Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to the Denver NACE podcast, home to Denver's top event professionals, where we are excited to help you learn and grow as an event industry professional. My name is Jared Judge. I am your host and music director of Extreme Strings. Electric Violinist. I'm super excited for today's interview. It is with Bonnie Vidal. She is our Denver NACE director of programming and she also happens to be director of sales at Biscuits and Berries Catering Company. Welcome to the podcast, Bonnie.

Speaker 2: 0:30

Thank you, I'm so excited to be here and to chat with you.

Speaker 1: 0:33

Awesome, we are excited to have you too. First off, tell us a little bit about yourself. Are you a Colorado native and what do you do over at Biscuits and Berries?

Speaker 2: 0:44

I'm actually a California native. I was born and raised in the Los Angeles area. I am a natural born valley girl, so I will say like after almost every word but I moved to Colorado 10 years ago. Actually, it's been 10 years in July of this year, so I'm excited to be here. Obviously I'm not leaving, and I found a home not only with Colorado, but with Biscuits and Berries Catering, which I started working for nine years ago. Yeah, and I just started as a server with dreams of being a wedding planner. That shifted into being a catering sales, event designer, and now I am director of sales.

Speaker 2: 1:32

So I'm managing the team of event designers.

Speaker 1: 1:34

Oh, that's awesome. How did you get into the events industry?

Speaker 2: 1:39

I have a very large family. My dad's side is Mexican, so there's plenty of us, plenty of celebrations that need to happen, and it just naturally flowed that I became the party planner in the family. So after moving here, after living here for a year, decided to actually pursue event planning as a career. Prior to that I had been in retail management, which is completely different, but yeah, so I just decided to pursue it. I interned with a wedding planner and she told me to get a job with a caterer because they handle all of it.

Speaker 2: 2:21

And so I did that and then just fell in love with the events industry and my mindset shifted on what I wanted from it. Didn't want to do as much of the planning part of it, but really enjoyed the small aspects of it that catering handled and going to all the different venues and meeting all the different people. And I really liked the diversity in events that caterers do versus just all weddings and doing all the same thing pretty much on a consistent basis. So it was really, really fun to get into it and it's been really an interesting journey kind of learning all the different aspects of the industry, Because really I had no familiarity with, like the actual business side of this industry until I got a job with a caterer.

Speaker 1: 3:14

Wow, that's incredible. What were some of those aspects that you discovered after diving in at first?

Speaker 2: 3:22

So, like I said, I came from retail and I didn't realize until I was in kind of the sales department at Biscuits that I do love sales and so that's really not a huge part of the wedding planning aspect of that job. So I definitely lean more towards a job that would let me still do the sales but still be creative. So I really liked being involved in the design of events. It's really fun to play around with how food becomes a part of that whole experience. Our company does a lot of really custom menus. Our whole focus is on what the client is really looking for. So we do a lot of customization, which I super love. And being able to kind of tailor that into the overall design and feel of the event just kind of evolved in I super liked it.

Speaker 1: 4:21

Yeah, that's awesome. I will have a follow up question about sales in a little bit, but this is a great opportunity. Tell us a bit about Biscuits and berries, like what do you guys stand for? What do you do? How big is the team? Give us the deets.

Speaker 2: 4:35

Sure. So our company has been around for over 30 years and has really grown and evolved. Even in the nine years that I've been there, the growth has been exponential. But really our owner started out. She took a failing business that she bought from another female owner and really changed it and grew it into what it is. It used to be just very simple door to door businesses in Evergreen and now we're one of the top caterers in Colorado. We're going all over the state.

Speaker 2: 5:16

The scope of our events could range from that small 10% event to thousands of people in a singular space, multi-day events. So it's been a lot of growth and we just have a lot of flexibility. I would say the one thing that our company is super focused on is that client experience and kind of tailoring everything to what our client's vision is and making it happen. So we're very, very client focused, whether that's with food or service, even like budgeting. Honestly, I mean that's a big part of it too. But yeah, we definitely focus hard for on the client. Our GM used to be our executive chef. So we're very, very food forward in how we're thinking and how we're crafting our events. We never want any of the quality or service to be compromised.

Speaker 2: 6:15

So, we have our standards that we hold internally to that. Our team is growing. Obviously, the pandemic was a thing and but we were able to retain pretty much all of our core staff, which was amazing. Our company really took care of everybody that works for us and focused on how to keep everybody employed and surviving, and we've definitely beefed up since then. I think right now we have overall, somewhere between like two and 300 people working for us Mm-hmm and our sales team is like eight people. So we have like eight of us doing all of the sales, and that's both delivery and full service.

Speaker 2: 7:03

Obviously, we just expand continuously as we see the need. Nothing is slowing down, so we're probably gonna expand our team pretty soon here again. But yeah, we're just a really tight knit group of people. Even though there's hundreds of us, pretty much most of us know each other's names and hang out. There's a lot of friendships and relationships that have grown from working together. We have a lot of longevity with our people too, which is awesome to see. I'm definitely not the longest person working there. I haven't worked there the longest. Most people have worked for us for at least a couple of years. Obviously, we have some new members on our team, but we'll expect them to still be with us in a couple of years.

Speaker 1: 7:52

Yeah, that's amazing. So, to sum it up, it sounds like biscuits and berries cares a lot about the clients, cares a lot about its staff and cares a lot about the product that you deliver to those clients, so it's kind of a winning trifecta. I imagine you guys get a lot of feedback saying like this was just such a great experience, start to finish.

Speaker 2: 8:13

Yeah, we definitely have some great feedback from our clients and we don't do a ton of paid marketing because word of mouth and our relationships in the industry really kind of speak for themselves.

Speaker 1: 8:26

Yeah, that's awesome. So tell me about director of sales. I mean, did you start out as director you mentioned? I think you started out as one of the salespeople and then worked your way into this position. Is that right?

Speaker 2: 8:39

Yeah, so when I first started with Biscuits nine years ago, actually it was just a server, yeah you didn't mention that.

Speaker 2: 8:46

Yeah, and then kind of went from server to bartender to captioning events and then when one of the sales event designers found out that I was working with a wedding planner, she was actually the one who suggested I work in the office with them as one of their assistants and kind of learn what they do. And I'm super grateful that she mentioned that because I literally would never have thought of that at all because I was very focused on, like, wedding planner. So, yes, I started in the office within the first year of working at Biscuits and we have multiple sides to our company. So I started in the delivery department and kind of worked there and then ended up running that department and then making the switch over to social. So I was an event designer, just a regular event designer for several years and then last year got promoted into the director position, which was super awesome. I love that. We had the ability to still grow and develop personally and professionally.

Speaker 2: 9:51

So yeah and it's been interesting.

Speaker 1: 9:54

That's amazing, and I hear like an overlap between sales and event design. Could you kind of clarify? How does that work Like I don't know? My perception of salespeople is like their primary job is persuasion and getting people to sign on the dotted line, but it sounds like you have a different approach to that, where it's more collaborative. Is that correct?

Speaker 2: 10:16

Yeah, I think our sales is very much less like I don't know like straight, like coming at you sales. Now, nobody on our team likes to be sold things that way. So, like, while we are facilitating the actual sale of food and service and all of that, we're really more focused on what the client's vision is and what we have resource-wise to make that happen. So, whether that's us coordinating the rentals for them, putting together like mood boards for their tablescapes, recommending other vendors which we do all the time we have a lot of friends in the industry that are amazing at their jobs, and connecting them with the right people is also a priority for us. With our clients, you know, whether that's a planner, a photographer, a DJ, what have you it's really important to us as salespeople to get the full scope of the event. That way, our piece of it fits really well into end meshes with that overall guest experience. So, while we are technically selling things, our focus is really to figure out how to execute the client's vision.

Speaker 1: 11:29

Yeah, that makes sense Very cool, and I mean it sounds like because you have such a client-centric approach, like you mentioned before, you don't have to do much marketing. The word of mouth just kind of brings the leads in, and then the focus on helping them bring their vision to life means you don't have to do much selling. They're already sold. So the logical step is you got to sign the contract if you want the food.

Speaker 2: 11:52

Yeah, exactly yeah, sign our contract.

Speaker 1: 11:57

Exactly, that's awesome. So how has this year 2023 been treating you so far?

Speaker 2: 12:04

2023 has been good. Obviously we're still very busy, but we definitely don't have that like frenetic, chaotic energy of 2021, that kind of bled into 2022 a little bit. I think things are mellowing in the sense that everybody's gotten a handle on how the events world works in this post pandemic age.

Speaker 2: 12:35

But it's not like slowing down necessarily, like the volume is definitely still there which is awesome, and our team is amazing, and this year we've decided to really focus on growth and development of several different aspects of our company and we've now been able to like having set in some new procedures and standards over the last couple of years, we're now able to like breathe and actually focus on the trajectory for the company, which is super exciting for us.

Speaker 1: 13:05

Yeah, so getting more into strategy instead of just survival mode.

Speaker 2: 13:09

Yeah, exactly, it's really fun.

Speaker 1: 13:11

That's awesome.

Speaker 2: 13:12

It lets us all be really creative in our individual roles, which is super great to see.

Speaker 1: 13:17

Yeah, no, that's super cool. So you are Denver NACE's director of programs. Tell us a little bit about your involvement with NACE. When did you join NACE?

Speaker 2: 13:31

I joined NACE, I think in 2020. I'd have to go back and see when I actually joined it. Prior to that, I was definitely part of ILEA, but being in industry organizations was not a super focus of mine. But then, once the pandemic hit, it became very apparent that, like being in an organization in the industry was so important to keep those connections. People were moving and leaving jobs and there was so much movement and uncertainty in our industry that it really felt to me that being a part of an organization was how we were going to keep it together and how we were going to keep those connections alive and relationships alive. So that's when I pretty much insisted that I joined NACE, because I was like I'm not part of NACE and all my people that I know were part of NACE Let me join. So that's really when I first started. I first joined, but I don't think I started really regularly attending meetings and programs and getting involved until maybe 2022, 2021, somewhere around there.

Speaker 1: 14:43

Yeah, that's awesome. Quick side question that may or may not help people on the fence about joining NACE Are you personally paying for the membership or did you get biscuits to pay for it?

Speaker 2: 14:54

Biscuits is paying for it. Thank you so much Biscuits. But honestly, even if I were to leap biscuits which I would never do and had to pay for it on my own, I would say that's worth it.

Speaker 1: 15:09

That's awesome. It's great to hear. So, then, what caused you to get more active in the past couple of years? Was there something that you're like I wanted to do this, or I feel like our chapter could do X that caused you to step up into some leadership positions?

Speaker 2: 15:25

I'm always definitely one of those people that's like C's opportunity, which is probably why I'm good at sales, but everywhere I go whatever the opportunity is. And so when I was approached about being on a committee that's where I started was on the programs committee. I actually was approached for, I think, fund raising or something else, One of the other committees, and then when we talked about it no-transcript, no, my heart, my heart is with programs. Um, I can definitely like. It made me a little bit more comfortable because I was more familiar with that, Even though it probably would have been a good idea to put myself outside of my comfort zone and done the other committee.

Speaker 2: 16:06

But anyway, I joined the programs committee and it was really interesting to see the back end of the different programs because I've never been Like super involved in the organizations, um, and so it was kind of fun, like a new challenge. I love challenges and so figuring out you know what each Program needed to be successful and you know how they, how they worked and how you guys work together on the board. All of that Was really very interesting, um, and then I got approached, uh, shortly after Well, I could say shortly after, but it's months, months after to Possibly do a director position. So I thought about that for a little while but, um, and it's been actually a lot more, I think, rewarding being in the director position, then just the committee, um, because you really see More into the organization and how it functions and then for me I see more opportunity for how it could be Really amazing, like a really amazing Um thing.

Speaker 1: 17:11

That is awesome. Uh, tell us about some of the fun programs that you've worked on or you are currently working on.

Speaker 2: 17:18

Sure, so I am actually. Our next one is next Tuesday, one week from today Um, the catering olympics, and that is my personal baby, so I am running the show on that one and I'm super excited. Um, it's hunger games themed, and I am a book nerd, so, uh, I loved the hunger game series when it came out, um, and the movies were awesome as well, so we're very excited to like tie all that in and also to see everybody compete in doing things that they have maybe never done before. Um, so you have a lot of fun competitions, um, where people can try their hands at you know making cocktails or you know bustling a dress, like all of the things that make up our industry that, like, are new to some people.

Speaker 1: 18:09

Yeah, oh, that's not so much fun. Um, where did this idea come from? Because I I've never Purchased in a catering olympics before. I've never heard of it before. Where did it come from?

Speaker 2: 18:20

so they naced. Denver has done catering olympics previously, but halted it for the last couple years, so it's been a couple years since they've done it. I've never been to one, but I almost went to the last one that they did, which was, I don't know, 2019, maybe, um, and because it sounded really fun to like compete against each other and like do you know weird positions that you've never Held before in the industry. You know, um, but yeah, it's, it sounds exciting. Everybody that I've talked to that has done Catering olympics before is very excited about it being back. Um, so I'm looking forward to it.

Speaker 1: 19:03

Yeah, that's awesome and you say competition. But it's fun, friendly competition.

Speaker 2: 19:07

Oh yeah, it's, it's friendly competition. I mean, the Gold medals are off amazon, so Take that as no, so it sounds to me like yeah.

Speaker 1: 19:20

And like even though it's, it's all fun and games. Like. To me it sounds like a great way to bring people together. In this fun, friendly competition, you'll get to know people in the local events industry who you maybe never chatted with before. Plus, like sounds to me like you'd get an appreciation for those jobs that you don't do. Like for me. I'm a musician. I've never catered, I'd never set up a pipe and drape, I've never bustled the dress. Like yeah, I will gain an amazing appreciation for the work of others by trying and failing myself.

Speaker 2: 19:51

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 19:52

That's awesome.

Speaker 2: 19:52

Yeah, it's a fun, a fun teamwork. You know environment. It's a safe space for you to fail or do amazing. It depends on how you do it.

Speaker 1: 20:03

Yeah, for sure. Um, so talk to me a little bit about, like some of the other programs that you've either done, that you've loved or attended, or ones that are coming up that you think might be intriguing um, yeah, so september is nace fest, which I'm very excited about.

Speaker 2: 20:20

So it's just like basically one big fun party and you can bring, like your significant others, your families, it's just like fun and games straight up. I'm looking forward to that and I'm getting together with every people, everybody. You know there's not such an emphasis on like networking, which, can you know, is amazing and Really valuable, and it's fun to see your friends, but it's kind of nice to like not have that extra stress of like, okay, I got to turn on my, my networking personality. Um, so this one's just fun and games. I'm super looking forward to that.

Speaker 2: 20:57

And then I love naughty or nace. I've been to naughty or nace a few years now and it's always always a good time. Like that dance floor is always packed, there's great music, drinks, food Everybody's in that holiday spirit. Um, so that's our december program super looking forward to that one. Um, yeah, I don't know. I've done a few now that have been. They're all really fun. And you can ask, like, I have somebody on my staff, um, on my sales team, and she loves every nace event that she's ever been to. She, I don't think she's ever told me she can't come.

Speaker 1: 21:34

Wow, that's awesome yeah. Um, and you know, there there've been some that I've heard of highlights too, that were like dinner in the dark, where you literally amazing.

Speaker 2: 21:43

Yeah, tell me about that.

Speaker 1: 21:45

I didn't have a chance to attend it, but what was that like?

Speaker 2: 21:48

So I've been to two of them now and both are super. They were both super fun. So basically, um, you know, you start out with your usual cocktail hour and then everybody gets what's it called Blindfolds.

Speaker 2: 22:03

I'm gonna say mask, blindfolds to put on. And you got led into the main room for dinner and they like literally lead you to your, to your chair, your physical chair. Put your hands on it so you don't like fall, you cannot see a thing. You sit down and it's. It's all set up like a normal, you know, reception would be everything's there, your water glass, your napkin, all of that. But you have to navigate that space and that dining Experience, completely blindfolded, wow. So really like enhances Everything, all your other senses, um, it feels like everybody is shouting Sometimes, and sometimes they are because you have to like over call your overcompensating, um, but it's fun because you're you know you don't know who's at your table, um, so you're having conversations with, maybe, people that you wouldn't have, you know, sat next to, instinctively, and learning more about them.

Speaker 2: 23:02

You guys are having this mutual experience together. There's definitely some vulnerability, you know, not being able to see what's going on, um, and Then you experience the food and the drinks differently too, right, so you, you can't See it, so you're experiencing it through your other senses, through taste and smell, um, and sometimes it's surprising, um, and you know, sometimes they have you guess what it is that you're you're eating, um, and as somebody who like works in food, uh, it's really interesting, like it's like a challenge to myself to like detect all of the you know herbs or whatever I don't know if it's a dish or what, trying to figure out like, what is it that I'm I'm eating right now?

Speaker 2: 23:48

um, and I will say, the photos and the videos that come out of these Are hilarious.

Speaker 1: 23:54

Oh, that's awesome.

Speaker 2: 23:55

Everybody's like trying to, you know, get that carrot or whatever in their mouth and completely missing it's. It's really fun. You just let down your guard a lot and you experience, you know, dining in a completely different way. Um, I don't think anybody doesn't enjoy dining in the targets. That's amazing and that will be coming back next year.

Speaker 1: 24:16

Amazing. Well, I can't wait to go to this one.

Speaker 2: 24:18

Yeah, you better.

Speaker 1: 24:20

So it sounds like you know the role of the programs committee and and your job is to take something networking that is traditionally thought of as scary, intimidating and a drag, but a necessary evil and turn it into something fun, exciting and Makes it a lot, a lot more interesting than just your traditional. Let's get dressed up and shake hands and talk to each other.

Speaker 2: 24:45

Yeah, definitely we want some fun elements to it. Um, I was a big advocate, too, for bringing back educational elements. Um, me personally, I'm trying to do a lot of uh, professional development and Um learn more about different aspects of our industry, um how we can help our industry grow. So that's definitely on the agenda for Our 2024 programs is to add some more educational fun elements into all of our programs. Um, that way, you know we're learning, we're having fun, we're making connections. You know it's like the triple threat there. You know we're just a totally valuable. You know part of your evening and, yeah, for sure that that's awesome.

Speaker 1: 25:30

I mean to me I've I've been in Denver since August of last year so just under a year now and I have like gotten way more than my money's worth from the amazing programs that you and the team have put on. So thanks for doing that.

Speaker 2: 25:44

Yay, I'm glad to hear it.

Speaker 1: 25:47

Cool. So we're getting close to the end of our episode here. I'm going to just ask you quickly what pieces of advice would you have for those who are newer to the events industry or for those who have been in it for a while and maybe you just would love to see a couple changes in the industry?

Speaker 2: 26:04

Oh, changes, I would say, for people starting out. Um, one thing that I have definitely learned about this industry, and especially in denver, colorado, um, is that it's very important to make connections with people. Um, there's so many of us in this industry, but we are somehow weirdly a tight knit community. Um, everybody knows each other, um, and everybody is really Really focused on helping each other succeed and helping the industry succeed, which is amazing, um, so making connections is super important, whether it's like going to networking things or you know conferences or what have you. Um, literally, just you know making friends. That's the.

Speaker 2: 26:54

The best part about it, too, is that everybody is very interested in being friends with you. So, you know, it's an easy way to make new friends if you've just moved here too, um, but yeah, that that definitely became very apparent very quickly was that you know you need to know know people, and not in that like fast-paced, like you know hollywood sort of you got to know people like you just know people. Like we're in a casual I'm your friend, wife, um, and then I don't know if I would. What I would want to see changed in?

Speaker 1: 27:26

the industry.

Speaker 2: 27:28

Um, I think we've come a long way, Um, in advocacy for our industry. So I would definitely just say like maybe more participation in representing our industry and like legislation and stuff and moving forward in that direction. I think has been kind of by the wayside for a while and didn't really become as like important until the pandemic. But we have some great people and organizations that have definitely started paving the way for that. Shout out to the CEA. They've also been doing a great job. But, yeah, I think I would love to see people using their voices a little bit more.

Speaker 1: 28:15

That's awesome. Well, that is beautiful, and what a great way to wrap up this episode. Bonnie, are there any places that you would like to send people to learn more about you? Or biscuits and berries?

Speaker 2: 28:27

Sure, definitely check out our website. It's got a lot of great information about who we are, what we do. Our socials are very much where we share visual representations of that. So we're on Instagram at biscuits and berries. I am also on Instagram at biscuitsbonnie. I do more behind the scenes type of things, so I show you our team working at setup. I give you all the updates on what's going on in the industry.

Speaker 2: 29:00

I quite often you know, reposting fun events that you can go to whether or not we're involved in it, and then on Facebook. This gets me just catering.

Speaker 1: 29:13

Awesome. Thank you so much, and, to our lovely listener, thank you for listening to this episode. If you are interested in getting involved in Nace Denver, the best way to do that would be to go to our website, nasedenvercom. We also have Instagram and Facebook by the same name nase underscore Denver, I believe but if you just search nasedenver you'll find it and we host meetings every month. The next one, as Bonnie mentioned, is our catering Olympics, which, by the time this episode is out, that event probably has happened, but look forward to Nace Fest in September. We cannot wait to see you at our next meeting. So go to nasedenvercom, check it out and come to a meeting. You don't have to join, but once you come to the meeting and meet all these amazing people, including Bonnie, I'm sure you will be convinced that you would love to join. So thanks again, bonnie, and thanks for tuning in my pleasure. Thanks for tuning into another episode of the Denver Nace podcast. Take care everybody.