Have you ever been to one of your Chambers of Commerce ribbon-cutting events? We go as businesspeople to support our local businesses, network and learn what they do. We anticipate some snacks, since most ribbon-cutting events start at 5:30pm. We hope for good food too.
The SC Chamber hosted this event for Pacific Valley Bank (PVB), which was their first presence in the Santa Cruz market, and the bank provided the most creative and tasty catering experience, which was the buzz among everyone I talked with that night. For many of us, it was like chocolate melting in your mouth.
Always the early bird at these events, once registered, I see a cluster of people around what appears to be the food-and-drink area. In networking, the objective is to meet people, and food becomes the catalyst that connects us all.
Meet the Caterer Everyone was Whispering About
Besides supporting and learning about PVB, everyone was talking about the food. Many of us were fascinated by the creative array of tasty meats, cheeses and the visual display, as we shared our sumptuous satisfaction with our taste buds.
It was the tiny frying pan filled with a savory bread stuffing and the chocolate cups layered with fresh fruit that still linger in memory. The array of catered food was the “Fall to Winter menu.”
Wylder Space in Scotts Valley not only services the Santa Cruz Mountains, but also SC and Monterey counties. After this event, I contacted the owner, Molly Bravo. On her website, wylderspace.com, she says, “I cook. I teach. I feed people in the Santa Cruz Mountains. For 20-plus years, I’ve been a private chef and caterer—long tables, muddy boots, teary toasts and home-cooked meals.”
Friends, this Scotts Valley catering business is worthy of recognition for your next wedding or gathering, especially during our upcoming holiday season.
Real Food: Soil, Skill & Soul
Molly enjoys teaching people and delivering the message of “knowing and caring about where the food comes from.” Wylder Space includes a five-acre farm, called Organic Copia Farm, that supplies their catering company, which feeds the community and families.
She teaches people the building blocks and the foundation for preserving their own food. It’s about getting back to the basics of how “sustainability works, like our grandparents did”:
- Grow it.
- Can it.
- Making food from scratch.
You can order her book, “Essential Canning Book,” on her website or Amazon, a total year-round guide. In today’s times, the concept of preserving food makes sense.
From Private Chef to Trendsetter
Molly started in 2004, over the hill, serving many high-tech and venture capitalist companies, as she followed her “inner compass.” Little did she know she was the trendsetter. She was a private and personal chef serving exclusive markets, and before home-delivery businesses became popular. The concept of farm-to-table meals was almost nil.
She started out promoting her business on Craigslist to find clients, the birth of her meal delivery service. Always ahead of the curve, her 21-year road to success, her business mission came to her in a dream back in 2004. Her mission was to educate her clients on “knowing and caring about where the food comes from, its sources and ingredients.”
More Than a Trend
The Real Food Movement is a “lifestyle and a social movement focused on eating minimally processed foods in their natural state, moving away from what it calls ‘edible food-like substances.’ It includes prioritizing foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains and sustainably raised meats, while avoiding artificial ingredients, excessive sugar and highly processed foods with long ingredient lists,” according to ChatGPT.
Her business focuses on the fact that they are not only cooks and caterers; it is so much more than that. Her business and team “use real food as the medium and vehicle for connection and relationships, between the farmers and community. It brings people together at the kitchen table (gatherings) for eating real food and lights us up. It allows conversations to unfold and healing to happen there. People come together for a great meal and end up getting connected.”
Local Chef on a National Stage
Molly did receive her culinary degree and was recently invited to be a guest instructor at the Milk Street platform cooking school, a multimedia instructional food preparation organization in Boston. So, be sure to go to wylderspace.com and stay informed when this happens, and don’t forget her book.
I can still see and recall the wild mushroom crostini and truffle oil, goat cheese and fig, turkey stuffing and cranberry sausage bites (remember that tiny pan?) with seared potato stuffed with cream fraiche and caviar, tastes that delighted so many attending that night, and the easy connections it created where I met new people and friends in our community. We shared one of the most common and needed human experiences: communing together.
If you’re seeking an elevated catering experience, I know Molly would love to hear from you.
Janet Janssen, Power Play Purpose, Life in Business and Speaker coach, offers an online Mastering the Art of Public Speaking program and speaks about The Power of Human Magic in the Age of Al. Visit janetjanssen.com for more.
