| Local catering company featured in Southern Living Weddings Dine by Design Catering of Santa Rosa Beach was recently featured as part of a two-page spread in Southern Living Weddings. After the first year, Dana was so pleased with the caterer's, she gave Pitchford full leeway to produce a menu as she pleased. "I just do anything I want, which is liberating," she said. "Dana and Glenn are amazing clients and lovely people to boot," she added of the couple, also known in the community for hosting a Destin Charity Wine Auction Foundation dinner. Though most of Dine By Design's business is done locally, along County Road 30A, word of mouth has spread, and brides will contact her to cater their weddings from Pensacola to St. George Island. "We throw a good deal of parties," she said. After graduating, she accepted a year-and-a-half culinary apprenticeship in Paris. "Every day that goes by confirms for me how remarkably suited I am for this work, and how delighted I am with the decision to leave the biz world and slip into the creative, challenging and soul-satisfying world of feeding people," she remarks on her website. So she enrolled at The French Culinary Institute. This is Pitchford's sixth year as owner of the busy catering company, though her love of culinary arts is lifelong. She started her career in software, and in her 40s had a change of heart. Though catering doesn't necessary allow for "fancier molecular gastronomy," a la flavored foams, Pitchford gets to be more creative and fun with her presentation. "People are hanging on to comfort foods," she said, "but presented in more fun and innovative ways, like our Mac-n-Cheese lollipops. This year, Pitchford plans to take on the role of tour guide in France and Italy. The couple shares their time between their house in Louisiana and their home in Burnt Pines in Sandestin. "I get to try out new things there, to play with food. "But weddings are the primary business. Dine by Design caters anything from two-person dinners to weddings to business gatherings. "We are treating something plebian in such a way that makes it fun," she added. |
Wednesday, 7 March 2012
Local catering company featured in Southern Living Weddings
