Recently L Kent Cottle and his business partner Patrick Mosher moved to Fort Collins to begin their new business venture creating a catering company called Z Catering, Staffing, and Events. The two had heard a lot of buzz about Fort Collins like the amount of growth and possibilities, the vibrant and welcoming community, and the dedication toward small and local business. The two saw Fort Collins as a great opportunity to create Z Catering, Staffing, and Events by using their experiences and unique outlook on food to do things a bit differently. They do this by working extremely closely with farms and ranches to provide fresh, organic, and local food and beverages to their clients. Kent and I sat down to discuss the success Z has had so far and how they want to become more involved with the community of Fort Collins.
Logan with The Articulate: How did Z Catering, Staffing, and Events come to be?
Kent: We originally came to Fort Collins to open some new restaurants and bars and present our unique experiences with food to the community. Working closely with farms and ranches to source food has always been in our values and as we began to reach out to the local ones, we were welcomed much quicker than we expected and everyone had big hearts and great ideas. These ideas changed us to begin a catering company instead. We had planned to begin in January 2017 but because of some strong requests to begin earlier, we began catering our first events in September of 2016.
Logan: What does Z specialize in?
Kent: We are of course a catering company, but we specialize in pulling everything together. To us that means working with farmers and ranchers to look at what food is in season and how much quantity they have and creating our menus from that. Food is much more than food to us. It matters where it is sourced, the quality, and what kind of audience it is being served to. It can create the atmosphere for the event and we capture that in our menu selection.
Logan: What would you say differentiates Z from other catering companies?
Kent: Our staff for sure. I’m reluctant to call them staff because they are so much more to us. They have incredible hearts and every one of them strives to not only increase their knowledge about food and beverages but to connect it to the guests. Hearing about how well our staff performs and how much the guests enjoy our food keeps Patrick and I motivated. We hear great things about our food all the time and I definitely attribute this to our sourcing practices and working with our partner farms and ranches to look at what is in season and the conditions that the food has grown in.
Logan: Do you have a set menu or is it customizable for each event?
Kent: Other than using food that is in season, it is fully customizable. Patrick works extremely hard to capture the uniqueness of an event and uses the menu to express that. We love having the client be involved in making decisions in order to serve the best possible products while still catering to any dietary restrictions. We can do gluten free, paleo, vegan and vegetarian, low sodium, ect. Everything is possible and nothing in impossible.
Logan: Where do you plan on taking Z Catering, Staffing, and Events? What visions do you have for it in the coming years?
Kent: We want to be a strong part of the Fort Collins community by drawing attention to local farms and ranches, startup communities, and being involved with nonprofits. We want to actively be involved with a movement to inspire chefs and restaurants in town to be more proactive with their menus by sourcing as much as they can locally. This can happen through combining purchasing power and proactively working together with farmers to grow organically.
From the start of our planning processes, giving back by working with schools and kids was a huge focus for us and another way we want to be involved in the community. We have an opportunity to impact how children will grow up viewing food and we want to help make that as positive and effective of an experience as possible. We are beginning to be involved with food lessons and lunches at local schools and that has been such a rewarding experience so far. I think so many business have an idea that once they reach a certain point they will start giving back. You have to start doing whatever you can now because it’s not what you think you are but what you do that defines you.
While I spoke with Kent and as I reflected on the conversation afterwards, a few things really stood out to me. The notion that giving back and being involved in community is something that Kent and Patrick aren’t forcing or viewing as an obstacle. It is in their core values and just how their minds function and where their actions immediately go to. Kent’s tone and descriptions of why they are doing the work was never directed toward him or Patrick, it was always brought back to strengthening the community and local farmers.
If you would like more information about Z Catering, Staffing, and Events or hire them for your next event, you can visit their website or contact Kent at ZeventsLKent@gmail.com