Attitude on Food – A Catering Experience Worth Savoring
Attitude on Food (attitudeonfood.com) is a full-service, award winning catering company established in 2002. AOF Catering serves clients in Lincoln, Omaha and surrounding areas, operating from its original location in Omaha and new satellite location in Lincoln at 501 West A Street that opened at the beginning of 2016.
Give us a brief synopsis of what your company does.
We are known for giving our clients not only great food and service, but an experience they won’t soon forget. We specialize in custom menus, event planning, beverage services and much more.
Who are the important owners/executives?
Attitude on Food was started by Australia native, Nathan Newhouse. In 2002, Nathan made the decision to take catering full time and leased his first kitchen at 3025 Farnam St. in Omaha, NE. In 2006, Newhouse hired experienced caterer, Melissa Tibben and in January of 2015, she became a partner. Together they create a dynamic team, having knowledge and experience in all aspects of the industry.
What do you think makes you different from other companies similar to yours?
Our relationships with our clients and vendors, customer service, and attention to detail are all things that set us apart from our competitors. Both the Omaha and Lincoln markets have several great catering companies in town and it forces us to stay ahead of the trends and go above and beyond for our clients. We are also very blessed with an amazing team who genuinely love what they do. Did we forget to mention great food and unique presentations?
What has been your most important achievement as a business?
Being named the best caterer in the West Region by a group of our peers. In 2013, we received the highly sought after Achievement in Catering Excellence (ACE) award. The United States was divided into two regions, East and West, and divided again into two revenue categories, Under Two Million and Over Two Million. We won best caterer for the West/Under Two Million. It’s time to go for that over two million spot now that we have surpassed it!
What do you like about doing business in Lincoln?
We’ve noticed that it’s very similar to Omaha in that it’s a “foodie town.” People here get excited about food, and that excites us. It’s refreshing to see so many people open their minds to trying unique foods. Both Omaha and Lincoln are also rich in small town values — so much of our business is through word-of-mouth referrals. As the major commercial hubs in Nebraska, this provides for great corporate business as well.
What kind of community organizations/groups are you involved with?
We have partnered with local grassroots organization Saving Grace Perishable Food Rescue (savinggracefoodrescue.org), which stops by AOF weekly to collect any leftover prepared food or ingredients we have and then delivers these items to local non-profit agencies that serve families in need. We also donate to multiple charitable organizations throughout the year, and look forward to getting more involved in the Lincoln community now that we’ve established a presence here.
What is the most unique or interesting thing about your business that most people don’t know?
We have an AOF Food Truck! Late last year we decided we had to have one, so we bought an old bread truck and hired a company to do a complete overhaul on it. Since it was an empty shell, we were able to design the kitchen exactly how we wanted it. The primary reason for adding a food truck to our fleet was to have the ability to have a mobile kitchen for off-premise events. Once word got out that we had a food truck, the requests came pouring in. We’ve done multiple food truck rallies and rodeos. We’ve done dozens of corporate events and even a couple of weddings and we’ve had huge success with it. Because we are a custom caterer, we change up the menus as we see fit or at the client’s request. This works out great!
What is one goal for your business that you have yet to accomplish?
That depends on which owner you ask…Nathan would like to have some of our signature AOF products on grocery shelves and Melissa would like to do some destination catering for clients. But together, they both share the goal of creating the best possible working environment for their team. As we grow, we don’t want to lose sight of the amazing team that has supported our efforts for so long.
To find out more about Attitude on Food Catering, please call (402) 341-3663 or visit attitudeonfood.com!
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