With the 2015 holiday parties in our past and winter on its way out, its time to start thinking about a fun spring get together with friends! How about.....a Kentucky Derby Party!!?There’s no time like the present, so call up your friends, dial up the fun, and Run for the Roses!

What a great way to celebrate the Derby with some dazzle, a dash of Southern Charm and a great mix of music and friends to get your party going. The Kentucky Derby race tradition dates back many years, are steeped in fun, parties, hats and mint julep drinkers. You can bring some of that tradition and fun right into your very own home with some helpful party tips:

• Encourage the women party-goers to wear big hats, and men bowties. You could even ramp it up a bit by offering a horseshoe pin to your guests upon arrival. Red roses are popular when decorating your home. The more equestrian, the better!
• Bring the South to your home by offering some traditional Derby Favorites. Think Ham Biscuits, Kentucky Hot Browns, Deviled Eggs Tea Sandwiches and Burbon Balls. 
• Go like-the-pros in Special Event Catering and offer a signature cocktail or two. This will help simplify your menu and ease the amount of items at your bar. Try Mint Juleps, Bloody Mary's and Mimosas!  

And finally, Be sure to have the race on television, or go softer and throw on some Southern Jazz Music. Entertainment is a very important piece to an event!

To wrap things up, be sure to design your menu and evening so you aren’t spending the whole time in the kitchen heating things up. Most people plan terrific parties, but don’t spend time with their guests because of this.  So develop a good plan, a great menu and be sure to HAVE FUN!!

Looking for creative and colorful New England summer wedding ideas? Here’s how a recent bride collaborated with Peppers to make her special day memorable.

Crisp navy linens and white chairs created a classic but casual look. To jazz up the color scheme we added pops of chartreuse in various display linens and in the gorgeous floral table centerpieces that Peppers designed.  The visual appeal was refined, yet relaxed.   

An oyster bar was an important stationary hors d’oeuvres menu item for this couple. Instead of a basic table set up, we used a moving cart with striped awning and attached chalkboard signage to create their  “AW SHUCKS” seafood display with a touch of nautical detail.  Talk about the wow factor! We custom built the cart and yes its available for rent! 

And her wedding cake was an understated design with a bit of a twist – literally. We turned the square tiers on an angle to give it some sass and tied in navy blue and chartreuse with a ribbon on each tier and floral garnishes.   

Each design element complemented the others to bring the Brides wedding vision to life. This was an elegant and fun reception that truly reflected the couples’ personalities. 

We couldn't help but share some more amazing images of their day!

Venue: Tower Hill Botanical Garden
Photographer: Joe Dolen 

To bring the theme full circle, the one thing Morgan really wanted at her casual, but elegant backyard BBQ wedding was Pepper’s infamous copper boot. Filled with straw, and bright sunflowers the boot made a big statement piece on the buffet.

The birch frosted cake on a custom made stump stand, centered on a wooden market cart was displayed throughout the night. The fun loving Groom, who usually can be seen dressed like a lumberjack, did not hold back from shoving a little bit of the Salted Caramel Devil’s Food Cake (which was a Pepper’s favorite this year) into his bride’s face when it came time for the cake cutting. 

Even though it was raining cats & dogs by the end of the night, that didn’t stop anyone from having a great time, devouring the cake and mini sweets and dancing up their own storm under the beautifully lit tent. The combination of the Pepper’s touch and the Bride & Groom’s do-it-yourself this wedding was both perfect and personalized.  

Photographer: Joseph Gonzalez Dufresne HelloImJoe

Pepper's Catering was recently certified as a 2 Star Certified Green Caterer by the Green Restaurant Association, a national nonprofit organization helping restaurants to become more environmentally sustainable. 

We have taken great steps to become a leader among catering companies by maintaining several sustainability initiatives.  As more information has become available about the importance of maintaining our environment and preserving our natural resources, Pepper’s has chosen to make sustainability a key corporate value.  Over the past year Pepper’s has been inspired to take steps to limit our energy consumption, increase our recycling initiatives, and source many food and floral products from local farms and vendors.

Water Reduction:

As a provider of off premise catering, water is a critical component of our ware washing and event preparation.  By installing a state of the art energy efficient ware washing machine, Peppers has been able to reduce ware washing related water consumption by nearly 50%.  Furthermore, Pepper’s has taken steps to become mindful of wasting water in our day to day operations by installing flow regulating aerators on prep and hand washing sinks.  Flow regulating aerators have allowed our team to become more mindful of how much water they actually need to use in day to day tasks.

Electrical Reduction:

Peppers has begun to take several significant steps towards reducing electrical consumption during day to day operations.  This year a Solar Panel array will be installed on the roof of our facility.  The array will be large enough to generate 20% of our annual electrical needs, all from the sustainable energy provided by the Sun’s rays.  Peppers has also begun the process of becoming an entirely LED lit facility.  By switching to LED based lighting fixtures, Peppers is able to reduce lighting based electrical consumption by nearly 50%.  Our electricity saving initiatives extend to our culinary team as well.  Our kitchen convection ovens were recently upgraded to energy star rated models that are able to offer our chefs improved cooking performance by utilizing less electricity.

Waste Reduction:

Since April Peppers has been utilizing a single stream or all in one recycling program.  Single stream programs have revolutionized recycling by simplifying the disposal process and reducing the number of trips vendors need to make to pick up products.  Our current arrangement allows for us to recycle all paper, cardboard, glass, aluminum, and select other recyclable products with great ease.  Since inception Peppers has significantly reduce the amount of waste the company has sent to the landfill and the volume of product recycled has increased by 100%.

Sourcing Local Produce and On Site Composting:

Peppers culinary team take great pride in being able to source product, herbs, and florals directly from the company’s on premise, all organic garden.  The success of the organic garden, has been further enabled by Pepper’s on site composting system.  Our culinary team has diligently been contributing all eligible food waste into two rotating compost drums that help the food items to break down and become a natural, sustainable source of nutrients for the plants in the organic garden. Furthermore, we continue to support our local farms by sourcing our meats and produce from them. Each year we par take in a farm to table event in which all product from flowers to food is provided using local farms. 

Fuel Efficiency:

Pepper’s has taken great steps to be mindful of the impact that an off premise caterer can have on carbon emissions.  Since May, Peppers has taken delivery of three fuel efficient Mercedes Bluetech diesel powered catering vans.  Utilizing our new fuel efficient vans has represented a decrease in fuel consumption, and cleaner burning emission into the environment.  Pepper’s has been able to travel significantly further distances, while using less fuel than our former gasoline powered catering vans.

Cater green with us!