How has Covid-19 affected us and the wedding industry?
It goes without saying that the last year has been incredibly difficult for many of us. The wedding industry has suffered greatly, with many businesses being left without any government help. Instead of feeling excited and optimistic, our engaged couples have felt quite anxious and unsure of how to move forward with plans. We’ve tried to support our clients, and suppliers to the best of our ability during this tough time, keeping open channels of communication, and updating them wherever possible! However, we are confident there will be some more clarity soon, where we will be able to move forward and start planning again. Plus, won’t everything be even more exciting when we do?
There’s been a lot of learning curves over the last year too, with new rules and regulations, we’ve been finding different ways to work, and focusing more on the things that we can control. Like, for example, making our menu even better! Over the last few months, we’ve spent time reviewing our menu, tweaking existing recipes and adding some exciting new bites, to ensure we’re always on the very top of our game. During periods in between the (numerous) lockdowns we held socially distanced tastings for our clients. With strict PPE and H&S precautions, we made sure our clients could receive the same tasting experience as before. These tastings are most important for our starter and canapé options, as organising pie tastings is much less complicated with our clients being able to try them at home. The Pieminister Bristol kitchens are set up to produce and distribute pies to the highest standard, allowing us to easily send samples nationwide. Easy as pie, you might say!
In some ways, 2020 was actually a pretty exciting year for us. With our founder, Katie Packham taking on Pieminister’s events and wedding business as her own. Katie was Head of Events at Pieminister for 7 years, with events and planning being a big passion for her, this was an incredibly fulfilling move. Katie worked hard to take the new venture into fruition during tough times, recruiting two members of the former Pieminister events team to create Mesa. Since then, Katie has added a further culinary delight to our roster, with the addition of Thali. Mesa is now the partner caterer for all of Pieminister & Thali events across the UK. Two great Bristol based restaurants, under one roof!
Over the last year, somewhat to do with the ongoing pandemic, we have seen an emergence of some new trends. Unsurprisingly, there have been more requests for smaller weddings, but also many clients opting for table service over buffet. With a lot of people still nervous about human contact, it’s no shock that many of us would rather stay at our tables! Luckily for us, our Thali and Pieminister menus are very versatile, and lend themselves to both. We’ve always catered quite a few tipi and marquee weddings, but we can see outdoor events becoming more and more popular in the future. And why not, it’s a great way to get that festival chic style! We’ve also seen an increase in clients taking an interest in our sustainability credentials and sourcing of ingredients. Requests for vegan dishes are higher than ever, and so we made sure we added even more tasty plant based numbers in our menu revamp. Whether these changes will stand the test of time remains to be seen, but so far it seems that Coronavirus is somewhat of a trendsetter.
Despite all the moans, we are actually remaining very positive, taking one step at a time and pulling through. We’ve found comfort knowing that there are people helping to fight our corner too. The #whataboutweddings campaign has been raising awareness of the need for assistance in the wedding sector, and actively seeking more clarity for safe re-opening of business. If you’d like to get involved, you can find all of their campaign resources on their website (which we will link below) and help the Wedding Sector be heard! Overall, we are just really looking forward to getting back to doing what we do best, catering weddings and events again, and seeing the smiles on our clients faces.
Has your wedding or business been affected by the Coronavirus pandemic? Leave us a comment and join the conversation.
Mesa New Menu Tasting:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CIGhrvZBOHV/
New Plant-Based Menu Options:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CKHhfW8hm16/
What About Weddings Campaign Material: