The Grand Rapids Press

Two years ago, Fresh Thyme Catering by D&W was serving up a lot of smoked salmon, pate de foie gras, duck and lamb chops.

This year, many of their menus for corporate holiday events have eschewed the highbrow in favor of the hearty, with dishes such as Asian pork tenderloin, chicken and mashed potatoes topping most employee plates.

Some West Michigan caterers are seeing the trickle-down effect of financial uncertainty on the dinner plates of holiday employee soirees.

"We're very worried," said Victoria Davis, catering sales manager for Fresh Thyme. "The whole year has been down and I know we're not the only ones. A lot of companies are doing potlucks or just a dessert or appetizer station. They're cutting costs any way they can."

And as their clients are scaling back, Fresh Thyme has had to as well. The caterer served up meals at 125 holiday events last season; this year it will be 97 -- which means Fresh Thyme has had to trim 15 full-time employees to seven.

When the terrorist attacks took place last Sept. 11, Davis said, most companies already had booked their Christmas parties, so business didn't take a tremendous hit. But given that most of Fresh Thyme's regular clients book nearly a full year in advance, many companies still unsure about how Sept. 11 would affect their bottom lines chose to nix their holiday events the following year.

"Either that or they're cutting way back," she said. "They're not having the desserts or appetizers, just the main meal. Or they are reducing the number of guests or the amount of food, which of course hurts our sales."

Corporate uncertainty of today makes next year difficult to predict, Davis said.

"Weddings are still up, so that's looking good," she said, "but as for the corporate end, those are down. It seems every time Steelcase lays off, it affects a lot of our business."

But Amway Grand Plaza Hotel's catering arm, which also books many of its holiday parties up to a year in advance, reports that its business is holding its own.

"We're very comparable to last year," said catering director Jonathan Sellwood. "I mean, definitely the holiday party business has declined over the last few years. Some of the companies that made financial and employee cutbacks felt uncomfortable throwing large parties for their staff."

For example, one of Amway's former corporate party clients, a large Grand Rapids die-casting company, has ceased throwing its annual dinner at the Grand Center for its 800 employees and their guests.

And they're not the only ones, Sellwood said.

"A lot of those we've totally lost," he said. "But our largest party this year is serving 4,500 for Gordon Food Service. And the ballrooms at the hotel are booked full every weekend to Christmas."

Sellwood suspects another reason Amway's catering has dropped from four or five years ago is increased competition from new catering businesses. In Grand Rapids alone, the telephone book lists nearly 90 companies that offer catering.

There's also timing to consider, Sellwood said.

"This year, Thanksgiving fell later in November," he said, "and because of the way Christmas is mid-week this year, we really only have two good weekends in December for Christmas parties. That's what's been a lot tougher. Next year looks a lot better because of the way the weekends fall."

At least one catering company claims that business is on the rise.

Gourmet To Go General Manager Michael Moore reports "gonzo" bookings this year as compared to last holiday season.

The week of Dec. 9, Gourmet To Go catered nearly 50 parties. Most of their events are held at businesses around the Gerald R. Ford International Airport and at Fredrick Meijer Gardens, the Van Andel Museum and St. Cecilia's Music Society.

"The kitchen has been working until 10 or 11 o'clock every night," Moore said. "We added four people to our crew at the end of November."

And that's "well ahead" of last year, he said.

"We did pretty well dollar-wise last year," said Moore, who's overseen the Kentwood catering business for the past three years. "But companies did really pull in what they put in front of people. Hardly anybody offered bars. In a nutshell, everybody kind of crawled into a shell.

"Then October came and people must have started thinking 'Oh, things aren't quite that bad. Personally, I think some of these companies may have had money left over in their budgets from last year."

The difference might be in the booking time: while Fresh Thyme gets most of its bookings up to a year in advance, Moore said most of his clients schedule events about six months ahead.

"That well might have something to do with it," he said. "One thing I've always said is that you can rank a restaurant (for average cost), but a caterer's work is really dependent on how much the client wants to spend.

A.D. Bos Catering Chef Tim Jekel agreed.

A few years ago, the Holland company chose to limit the number of event clients in order to focus on its vending machine business. A.D. Bos will cater about a dozen corporate parties this holiday season.

"Corporate is still strong," said Jekel, who's been with the company for six of the 15 years it has offered catering. "But I would say that I'm finding that clients are more price conscious. They're shopping it more. Customers stay pretty loyal, but they want to make sure they get the best price."

Tracy Barnett, owner of Ultimate Catering in Holland, has been in business for 12 years. She's not so sure about the loyalty factor.

"In today's world, people don't have loyalties to one or the other company, " Barnett said. "In West Michigan, I don't really think it has a tremendous amount to do with the financial state. The companies might cut back, but they'll still have the Christmas party or the customer luncheon."

Though she's nearly booked through the holidays and is getting plenty of last-minute requests for small parties, this year she does have fewer corporate events of more than 200 people.

"When you lost those big parties, it really makes a difference in your bottom line," Barnett said. "It could be the prices, the menu, I don't know."

One thing she does know is that there's a crunch on the lakeshore for venues that can accomodate large events. Many of the large facilites have exclusive catering companies, or a list of those they will allow, which makes matching caterer to venue a bit tricky, she said.

"Right now, it's kind of a split. The Holiday Inn you have to use their caterer, the Holland Fish and Game Club, no."

Her theory about fluctuating reports from caterers this season: "Catering itself fluctuates a lot."