Spitting Pig Latest News January 2012

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January was a busy month for us, more than usual; in fact we can’t remember a January being as busy in all of our years as this year’s was. We’ve been practically inundated with interest in the office (more on that later), with enquiries for the months and years ahead, and the catering hasn’t stopped all month. After taking a look at the records it turned out that our gut feelings was right, this January was the busiest we’ve had on record for bookings and enquiries, which makes for a great start to the year and has us all really excited for the coming months.
A great deal of the enquiries and bookings that we had in January were Olympic themed. If our phone lines are anything to go by then much of the country can’t wait for the Olympics and there’s going to be street parties, pub parties and private parties up and down the United Kingdom. We’ve had bookings for Olympic parties from Cornwall to as far north as Aberdeenshire, and we’re expecting Olympic enquiries to come in faster as we bear down on summer.

We started January in the same way as we ended December, catering at a New Years Eve Party in London. After that the team had a short sleep and we were up again and raring to go come 8am. There’s no break for a catering company as popular as Spitting Pig. When others slow down and take holidays we’re doing the exact opposite, speeding up and working tirelessly for the rest of the country.

January proper got under way on Sunday 1st, and it was business as usual with an evening booking for a hog roast buffet in Leicestershire. The occasion was a private birthday party at the customer’s home. We met some fantastic people, and the buffet was really well received, by the end of the night there wasn’t a crumb in sight, the buffet had been cleaned up in its entirety.

But without doubt the most popular menu this month has been the Spitting Pig Winter Warmer Menu. January has been cold and most the country has seen its fair share of snow, and the Winter Warmer Menu was heavily used this month at events all over the country. The WWM consists of green beans, carrots, mangetout and cauliflower cheese, served with a spit roasted pig or a spit roasted turkey, with stuffing, gravy and apple or cranberry sauce. So far everyone’s loved the menu and we’ve had several emails from happy customers thanking us for a job well done. The seasonal catering takes the edge off the cold weather and it’s been so successful that we’re going to bring it back every year. It’s well worth giving the menu a look at if you’re planning to book us next year.
We were booked with the menu for too many events to count in January but our favourite had to be at an outdoor event in Leeds, we’d been booked on late notice and by a magical stroke of luck it had been snowing all morning. So when we got to the house up in the hills it was some sight, with snow carpeting the ground in every direction. We cooked the pig perfectly and it was oozing with flavour, everyone seemed to thoroughly enjoy the pig sandwich. But we’re still kicking ourselves for not taking the camera with us; the view would have made for an amazing shot for our blog.

The biggest job we had in January was for a corporate dinner in Manchester that was attended by 600 people. We’ve worked larger functions in the past, but January was a busy month of smaller events, except for this one. The menu that was chosen was the Corporate Hospital Menu Option 5, which is an economical, albeit impressive menu for large events and gatherings. The menu has an option of 6 canapes, 1 starter, a choice of 2 main courses (served in a buffet format with sauces and bread rolls), 3 salads and a potato options, and to close the dinner there’s a choice of 2 puddings. All this is followed by coffee, tea and mints.

John (who booked us for the evening) made some wonderful menu selections for the event, we probably couldn’t have picked much better ourselves, and from the feedback from guests it seems they agreed. The food went down a treat, and the event itself was a success with plenty of happy campers thoroughly enjoying themselves. It’s events like that which make our week. And so good was the event that John has actually been in touch with us and pre-emptively booked us for the same event next January. So both John and the team at Spitting Pig couldn’t be happier with the evening.

A lot of work goes into a hog roast event and with the menu we provided a Spitting Pig Chef, a catering assistant and the waiting staff to serve the food and tend to the guests. As with all events for this menu the staff were on site 8 hours before the arranged saving time, as there’s lots of organisation and prep time involved in a hog roast. We have to get the hog cooking early, so that it’s cooked through come serving time, and the rest of the dishes whether canapés or desserts, we prepare on site.

All in all this has been one of the most successful and enjoyable January’s we’ve had to date, and while sticking to the theme of success we’ve got some great news as Spitting Pig is growing once again. The latest development is our planned move into brand new offices. We’re making the jump in February and if all goes to plan the new office is going to help us to brave new opportunities and take Spitting Pig even further in our quest for catering domination.

Hopefully your January has been as good as ours. Keep your eyes open for our February posting, for more information on our office move.

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