Sample Featured Business 03

Daniel Brooks, Owner, Lakeside Kitchen & Catering

Lakeside Kitchen & Catering brings restaurant-quality food to local events, businesses, and celebrations throughout Northwest Indiana.

Tell us about your company and the primary products or services you offer.

Lakeside Kitchen & Catering is a locally owned restaurant and catering company serving Valparaiso and the surrounding Northwest Indiana community. At the restaurant, we focus on approachable American food made from scratch, with seasonal specials and ingredients sourced locally whenever it makes sense.

Our catering operation has become an equally important part of the business. We handle everything from small corporate lunches and graduation parties to weddings, fundraisers, and larger community events.

We try to make catering flexible. Some customers want full-service catering with staff and setup, while others simply need great food prepared and ready for pickup. We built our operation to accommodate both.

How did you come to lead this organization, and what drew you to your industry?

I started working in restaurants when I was young and ended up enjoying the business side just as much as the kitchen. Restaurants are interesting because you get immediate feedback. You know very quickly whether people enjoyed their meal and whether you created an experience that makes them want to come back.

After working in several kitchens and eventually moving into management, I knew I wanted to build something of my own.

Valparaiso was the right place because there’s a strong sense of community here. People support local restaurants, but they also expect quality. You have to earn repeat customers, and I like that challenge.

Where do you see the greatest growth opportunities in your market segment right now?

Catering continues to be one of our biggest opportunities. Businesses are bringing people together again for meetings, training events, customer appreciation events, and employee celebrations. At the same time, families increasingly want professionally prepared food for events at home without necessarily hiring a traditional full-service caterer.

We’re also seeing demand for smaller, more customized events. Instead of choosing from three standard catering packages, customers want menus built around their particular group.

That flexibility is something an independent restaurant can provide really well.

What’s a common misconception customers have about catering that you’d like to address?

People sometimes assume catering automatically means expensive, formal service. It doesn’t have to.

A catered meal might be a wedding for 150 people with servers and a complete setup, but it can also be lunch for 15 employees delivered to an office. We can adjust the menu and service level around the event and the customer’s budget.

The best thing someone can do is call us early and explain what they’re trying to accomplish. We can usually suggest options they may not have considered.

Is there a recent event or project your company is particularly proud of?

We recently catered a large anniversary celebration for a local family that included guests ranging from young children to grandparents. They wanted something nicer than a backyard cookout but still relaxed enough that everyone could enjoy themselves.

We developed a menu specifically for the event, handled the setup and service, and allowed the family to actually spend the evening with their guests instead of worrying about food.

At the end of the night, the hosts told us they felt like guests at their own party. That’s exactly what we want catering to accomplish.

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