Member Spotlight: Meet Charmaine DaCosta
Charmaine DaCosta, founder of The Culinary Curate
1. What inspired you to start The Culinary Curate, and what was the initial vision behind it?
The Culinary Curate was founded out of sheer frustration with working in the corporate & nonprofit sectors at a time in my life when I knew in my heart that I needed to be working in the entrepreneurial space and specifically in food.
In October 2022, I took the leap into entrepreneurship and began putting the pieces in place to start my own catering business. I love the opportunities catering affords: the varied cuisines it entails and the potential for supporting anything from small dinner parties to larger weddings.
2. How do you approach menu creation, especially when catering to diverse tastes and dietary needs?
In creating a menu for my clients, I first examine those dishes which I have a level of expertise and mastery and what things go well together. I also think about what dishes can be adapted to suit varying dietary requirements and how they fit in with the total menu. I then approach the client to learn more about their vision for the overall feel and presentation of the food. In short, I marry my expertise with the needs of the client. Of course, if the client asks for something I have never made before, I try to ascertain the techniques that makes this dish unique and then do several test to see if I can approximate the look, taste and feel of the dish the client desires.
3. Can you share a memorable experience from one of your first events?
The first event I did after officially launching The Culinary Curate was catering for a small film shooting in Brooklyn. This led to my second job that November, another short film being filmed in Manhattan. The movie, Bad Shabbos, stars Kyra Sedgwick and Method Man. In the middle of filming approaching the Thanksgiving break, one of the crew members, who showed up early every day at mealtime, not only stated that this was the best food he had ever had, but he also engaged me to make 22 meals that he wanted to give away for Thanksgiving.
4. What challenges have you faced as a caterer, and how have you overcome them?
As a caterer, the challenges are many. Staffing can be hard to come by as I am not able to guarantee employment on a regular basis. I have cultivated a loyal group of friends as well as a staffing service to be able to provide good quality service when I need them. Second, how much I can invest in inventory (e.g. replacement of heavily used equipment, company vehicle) completely depends on the volume of orders I experience at a given time. Finally, I do not have my own catering kitchen at this time and so rent commercial kitchen space as needed. This means that I do not have a designated spot to store the equipment I have accumulated over the past 2 years, and at times it can feel cost prohibitive.
5. What are your future goals for The Culinary Curate, and how do you plan to expand or evolve your services?
I would really like to see The Culinary Curate expand into being a full-service, onsite caterer with an event space and full-time staff. To do this, we need to increase the number of engagements we do per year and take the leap into renting a permanent kitchen space in order to allow for more flexibility in terms of how many events can be booked in a day or week.
6. What is your favorite item to prepare/make for your customers?
This is a hard one because I just love to prepare so many things. I think "the sandwich" has a lot of potential and I love elevating it with the right ingredients, chief of which is a delicious hearty bread. I also love to make a whole roasted Rosemary/Lemon Chicken.