A Catering Career That Wasn’t by Design
By Cady Schulman | cschulman@atljewishtimes.com
Food for Jewish holidays can be traditional yet fun. That’s a concept Ande Baron is hoping to introduce to local Jewish families through her catering company, Yum!
For example, for Rosh Hashanah, Baron makes a Yom Tov Salad that is a play on the traditional apples and honey. It includes pomegranates, apples and honey Dijon vinaigrette.
“I’m taking fresh ingredients and foods we associate with Rosh Hashanah, like apples and honey, and putting together a beautiful salad,” Baron said.
Baron also makes an apple walnut bread and a caramelized apple kugel for the holiday.
“You normally wouldn’t think of doing something like that for Rosh Hashanah,” Baron said. “It’s very delicious and different.”
Baron started her catering business less than a year ago after a career in the design field. When the economy crashed, design work was one of the first areas that clients cut.
“Unfortunately, design — especially the kind I did — was icing-on-the-cake work, and it just kind of went away,” Baron said. “Because I’m a little older, I don’t do web work or animation. I didn’t create apps. As people’s budgets dropped, so did people’s hiring of design firms. It was kind of hard for me.”
So Baron decided she needed to reinvent herself. She went back to school to become a paralegal, but when interviews at law firms were hard to come by, she decided it was time to try to make something out of her love for baking and cooking.
In the less than one year that Baron has been taking on clients, business has been going well.
“I feel that I’ve been very, very fortunate,” Baron said. “I’ve bumped into people, and (they) have been like, ‘Oh, I’ve heard about your business, and I’ve heard really great things about it.’ The dream’s starting to become a reality. It’s really kind of exciting.”
In the time Yum! has been open, Baron has catered cocktail parties, Shabbat dinners, Passover meals and Kiddushes. She also caters kosher events, cooking everything in the host’s kitchen.
“The people I have done this for have gorgeous platters and things that just complement the food so beautifully,” Baron said. “It’s a pleasure. It’s a change in environment. The whole experience is a lot of fun.”
One of Baron’s kosher events was a luncheon hosted at Shirley Millender’s Sandy Springs home.
“It was excellent,” Millender said. “Everything was very professional, and the food was very, very good. Everyone seemed to enjoy her menu and how she presented it. She did a beautiful job. She really cares about her clients.”
You can reach Baron at 678-592-1783 or ande.yum@gmail.com.
Some more examples of Ande Baron’s catering work with Yum!
comments