It was an amazing week spent at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.  We had a chance to see many old friends and to make a bunch of new ones.  We attended as many learning sessions as we could for four days, learning from and listening to leaders in our industry like Meryl & Andy Snow of Feastivities, Jen Delaye of The JDK Group, Joanne Purnell & Dan Smith of Good Gracious! and Jack Milan & Ken Barrett of Different Tastes.  We perused the massive tradeshow held at the Las Vegas Convention Center for new and exciting products we could bring home to Cape Cod.

The view from the Balcony of Olive's room at the Cosmopolitan

On the last day of the convention & tradeshow, both Olive and I attended the annual meeting of the International Caterers Association which was held on the tradeshow floor.  During the meeting, Olive, who has sat on the Board of Directors since 2010, was surprised by the outgoing President of the ICA with the President’s Volunteer Service Award.  Olive was also officially made treasurer of the ICA at the end of the meeting and will serve a two year term in that position.

It's official ~ Olive is treasurer of the ICA!

We can definitely say that what happened in Vegas over the last week will not stay in Vegas.  We are looking forward to incorporating what we learned into as many of our 2011 weddings as we possibly can!

We got to see some of the newest trends in catering, including this human champagne chandelier:

Guests lined up with glass in hand for the opportunity to have the hanging acrobat pour them a glass of bubbly.  Talk about unique!  There was a lot of talk this year about total guest experience and that we need to consider all event elements, not just the food, to make an event memorable.

As usual, the ICA was out in force at the conference.  Many of the conference presenters, including myself, were ICA members.  Providing education, mentoring and resources for professional caterers is one of the primary goals of the ICA.  The ICA hospitality room was a great place to find caterers from around the globe sharing ideas and concepts with their peers.  In the end, we all went home with new friends, new ideas, and renewed enthusiasm for what we do.

Then there was The International Caterers Association CATIE Awards Gala.  This event is the Oscars of catering.  It was held at the brand new Mandarin Oriental at CityCenter.  The food and décor were absolutely cutting edge!  It will be hard to beat next year.

Check out this picture of the Signature Best Event – the award went to Culinary Capers of Vancouver –

They catered a four-course luncheon on the Great Wall of China!!  Can you imagine the excitement of catering an event of this magnitude?!  It was amazing just listening to the challenges they had to overcome.  It reminded us that no challenge is too big.  Pushing the limits is what makes us better.

This year the Casual Gourmet helped with the technical aspects of putting the CATIEs (Catered Arts Through Innovative Excellence) entry process online for the first time.  We did not submit any entries this year, but I did get to go on stage and present two awards!

Congrats to our own Sarah Biggs and Dave Chase for being presented Star Service Awards from the ICA.  They have both put in countless hours of work for the organization and it was wonderful to see them recognized!

Catering is such a dynamic, engaging industry, and this time in Las Vegas is a great time to celebrate that – with fabulous food and amazing parties, of course!

On Wednesday, October 7^th, Olive, her husband Dave and eighteen of her employees celebrated at annual Chamber dinner which took place at Willowbend Country Club.

Casual Gourmet Employees

Sarah & Sarah

Mary & Ollie

Olive accepting her award

During her acceptance speech, which was a showstopper I might add, Olive thanked everyone who worked for her, asking employees to stand and be recognized as see did a roll call by department.  (We even had a pre-meeting to go over the game plan of how the speech was going to go!)  She also thanked her family, particularly her husband, who she happened to meet through the Chamber 25 years ago.

It is such an honor to be in the company of the incredible businesses that have been chosen for this award in the past. And from all of us at the Casual Gourmet we want to say thank you for all the support we have been receiving.

CATIEs are awarded by the International Caterer’s Association, the preeminent organization of catering professionals,
with more than 1,000 members worldwide.

It’s an honor to just be nominated for this prestigious award.

Enjoy photos from this remarkable event! (And check back at the end of the Month to see if we’ve won!