The Juniper Spoon: Local Food Catering

Lali Hess will tell you that she started her catering business from the ground up. Literally. Before she launched The Juniper Spoon, a full service catering company located in Montgomery County, she managed Blue Moon Farms in Rockville where she raised organic heirloom vegetables and sold them to Indianapolis restaurants and at the Broad Ripple Farmers Market. Prior to that she spent two years as a farm intern at the Michaela Farm in Oldenburg.

As the demand for her fresh produce grew, Lali began to get requests for recipes and preserving techniques. So, she created recipes and shared them with her loyal customers. In 1997, she was offered a catering opportunity for the opening of an art gallery. The fact that she had never catered an event before in her life didn't stop her from taking on what she thought would be a fun and challenging assignment. The decision to do that would be a major turning point in her business strategy. Her delicious local food and beautiful tablescapes so impressed the attendees that she was offered a two year catering contract with the gallery and one of the guests contacted her to cater her wedding. She continued to run her farm and take on catering assignments, thinking that perhaps someday she would make a full time business out of the catering if the timing was right.

In 2001, Lali and her husband Doug Miller moved to Philadelphia where Lali decided to immerse herself in the commercial catering and food service business. She took a job with a high end catering company and as a line cook at a delicatessen where she honed her cooking and business skills. When she and Doug came back to Indiana a few years later, she jumped into her catering business with both feet.

Lali has remained true to her organic roots and desire to bring the "fresh taste of Indiana" to her clients' events. She caters weddings, corporate events, private parties, and offers a Dinner Delivery Service for busy people who want fresh, healthy  meals but don't have the time to prepare them at home. She and Doug have a five acre farm on which they raise much of the organic vegetables and fruits that she uses in her cooking and she buys from a long list of Indiana producers including: Traders Point Creamery, This Old Farm, Sugar Creek Farm, Meadow Valley, Harris Sugar Bush, and Scott and Wendy Feller.

On the day I met with her in her commercial kitchen in Darlington, she was preparing Butternut Squash and Apple Soup (her recipe will be posted next week), rosemary focaccia, and oatmeal bread. As we nibbled on the warm focaccia, she moved about the kitchen with the skill and grace of a self assured chef as she spoke enthusiastically about the bright future of her business. She's seen a tremendous growth in the number of weddings she has been catering lately. Lali attributes this to the fact that weddings are an opportunity for the couple to express their unique personal style so it would be natural that those who prefer local, in-season, and organic foods would want that as a part of their special day's celebration.

Lali has never advertised and yet her business has seen a steady growth each year solely on the word of mouth advertising from her more than satisfied customers. She knows that her success is greatly due to the incredibly fresh, in-season, and local ingredients that she uses and is quick to remind you that behind every great chef there's a great farmer. In Lali's case, they're one in the same.

The Juniper Spoon
Lali Hess
Darlington, Indiana
765-794-0533
lali@thejuniperspoon.com
www.thejuniperspoon.com

Photo: www.anneruthmann.com