Chef brendon catered my sisters wedding and all I can say is that he was a disaster. both my sister and I have backgrounds in catering (i ran my own very successful catering business in NY for 25 years and retired during covid)
My sister was very thorough and is very detail oriented so she had many requests for Brendon, which he said he could and would do, but then didn't, as he never put her requests into the contract, although she has the request Texts and Brendons positive response
1. she had 100 guests, Brendon said a staff of 7 was plenty, both my sister and I felt 10 staff but he assured her they were a well oiled machine and all would be fine. He only had 6 staff, three of which were University of Maryland students who knew nothing about set up, break down, presentation etc... it was a very ungracious level of service. Tables perpetually were filled with dirty plates and glasses.
2. she specifically discussed not having a tip cup at the bar, I walked out to find one anyway, and bar tenders said Brendon allowed it
3. most of the food was frozen, or Purchased from a store like Costco, her " Grilled protein mains-chicken, beef and shrimp-were pregrilled and cold (actually the shrimp looked raw), all of his salad dressing were bottled dressings from the grocery store (appaulling). He was so understaffed he was never able to wash and cut berries to add to his fruit platters, so he took them all back to his facility
4. he assured her his staff would help with set up, break down and they would clean up. His three boys didn't know what they were doing-fortunately since I had my own catering business, MY family, quite seasoned in catering, stepped in to help and finish.
5. At the end of the evening someone side swiped one of his staffs car (staff was parked on a public street) that was the end of work for the staff member and the other two staff he transported that day, leaving cleanup to Brendon and his two bartenders....
They didn't fully clean the kitchen, not a single counter was wiped, nor the floor swept, and the two desserts provided by me and a guest were just left for us to clean. garbage wasn't emptied , rentals not packed and back together. My family came the next day and broke down all the tables and chairs.
In the end, what could have been a spectacular wedding (decor was stunning, and the band great) was only beautiful.
I read all of Brendon credentials, but his food didn't reflect his credentials at all and his service was ungracious and lacking.
Anyone hiring him should make sure all details discussed and agreed to are then actually transferred and written into the contract.
To have to clean up a wedding as a guest in my wedding cloths was horrible. I actually wanted to cry.....not to mention what it meant to my sister I her bridal gown read more
