We have been one of the many Salt Lake caterers for 10 years. Since 2009, we have produced loads of events of all sizes. There have been casual events at horse arenas and formals events at the Utah State Capitol. Whatever it is, we have enjoyed the atmosphere, the clientele and the work. It’s sort of a company joke that our owner, Ethan Ingram, is giddy among the chaos of an event. He seems to fire on all cylinders when we’ve got a sit down for 350 people. Some call it stress, he calls it fun.
There’s enough to go around!
We are proud to be one of many Salt Lake caterers. A quick Google search will pull up dozens of great companies. We aren’t in the business of bashing our competitors. It doesn’t do us or others any good to do that. There’s plenty of business to go around for all of us! In fact, we have had other competitors call us on busy catering days when they have run into a snag and need some help with broken equipment. The pleasure is all ours! Each one of our competitors has something unique to offer the people of Salt Lake. We are just proud to be apart of the throng.
Having been in business for 10 years, we have discovered what our niche is. We know what we are good at and how we can use that to build a customer base that will come back year after year for their events. It’s come with plenty of trial and error, luckily none of the errors being a true disaster that derails an event! What are some of those unique things about us? Let’s take a look!
No shortcuts with the food
Admittedly, the business Ethan learned the art of catering from was one that would cut corners with the food. It was things like processed foods in place of things from scratch or using lower quality ingredients. This wasn’t because they were trying to cheat their clients, they were just doing what they knew worked for their customer base. As Ethan broke away from that business and began working on his own projects, he could see the difference just a little bit more effort made. Working in other commercial kitchens in both Utah and California showed him how to make from-scratch food in large quantities work. He was also to see how the food didn’t just taste better, but it looked better. And the food costs were the same.
Today, Rockwell Catering cares deeply about doing food the right way. You can see that when you look at our menus. That means mashed potatoes for 200 people peeled by hand. It’s also chocolate croissant bread pudding made with a custard that has 4 dozen hand-cracked eggs. It’s also our famous sherry wine mushrooms sauce simmered and thickened over an hour’s time. We just care. If we wouldn’t want to feed it to our families, then why would we try and pass it off to our customers. The effort pays off in the words of our customers. Here’s an example from our Google reviews:
“We are so grateful we enlisted Rockwell Catering for our wedding! Ethan was great to work with and flexible even though we had a smaller guest list than they usually work with. The food was amazing (especially the sherry mushroom sauce from their From The Grill menu)! The staff was super nice and helpful as well. We also had an Italian soda bar which was delicious. My wife and I definitely recommend Rockwell!”- Katrina K.
Central location
When Rockwell Catering came into existence as one of the many Salt Lake caterers, owner Ethan Ingram was still fairly new to Utah. He had to get his bearings as he learned how catering in Utah was different from catering in California. He soon saw that a central kitchen location was key. If he was going to be a caterer all over the Wasatch Front, he needed a good home base. So our current kitchen was born. We are centrally located in Murray, right where I-15 and I-215 meet. (If you or anyone you know is from California, you know how they say “THE 15” instead of I-15. We still can’t break that habit. It’s okay to make fun of us, we know we sound ridiculous! Just like The Californians on SNL.).
Our kitchen location is perfect for preparing for events. Right where we are located is where you can find Restaurant Depot, Sams Club and the world’s biggest Costco. No lie, the Salt Lake Costco is the biggest in the world! Our location makes it easy to zip out to Park City for an event while also being able to cruise down to Provo. We love where we are located and we hope to stay in that spot for many years!
Keep it small and simple
As we have worked to become of one the many Salt Lake caterers, we have been approached by various companies that want to help us grow and expand. They mean well and are probably very good at their job, but we just can’t make ourselves get excited about becoming too big for our britches. Yes, we could grow into a catering conglomerate and take over the world, but we wouldn’t get to have a hands-on approach to our food. We would also lose the connection with our customers. And it would also take away from our families too. We have strived to keep a laser focus on why we do this. We want to provide for our families and others, become apart of our community and create a brand that will have some real staying power. With goals like that, you have to plan on being in it for the long haul. It’s all about playing your long game. We feel that we are achieving that every day. For that, we are thankful to you, our customers. Thank you for your trust in us. Thank you for being apart of what makes our job fun to do. Every day, we are grateful for the part our community plays in our business.
For us, it’s plain and simple. Our creed is to create a quality product, get to know our customers and not let anything get to our heads. Every day is a good day to be one of the many Salt Lake caterers!
