Page 30 - BusinessWest November 14, 2022

Serving Up a New Reality
Event Venues and Caterers See Solid Demand, but Also Challenges
By Joseph Bednar
For an events and catering industry devastated by the pandemic in 2020 and still hampered in 2021, this past year was certainly reason to cel- ebrate.
“It’s been an incredibly strong year post-COVID,” said Seth Mias, owner of Seth Mias Catering in Leeds. “We had quite a few people making up for postpone- ments, and a really robust season overall.”
The problem, said Mias and others we spoke with, is that it can be difficult to meet that demand due to a workforce crunch that has hit this sector hard.
“The challenge is staffing, obviously — getting people to come back to work — and supply-chain issues,” he noted.
“Honestly, we were able to work through “To me, it seemed like
all that and had a really good season. To me, it seemed like clients were gracious and understanding about some of the chal- clients were gracious and
lenges we’re facing as opposed to other understanding about
years, like when certain products were unavailable.”
some of the challenges
Peter Rosskothen has faced some of those realities as well, but said the Holyoke we’re facing as opposed
businesses he owns — including the Log Cabin, Delaney House, and Log Rolling
to other years.”
Catering — have weathered them well.
“It’s been an above-average year — actu- ally, a very good year,” he told BusinessWest. “Business has been very strong.
Attendance to events is a little lower than it used to be, but the quantity of events, and the quality of events, has been better.
“The world is different,” he added. “We are much more focused on smart events for us. So we’re not giving stuff away, we’re charging more, and we’re being selective in the process to make sure we have staff and the ability to do something
Staff Photo
Peter Rosskothen says banquet facilities have had to become more selective about which events they take on.
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