Category News & Events

Parties That Cook Welcomes Summer Intern: Meet our Newest Marketer

This week, the Parties That Cook team is excited to welcome a new Marketing Intern! As with any PTC intern, we’re showing her the ropes and teaching her what it really means to be a culinary events company. It’s only day 2 of her 3-month stint with us, and we’ve already shipped her out to see our San Francisco team in action. As we tell most folks who are unfamiliar with our hands-on cooking parties, the best way to fully grasp what we do is to experience it, first-hand. I’ll let her introduce herself – take it away, Erin!

Hey all,  I cannot even begin to express how thrilled I am to be working with Parties That Cook for the summer! This is a company that, after only one day, has proven to be even more amazing than it looked on paper — err, online. There are many reasons to come to San Francisco, but first and foremost for me is to learn. I first heard about Parties That Cook through my college, Bibby Gignilliat’s alma mater. I first thought, “How could one company manage to take everything I love about life (food and people) and spice it up by making a career out of it?!” Luckily, they selected me for the internship, and now I get to spend the summer here.

I have been in the kitchen for as long as I can remember. What began as an excuse to eat cookie dough has morphed into a journal of recipe clippings, “Iron Chef” parties complete with judges and secret ingredients, and more recently, elaborate and elegant dinner parties with parents and friends. Basically, the kitchen is where the party’s at.

Hailing from Denver, Colorado, I’m already impressed with the San Francisco food scene. There are so many restaurants to experience and enjoy. And so much SUSHI! It actually reminds me of Boulder, CO. Walking down Pearl Street, you can satisfy just about any craving you can think of – delicious and exciting! Still, my favorite eateries are the local hole-in-the-walls.

If you ever find yourself in the Denver area, I recommend checking out El Tejado, a local go-to for Mexican fare (IF you are in the know, that is). They might just make the best Carne Asada I’ve ever tasted. I’m drooling just thinking about it! And their Tomatillo Sauce… YUM. One great thing about tomatillo sauce is that it goes with practically everything: scrambled eggs, tamales and especially quesadillas, a college girl’s best friend. In fact, while I was browsing through the PTC recipe library, I came across this gem: Cheddar, Bacon and Leek Quesadillas with Tomatilla Sauce.  If you need me, I’ll be in the kitchen!

Parties That Cook Hosts Passport to Cook: A Customer Appreciation Event

When we set out to give a BIG thanks to our fabulous event hosts in San Francisco, we decided to try something different. Not only had many hosts already attended a Parties That Cook event, but we wanted a way to showcase a few of our great vendors as well. The brainstorming began, and several lengthy meetings later, a new event format was born! This event was sure to be a blast, and we were all excited to see if how all the pieces would come together.

How it went down: On the big day, San Francisco’s Ferry Building was buzzing with Parties That Cook chefs, servers, and office staff. Yes, it was all hands on deck for our Customer Appreciation Event appropriately dubbed Passport to Cook! Upon checking in, guests were each handed an apron and a “passport”. The goal was to get a sticker from each of 10 unique interactive stations set up throughout the venue. (BIG thanks to Abbey Party Rentals for their generous rental donations.)

Stations run by PTC staff included pasta making, knife skills, home-made ricotta, sushi-rolling, pizza-making, and hand-made tortillas. Passports were rounded out by stations from outside vendors. We had honey tasting by Marshall Farms Honey, wine tasting with Domenico Winery, more wine tasting by Brix26, and latte art with Ritual Coffee Roasters. In addition to our passport participants, our good friends at Mumm Winery and Thomas Fogarty Winery were kind enough to donate wine.

Guests, vendors and staff were all encouraged to sample the delicacies at every station, though only guests were allowed to enter our raffle. That’s right – if guests completed all 10 stations, they were then eligible to receive an awesome prize! I could tell everyone was vying for the prizes by the amount of bribes, hints, and pleas put forth as guests submitted their completed passports. A couple of lucky guests won an apron, wine, coffee, honey or a gift certificate. At the end of the event, one name was picked from the basket overflowing with entries, and one woman walked away with a brand new Le Creuset pot among other things!

After having such a great time throughout the event, you could tell the loss was more sweet than bitter for the other guests. They graciously applauded the winner, and many congratulated her on the coveted win. We allowed guests a bit more time for mingling and chatting with vendors. Even as the food disappeared, our coffee and wine vendors remained popular. It wasn’t until the last guest left that we had our team powow and we reflected on just how successful this event was.

The next steps: We now have the fun task (no sarcasm here!) of turning this one-time celebration into a regular offering for our clients! We love how customizable the stations were, and how free-flowing the format was. Keep an eye out for more information on our newest event type!