Spice Catering Co.
Chef Ben Bebenroth’s Cleveland-based catering company focuses on connecting people with where their food comes from and creating memorable moments for diners.
Growing up near a working farm, Ben Bebenroth developed an understanding of the connection between food and the earth. A career in fine dining further exposed him to the culinary world, and when he saw how little attention many catering companies paid to local and seasonal ingredients, he set out to change that.
In 2006, he founded the Cleveland-based Spice Catering Co., which emphasizes the importance of how people connect with food, the earth and one another through culinary experiences. Early on, Bebenroth began by hosting small-scale plated dinners featuring local ingredients in beautiful outdoor settings. The first event was held on Killbuck Valley Mushroom Farm in Burbank, Ohio, for roughly 12 people. These experimental dinners eventually became the Plated Landscape Dinners for which the company is now known. The events are for those looking to create a special experience for their corporate gathering. Bebenroth’s team designs the plated dinners to be an immersive, theatrical display tailored to each client, always focusing on creating a one-of-a-kind experience.
“We have seen this facilitate lifelong memories,” Bebenroth says. “People are walking away from this dinner like, ‘Oh my God. I want these people to cater my wedding.’ And that wasn’t even intentional. That was sort of accidental.”
In addition to the higher-end plated dinner experiences, Spice Catering Co. also provides more approachable options like box lunches. The boxes are specially designed to be nutrient dense, plant focused and performance based, and they feature dishes like a soba noodle salad or sweet potato grain bowl. 216-432-9090, spicecaters.com