When I spoke with Charlotte owner of Little Piggy Catering she was in the middle of preparing for the 1^stwedding since lockdown restriction were lifted.  The weekend was easing her back into the swing of things with 2 weddings of 15 guests each.

How did you get into catering for weddings?

I come from a family of foodies and following on from having my children I was looking for something more flexible and different to my corporate role so my husband’s Mum built me a hog roasting oven and I started supplying hog roasts for weddings.

After about 3 years our menus started to evolve to incorporate different types of food but it still maintains our laidback and rustic style.  The focus is still on feast, graze and share.

What sort of venues to you cater at?

The venues are varied, mostly where there is no inhouse catering although this is not always the case.  The venue could be a marque or tipi wedding, a barn or in woodland or even farm land.  

We don’t just do weddings, we cater for sit down corporate dinners, summer BBQs and during lockdown we also developed a lockdown take away menu.

Have things changed over the recent years?

When I first started about 5% of guests would be vegetarian and Vegans were rare, however now we see at least 20% of guests are vegetarian and there is at least 1 vegan at each wedding.  Roughly 25% of brides we cater for are vegetarian and next year we are catering for a completely vegan wedding.

This means we have to continually look at our food offering and ensure that we have a good selection of vegetarian and vegan foods on offer.  We are currently looking at ways that we can incorporate more protein into our foods.

Increasingly so, sustainability is at the forefront of people’s minds and its important that the food we serve people is sustainably sourced.

How do you stay ahead of the trends?

Pinterest and Instagram are always useful to keep an eye on the trends but the couples we work with also help as they will have an idea on what they want.

Where do your clients come from?

Most clients will come via a Google search but just as often via social media such as Facebook and Instagram.  The best is when a previous client recommends us.

How does your process work?

We hold an initial meeting, find out what the client is looking for and which venue they are using.  We then create a quote and if its accepted we’ll then work with the venue to ensure that everything runs smoothly on the day.  We are there all day and apart from the actual ceremony the other time driven elements of the day is the food.  Food has been integral to celebrations forever and a wedding day should be a day of feasting.

Do you provide drinks?

We do provide drinks packages and also provide specific cocktails.  These tend to be his and her cocktails but can provide specific kinds such as gin based drinks.
Gin’s dominance may also be coming to an end as we have seen requests coming in for rum based cocktails.

Speaking with Charlotte was an absolute joy, you could hear the passion she has for food in her voice and the immense pride she has in her girl led team.