An Amazing Beginning
Written by Amy Fields
Hello fellow foodies and welcome to the Amazing Edibles Catering blog! I’m so happy you’re here and I can’t wait to share my story with you about how I started as an Event Specialist at this delightful company. Back in the day, I attended culinary school and have been IN LOVE with food ever since. Cooking, baking, going out to eat, brainstorming menu ideas, finding the newest hip and trendy restaurant- whatever it may be, if it revolves around food, I am ALL about it.
I’ve had a whole smorgasbord of restaurant experience; I’ve worked the late nights and busy weekends at many different catering companies all across the country and even other parts of the world. I’m a recent Chicago transplant and it was around a year ago that I decided to take a leap of faith and move back to the Midwest. I’m originally from Cincinnati, OH but spent the past 6 years in Charlotte, North Carolina attending culinary school and continuing to work for a few years afterwards. It hit me one day that I was ready for a change, and it was time to tackle the Windy City, despite the freezing temps. :)
Enter in Amazing Edibles. My dear friend in the industry introduced me to the owner of AE, Andrea Herrera a few months ago. I came in for an interview and after a few short days the rest was history! I fell in love with the culture of the company and everything it represents. It truly was a perfect fit and I couldn’t be happier to be a part of something that I have such a strong passion for.
We’re a woman and minority owned company that focuses on fostering relationship building over bread breaking occasions. We work in a 10,000 sq. ft. industrial space where it is as rustic as it as quaint and cozy. One of my favorite parts about our building is how open of a space it is. Our offices are lofted overlooking the kitchen and operations area, which definitely has its perks. We have prime seating for every single dish the kitchen creates. Some days as early as 10:00am there are juicy filets being seared on the grill and I could totally skip straight to dinner! The delicious smells wafting up in our direction are intoxicating and only a little bit distracting. Another perk is the ease of communication. There are many of moving parts of catering, so it helps being able to easily talk to whoever you need an answer from. We’re a tight knit group and a tight knit space, and I couldn’t love it more. Each day when I walk in, the atmosphere inspires me to work hard and do the absolute best I can to collaborate with my team.
Right next to our cozy little office space is one on of my personal favorite parts of our building- our tasting table! A 15 foot table with twinkly lights strung between wine glasses directly above it. We bring clients up here and enjoy all of the tasty food the kitchen creates while we talk about the proposals we have put together for them. When the table is set with linen, flatware and flowers it really is magical.
Here at the company, I’m an Event Specialist, along with two other fabulous ladies. We have a wonderful Sales Manager who is constantly propelling our business forward. We focus on putting together proposals for all types of events! Our Operations Team makes sure everything runs smoothly, and our kitchen crew creates delicious, flavorful and beautiful looking food! The show would not go on without our fearless leader, Andrea Herrera. Andrea started the company 24 years ago and is still very involved in the day-to-day operations here at Amazing Edibles. She focuses on customer acquisition, client experience and company culture. I think we can all say she inspires us each day to want to push ourselves even harder and continuously strive for perfection in our collaborative work environment.
I was very excited to jump into the blog here at Amazing Edibles and add my voice to it. I recently launched a blog myself, Fields to Table! It’s a cooking blog where I share all things I love about food! It only seemed appropriate that I created a little blog post about my journey on how I began here. I’m looking forward to sharing all the bits and pieces of the catering world with you- all the stunning venues we work at across the city, the decadent food we create, our original recipes, and of course the fabulous events we execute each and every day! Amazing Edibles Catering really is the definition of amazing: