As president of both Catered Affare and Evolving Events, Colleen Walker has her hands full. A graduate of the Ryerson School of Hospitality and Tourism Management who also studied culinary management at George Brown, Walker launched Catered Affare 19 years ago. By opening Evolving Events International Inc. last year, she made a formal jump from caterer/event planner to owner of a full-scale, independent event planning company. Here, Walker sheds some light on trends in the industry.
What prompted you to open a designated event management company?
It's a natural extension of what we do at Catered Affare. We have worked with many event planners over the years; some are very good, and some are more challenging to deal with than others. We felt we could develop a company and a brand that would offer the same products and services to our clients as the planners, only we could do it bigger and better.
How independent is Evolving Events of Catered Affare?
Evolving Events is a separate company, but some of the business is driven through Catered Affare, and Evolving Events does hire Catered Affare to cater events.
What kind of an impression has that made on the event industry?
I think many catering companies are planning events, but no one is doing it formally. It has become a cross-marketing thing for us. We had to go out and formalize our intentions to do this out of fairness to our planner clients. We have lost some of them, but we told them of our plans, and we always knew this was going to cost us some relationships.
Is there a trend developing among caterers to break into event planning?
The face of catering is changing phenomenally, especially within venues. Many new ones are opening and allowing us to provide only the food and chef. The venue is handling the bar, the staffing, and the greater percentage of the profit on rentals and decor; they want a part of everything. Instead of getting 70 percent of the share of the event, we were now getting closer to 30 percent. We felt that we were losing such a large market share, we had to look at how we could grow, look at other revenue areas, and Evolving Events grew out of that. When we go in as a planner, we have an opportunity to take control of the event. I can see from the venue side why they feel they need to do things this way, but companies need to develop their expertise before they jump in, and I feel that expertise is a little deficient right now.
What is the best piece of advice you've received?
Work hard every day; you are only as good as your last event, so keep doing things well.
What is the best lesson you've learned?
Persevere in your day-to-day challenges.
What is the greatest compliment a client has ever paid you?
Referrals and repeat business.
—Robyn Small
Posted 02.24.05
What prompted you to open a designated event management company?
It's a natural extension of what we do at Catered Affare. We have worked with many event planners over the years; some are very good, and some are more challenging to deal with than others. We felt we could develop a company and a brand that would offer the same products and services to our clients as the planners, only we could do it bigger and better.
How independent is Evolving Events of Catered Affare?
Evolving Events is a separate company, but some of the business is driven through Catered Affare, and Evolving Events does hire Catered Affare to cater events.
What kind of an impression has that made on the event industry?
I think many catering companies are planning events, but no one is doing it formally. It has become a cross-marketing thing for us. We had to go out and formalize our intentions to do this out of fairness to our planner clients. We have lost some of them, but we told them of our plans, and we always knew this was going to cost us some relationships.
Is there a trend developing among caterers to break into event planning?
The face of catering is changing phenomenally, especially within venues. Many new ones are opening and allowing us to provide only the food and chef. The venue is handling the bar, the staffing, and the greater percentage of the profit on rentals and decor; they want a part of everything. Instead of getting 70 percent of the share of the event, we were now getting closer to 30 percent. We felt that we were losing such a large market share, we had to look at how we could grow, look at other revenue areas, and Evolving Events grew out of that. When we go in as a planner, we have an opportunity to take control of the event. I can see from the venue side why they feel they need to do things this way, but companies need to develop their expertise before they jump in, and I feel that expertise is a little deficient right now.
What is the best piece of advice you've received?
Work hard every day; you are only as good as your last event, so keep doing things well.
What is the best lesson you've learned?
Persevere in your day-to-day challenges.
What is the greatest compliment a client has ever paid you?
Referrals and repeat business.
—Robyn Small
Posted 02.24.05
