Matt Lee

This was fascinating to read! I had hesitated about it because of the negativity and snark typical of “insider” exposes. But while it *is* a first-hand, years-long inside look, it is less a memoir and more an experiential-journalistic recounting -- where chapters about the history of the $12-billion high-end catering industry (primarily in the New York City market, where $1,000 per plate, and up, is typical) alternate with Matt and Ted Lee’s work experiences there.

The Lee brothers put show more me in the kitchens with them ... except that’s the thing that makes this work amazing: there are no kitchens on the catering site. The brilliance of high-end caterers is their development of methods to prep and partially cook the food off-site in their catering kitchens, but then finish and serve multi-course epicurean meals to black-tie guests at venues nowhere near a kitchen (think museums, or remote outdoors). The king of these methods involves the ubiquitous Hotbox of the book’s title, where trays full of Sterno are strategically placed to transform the tall metal box into a portable oven, capable of fabulous results. Most of the food is over-the-top in ingredients or presentation or playful creativity.

The book is a lively, fascinating read that entertained and informed me. Rather than an expose, it’s almost an homage, and it filled me with admiration for the workers. show less

Even better than I expected. I've read my share of books where the author, who's promised a look behind the scenes of a mysterious subculture (be it wine geeks or Esperanto speakers), but ends up spending as much time investigating his/her own psyche and neuroses. "Hotbox," on the other hand, puts the focus squarely on the caterers: the juggling act of stocking and organizing a kitchen churning out prep for several events a night; the workarounds that happen at event venues without enough show more space to plate or a stove to cook with; the push and pull between the desire for delicious, creative food that stands out and the need for food that can be delivered on time, at the right temperature, for the right cost. (Thankfully, there is no angst and every little gossip in any of this.) The Lee brothers also interviewed people whose businesses intersect with catering (the section about the company renting tables, chairs, etc. was especially interesting), and include a history of the industry's rise. I only wish the book had been longer, and had devoted even more time to Matt and Ted's hands-on experience. show less

Catering to Excess

The world of catering has evolved from basically nothing to over 15 billion dollars in just my lifetime. And that’s just in the northeast. It has become a fiercely regimented profession, demanding timing, skill and perseverance worthy of a space launch. Failure is around every corner, and failure is fatal, as the hosts and guests will never forget who screwed up and how much it cost them to be humiliated among their peers. This is the world that Matt and Ted Lee immersed show more themselves in for four years. They tell the remarkable story in the fast paced and excellent Hotbox.

Catering used to be delivering boring finished plates to an event in a reception hall. Today, caterers daily set up their own temporary kitchens in entryways, closets and behind black curtains in warehouses, museums, farms and estates as needed. The new objective is to make catering food at least as fine as restaurant food. Because it is always only about the food. That requires platoons of specialized workers, from Kitchen Associates (prep) to sanits to servers, drivers and managers. They promise the world and deliver, every night, all year long.

They adapt to absurd conditions, insane schedules and fearsome pressure. It’s a brutal living of fast-paced hard work without breaks, without a guaranteed schedule, but with low pay. And camaraderie. Team members advise each other, help each, and cover for each other. They share techniques to speed up difficult tasks, and devise workarounds out of trays, foil and plastic wrap. Failure would reflect on all of them. No one can be allowed to slow down the delivery of the event.

Events are no longer a tray of sandwiches and some juice bottles. These events tend to cost more than $500 per person. The event planner at the Metropolitan Museum says she spends more on an event than the cost of her house, and tears it down in 12 hours. Time after time, all year long, year after year.

Along with the caterers, there is an industry in equipment rentals. A $150 million dollar business for one company alone, serving Washington to Boston. The scale of their operation is breathtaking. The two industries are symbiotic and couldn’t exist without each other.

My favorite character in the book is not one of the legendary caterers like Martha Stewart or Danny Meyer, but a totally unknown heroine by the name of Pamela Naraine. She was running a food truck when a young caterer hired her to manage prep at his new venture. She knows every recipe, the amount of every ingredient necessary for it, and how to prepare every part of it for shipment to the venue. She has the patience of a saint, helping the constant flow of new hires to acclimate and grow. She knows how to recover from their mistakes, get the best deals on ingredients, and save the company a fortune every year. And all with a warm smile, an encouraging laugh, and a guiding hand. If there is one person in this star-studded book I would like to meet, it would be Pam.

The Lee brothers, Matt and Ted, are best known for their cookbooks. Here they have written a fast-paced, excruciatingly detailed narrative through every part of the catering process, from the tasting session for the client, through prep, delivery, setup, production, service and teardown. Followed by exhaustion, a meal, a drink, some sleep and the same again the next day.

Oddly perhaps, the Lees only regret is not knowing the customer. The entire crew goes through this daily grind without any appreciation of who is paying or why. What reward they get is when servers come back to the kitchen with an empty tray and a spring in their step because the guests love the food.

It’s a brutal living, and many of the people they worked side by side with have already left the industry. They open restaurants, with fixed menus, set hours, and careful attention to each meal.

The source of this entire industry is of course overflowing budgets and piles of festering money. From ridiculous weddings to extravagant board meetings to no-reason parties, clients think nothing of ordering the best, the most expensive, the most difficult and the most involved. All they demand in return for their dropping a million is perfection. Under difficult, if not impossible circumstances. No pressure.

The economics of at least some it makes sense. Dropping a thousand dollars per guest on a three thousand dollar per person event could work. So does dropping a thousand dollars on a rich patron who will later be convinced to donate a million.

The same dynamics work for the caterers. Dropping a thousand dollar gift on an event planner or other potential client pays off in a million dollar contract. Quite possibly annually. Bottles of red wine to doormen get access and favors under difficult conditions. It’s all just business.

At the center of the caterers’ success is the hotbox, a tall aluminum closet on wheels, into which trays slide. They can be used to cool or keep things cool, or to cook or keep things warm. Even at the same time. They use sterno cans by the dozen, to cook that salmon to perfection after it has been seared that morning back at the prep kitchen. Knowing how to regulate a hotbox is the most precious of skills, as the Lees found out the hard way when they rented one to see if they could master it. They couldn’t.

Hotbox is very much a first person (plural) real-life experience of the industry, with interviews of the pioneers, and stories so ridiculous they could only be true. On top of which it is breezily well written.

David Wineberg show less

A small part of me wishes I was a chef in the food service industry. I love food and am an excellent home cook, BUT I'm also the world's slowest cook and (according to family members) curse like a sailor when things go wrong. Still, I sometimes think "I could one day have a small catering business." HA!

This behind the pipe and curtain look at catering is a real eye-opener. Forget cramped catering kitchens at event locations, think hallways and loading docks covered in craft paper with show more folding tables and milk crates making up the kitchen, And forget such basic equipment like, say, an oven, catered food is cooked with Sterno in a hotbox. Your filet mignon was likely "seared" for a few minutes in a deep fryer in a prep kitchen, chilled overnight, then finished with the aforementioned Sterno. It is apparently also possible that your pasta salad was mixed in a bathtub.

I have to say I really enjoyed this book. The Lee brother's didn't just interview luminaries in the catering and party planning industry, they spent two years working in the field. show less