EDITOR’S NOTE
Uplifting Others T his past weekend I spent a surprisingly snowy Sunday cleaning my office. I have plentiful volumes to dust, and am typically distracted once or twice by a book that had impact on me personally. After reading a few chapters of Then We Come to the End by Joshua Ferris—one of my favorite workplace-setting books—I opened Michael Roman’s Catering Tactics, Strategies & Solutions . Published in 2013, it was the first book I picked up when I started my job at Catersource. The book is out of print now, but for those of us lucky enough to own a copy, there is still much to learn from Michael’s wise words. It’s truly amazing that most of the situations he wrote about well over a decade ago are still absolutely and without a doubt still common in 2025. Michael is mentioned at Catersource often, and we yearly honor his memory with our Michael Roman Lifetime Achievement award, this year presented to Tom McDowell of Connecticut Wedding Group. I opened the book, too, because Michael is mentioned in this issue on page 25 as Meryl Snow offers her swan song. A longtime contributor to this magazine, she is letting go of her column to refocus her life as she approaches retirement. She is the only columnist I’ve had as a constant throughout my career here, so I’m feeling glum about her departure. A note about Meryl: I was petrified of her when I started. I looked at her photo and my first thought was that she resembled Sarah Michelle Gellar from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and her reputation put her on that same level. A force! I met Meryl in person about six weeks later at Art of Catering Food in Atlanta, and of course she couldn’t have been more gracious and down to earth. Like Michael, Meryl has uplifted others with her vision, approachability, and passion for catering. I’ll miss her wise words, but watch this space for her hand-picked replacement, starting in our summer issue.
Kathleen Stoehr, Director of Community & Content Strategy
WEBSITES catersource.com specialevents.com leadingcaterersamerica.com informaconnect.com/catersource-thespecialevent/ informaconnect.com/art-of-catering-food/
Director of Community &
Content Strategy Kathleen Stoehr, kathleen.stoehr@informa.com Senior Content Producer Amber Kispert, amber.kispert@informa.com Content Editor Amanda Nicklaus, amanda.nicklaus@informa.com Art Director Sarah Kolcheck, sarah@nxtgennetwork.com Sales Director Michael Lindahl, michael.lindahl@informa.com Sales Account Executive Devin Barnes, devin.barnes@informa.com Ad Operations Specialist Lauren Loya, lauren.loya@informa.com What do you think of this issue? Like it? Love it? Have something to contribute to our website? We’d love to hear from you. Write us at editor@catersource.com.
Contributors International Caterers Association, Anthony Lambatos, Carl Sacks, Robin Selden, Meryl Snow
Catersource is published quarterly by Informa Connect Foodservice Group and Catersource llc, 650 Third Ave, 22nd Floor, New York, NY 10158. Subscriptions: Go to catersource.com and sign up to receive Catersource’s quarterly issues and/or monthly e-newsletter products. Reproduction in whole or part without written permission prohibited. ©2025 Informa Connect Foodservice Group. All rights reserved.
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SPRING 2025 ■ CATERSOURCE
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