🔒After a year of challenges, the catering industry sees no where to go but up

Peppers Artful Events was coming off its best year yet heading into 2020 and expecting even better things ahead. The three-decade-old Northborough caterer had more than 90 weddings booked.

“It was looking incredible. We were going to be on a roll,” said John Lawrence, the catering director and a co-owner with his wife, Susan.

Then, of course, the coronavirus pandemic hit. All but five of those weddings were canceled, as was just about every other event Peppers was planning to help put on. Most employees were let go, and come August, not confident federal aid would come, Lawrence thought Peppers’ end could be near. 

“Last August, I didn’t think we’d make it to December,” Lawrence said, taking time to reflect back in between making preparations for the coming season. “I thought we were toast.”

Peppers and other caterers who survived 2020 are back, and expecting a far better 2021, between rescheduled events, a demand for weddings and other family gatherings, and a widely expected return to some sort of post-pandemic normalcy by around the middle of the year.

Peppers wasn’t alone in an industry crushed by the health crisis. Restaurants were as well, but they were often able to ramp up take-out orders or, in good weather, seat people outside. For caterers, adjustments were harder to make.

Past recessions were easier to maneuver, Lawrence said. With unpredictable government guidelines, that wasn’t the case in 2020.

“This one, we couldn’t shift,” he said.

Finding ways to stay open

Those adjustments were made where possible.

Peppers started a pick-up dinner option out of its Northborough offices, something not nearly enough to break even but kept workers employed and gave customers another dining option.

Peppers picked up business in New Hampshire, where government regulations were generally more lax. An exclusive agreement with Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston for events and cafe business was a major help, Lawrence said. 

Worcester’s Creedon & Co., which laid off some longtime staff, was able to make some boxed lunches for offices and other places and otherwise took advantage of a secondary element of its business: tent rentals. Those were in high demand by restaurants, hospitals, schools, state agencies looking for extra outdoor seating, space for screening or other uses.

“Thank goodness they did,” said John Creedon Jr., a second-generation family leader of the company.

“If the phone was ringing, an event was canceling,” Creedon said of the company’s year.

A devastated industry looks forward

Catering, as a relatively smaller industry, didn’t get as much attention as restaurants for how badly they were hit by the pandemic.

“We’re in the volume business,” Creedon said. “We’re serving hundreds or thousands of people at a time, and that’s exactly what wasn’t allowed.”

Catering was devastated by the pandemic, according to the Boston chapter of the North Carolina-based National Association for Catering and Events, with many workers still unsure when they can return to their jobs. Like restaurant workers, they often put their health at risk to try surviving economically, the chapter said in a statement.

“Many of our industry friends were forced to close their doors and find a source of income elsewhere through federal aid, unemployment or a job that doesn’t meet their skillset,” NACE’s local chapter said. “No matter which path they chose, it doesn’t meet the cost of living in Boston.”

Neither NACE nor local caterers expect 2021 to be exactly a normal year. For one thing, events through April have already been largely cleared from the schedule. Corporate events are expected to lag.

Creedon & Co. is finding optimism in the number of high school class reunions, fundraisers and even Thanksgiving and Christmas gatherings being booked. The company, which has hundreds of tents for rentals, is expecting another strong year in that regard, based on advanced bookings. Last year was so tight for tent rentals that caterers that were otherwise competitors would contact one another to lend tents for clients, Creedon said.

NACE isn’t expecting normalcy until 2022. A lot of clients canceled their plans of having a wedding altogether because of the unknown, the group said.

Brides, grooms and others planning weddings tend to be more particular, Lawrence said.

“When it comes to personal family events, there are people who, hell or highwater, want to do this event,” he said, describing some cases where Peppers declined to cater an event, uncomfortable with what they saw as unsafe plans.

“We’ve had people plan a wedding three times,” Lawrence said. “Corporate [business] is very, very gun-shy. And I don’t see that changing until we reach herd immunity.”