With June now upon us, recognizing and honoring Pride is a great way to bring your teams together, show inclusivity to your LGBTQ staff, and support local LGBTQ-owned small businesses to boot.
As part of our own effort to celebrate the LGBTQ community during Pride month, we reached out to three LGBTQ-owned businesses featured on ezCater to learn what Pride means to them, how they’ve grown their business, and their advice for supporting small businesses like theirs.
Krewe de Fromage
Based in New York City, Krewe de Fromage opened during the height of the pandemic as a way for people to have safe and socially distanced meetups during Covid. Described as a catering, grazing and picnic company by owner Jen Shoemaker, the small business gave her a much needed creative outlet as well as serving as a financial savior during a difficult time.
“Our picnic boxes offered a safe way to interact. I believe it’s exceptionally important for our mental health to have community interaction and spend time outdoors,” she said.
With a menu that boasts a wide assortment of charcuterie, cheeses and all the accompaniments, as well as seasonal specials (including a current PRIDE-themed platter), Krewe de Fromage was designed from the beginning to bring people together.
“Community and joy are very important to me. I deeply value creating joyous interactions and experiences through our cheese boards and grazing stations. We do a lot of work with places like Stonewall, and organizations like Gays Against Guns, New Alternatives (which supports LGBT homeless youth in NYC), I’m From Driftwood (an organization that shares LGBTQ stories), Trans Day of Visibility, and more.”
As for the future, Jen said she hopes to one day have her own storefront and restaurant featuring live music that also doubles as an outlet for local LGBTQ creatives. But until then, you can enjoy her gorgeous cheese boards and other creations by ordering Krewe de Fromage catering from ezCater.
Her advice for supporting the LGBTQ community in June and beyond is to speak up and take action.
“And when looking to support businesses, find businesses that support your values!” she added.
Skillets
Skillets is another LGBTQ-friendly caterer that got its start during the pandemic. Owned by Will and Jorge Garcia-Kessler, the Salt Lake City restaurant’s beginning also coincided with the beginning of their marriage.
“We really wanted to start something together!” the couple explained. “With our backgrounds, we started experimenting with recipes and found that by fusing flavors from Venezuelan cuisine with some classic American breakfast dishes, we could make some amazing one of a kind dishes. And Skillets was born!”
Based on the popularity of many of their menu items, including the breakfast burrito, which is stuffed full of Venezuelan shredded steak, black beans, scrambled eggs, cheese, tater tots and pico de gallo, that initial experimentation resulted in a winning combination.
“Our food is the perfect mix of our cultures. We are proud to be an international couple and have made something so special with our dishes to show that.”
The couple’s passion extends beyond food and each other as well. They also believe strongly in supporting local LGBTQ+ owned businesses.
“With more LGBTQ+-owned businesses in the public eye, those in the LGBTQ+ community can be inspired to see that their dreams are achievable. The pride we share can show how possible it is to be who you are AND live your life to the fullest. Look for us! Find LGBTQ+-owned businesses in your community and get to know them. Learn about their products and share what they do. Show others we are here!”
yAAAs! Cookies
We’ve all been there. The post-lunch slump. What better way to perk up office morale than with a mid-afternoon sweet treat? Even sweeter? Supporting LGBTQ friendly catering businesses in the local community while doing it.
Which is why if you are in the Atlanta area, you should say yes to yAAAs! Cookies. Owned by Vaughn Hill, the restaurant is the happy end result of a lifetime spent baking, starting with a chocolate chip cookie recipe handed down to him from his grandmother.
“I’ve been baking as a kid since I was about 12. The only cookie I would bake for about 15 years was the Chocolate Chip Cookie before eventually adding more cookies along the way,” Vaughn said. “Years leading up to the storefront I would only do mail ordering and ship cookies all over. Once the pandemic hit, I lost my full-time job and decided I would no longer work for anyone else and searched for a location in the city to house yAAAs! Cookies.”
Locally owned and operating out of a 852 square foot bakery, each and every cookie is made from scratch and it’s this labor of love that makes yAAAs! Cookies stand out from the crowd.
“We make our own dough, and we scoop thousands of cookies per day to keep up with the demand. A lot of love, time, effort, and energy goes into our product, but we are still human,” he explained. “So forgive us if your chocolate chip cookie isn’t perfectly round, or one cookie may have a few more chips than the other. That’s what makes us unique. Our cookies are not manufactured.”
He added that helping small LGBTQ catering businesses such as his is as simple as visiting their websites, engaging with them on social media and sharing anything that could help increase their exposure.
So what are you waiting for? Bring your team together and show your Pride this month and all year long by ordering some Pride catering for the office. You can start by searching for local LGBTQ-friendly catering at ezCater today.