Community Highlights: Meet Katie Pritchett of Katies Catering and Events

Today we’d like to introduce you to Katie Pritchett

Hi Katie, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I had a small café in the town that we lived in for 10 years and when my lease was up, I took a leap of faith and Dove into the Catering world after doing some government contracting work and getting a feel for how it worked. Getting into the Wedding world was extremely scary and tricky because I was going up against big name, catering companies and I didn’t know what would make me stand out from them. Aside from delicious food, I had decided that I needed to do something different and offer some thing to brides and people that they had never experienced. So I decided to gift brides a charcuterie grazing table when they booked their wedding catering with us. That made our bookings skyrocket! The first six months we booked 65 weddings and each year after that soaring over 100 to 200 weddings each year. We have made a huge name for ourselves for being , professional display artist for different types of food whether that is the main dinner, appetizers, desserts, just about anything! Aside from our Food, we are known for our professional demeanor and how well we take care of the event and the venue. We are preferred caterer at almost 60 different wedding venues all over Missouri and Kansas.
We not only do weddings, but we do any type of event that can have any sort of food at it. No matter whether that’s a birthday, funeral, banquet, gala, breakfast, meeting, lunch… Literally anything. We do individual boxed meals all the way to plated and served at the table setting.
Along the way, I decided I not only wanted to do just the food, but I saw all of these other things that brides needed. So I got my liquor license and insurance so that we are able to also provide bars and Bartending for any type of event. I saw the need for rental items such as China, tablecloths, napkins, Tables, chairs, centerpieces… Basically anything that can help Put an event on… And I have purchased these items along the way, so we have all of them is rental items. We also provide coordination and event planning for weddings and large events.
We like to tell people that we are a one stop shop so that they can come to us and we can literally take care of every single thing that they need for an event.
So I can proudly say that we have eight vans, one truck, one trailer and about 50 people that take care of our event events! We can do seven weddings in one day and may have up to 15 different events in one weekend. For a small catering A little town called Peculiar, we have made a big name for ourselves.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The road to success is never a smooth one. We have had obstacles over the years, including Covid. Fortunately, for us, we actually flourished and doubled our business during Covid because we were able to work with all of the different health departments and figure out ways to make events work. Our biggest Struggle I would say is telling people now. I truly have been blessed with great help and plenty of work and for me it’s very hard to tell people know that I can’t help them. But I have my own family and all of my workers have their own families as well so I can’t be greedy, I have to Make sure that they are all taken care of as well.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Katie’s catering and events is known for displaying excellence, in fact it’s our logo. Making someone’s special day absolutely perfect is. We are known for our breathtaking displays that leave Guests completely amazed because they haven’t seen anything like what we do.… That is our goal. We like the wow factor.
When people book an event with us, they know that they are getting a piece of mind. That every single thing is going to be as perfect as we can make it. We decorate and match peoples themes or sometimes they just tell us what they want it to look like or what their thought is and we bring the entire vision to life.
What set us apart from everyone else is that we truly do care and someone’s “ Happily ever after” Is what we really do care about. It’s not just another job for us. It’s everything that they are going to remember for the rest of their lives. And if we can make that day so amazing, then we have done our jobs.
And that’s not only with weddings, it’s any event that we do. We get booked through our local high school to provide desserts, appetizers, dinners for all the different banquets of sports and for teachers, and it is such a treat to be able to spoil them and make them feel like they have really, got something special with their catering order. Anybody can bring food to an event… But it’s the elevated experience with the decorations and the thought that is put into it that makes them feel like they are so appreciated and that the message is truly there from the host, they really do care about them .

What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
I am super proud to announce that I actually just put a deposit down and I’m having an event space built on our property. So we will be able to host our own weddings and events of all sizes up to 250 people. So we truly will be a one stop shop where someone will be able to book their event and have their catering, rentals, centerpieces, bartending, and bar packages, and event coordination, all with one vendor! we also have a humongous swimming pool that we will be able to offer with different packages so that we will be recognized as one of the only venues in the entire area that offers a swimming pool package! We are very excited about our expansion, we are hoping to be And open for business by the end of the year!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Katiescateringkc.com
• Instagram: Katiescatering
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KatiesCateringKC?mibextid=LQQJ4d