the state.”
At her business--Picnic Basket Catering--the past year with large events being few to none meant it was time for a pivot.
“We were used to doing 50-100 person events... obviously those sort of went away,” she said. “We have done a lot of smaller portions.”
They brought back old traditions.
“We spun off a curbside model,” Talarico said. “We kind of brought back an old deli menu that was favorite with the people in this neighborhood.”
They started new ones too.
“We turned [one of our trucks] into a food truck,” she said.
They’ve gone out on limbs.
“We’ve started a new, we call it curbside delivery,” she said. “And we are now going, with our food truck, with pre-orders, to different neighborhoods around the community.”
There have been some hurdles along the way.
“It’s been really difficult to find product, because every restaurant in the world turned into doing curbside,” Talarico said.
But on this quiet Super Bowl Sunday--
“We didn’t have any orders for today,” she said.
--Her optimism hasn’t shattered.
“I’m happy to report that the phones are ringing,” Talarico said.
In fact, those smaller portions, are actually coming in handy.
“We have already sold probably 10 or 15 couples orders for two for next weekend,” she said.
She made a commitment, to not give up, for better or for worse.
“We were very, very determined,” she said.
