And you can add Christmas parties, family reunion parties, private dinners and family graduation parties to their repertoire. Clients include the American Business Women’s Association (ABWA).
A recent bustling delivery day for Mike and Jo Ivory and their assistants called for a catering of 300 dinners at noon and 450 dinners in the afternoon. The work involved for complete meals is mind-boggling, but experience keeps things running smooth.
That busy day included a wedding in Xenia and later a farewell retirement party.
Mike Ivory laughs when he recalls how the “catering thing” began.
“One of my pizza delivery drivers, Matt Werling, got a a large dinner request from a pizza customer an we decided to oblige,” said Ivory. “And as well as I can recall that was the beginning.”
The family team element goes beyond husband and wife. JoAnne’s mother, Betty Collinsworth fills a key spot in the kitchen. There’s also a niece and a nephew, Katie and Mike Paxon; a brother, John Ivory and his wife, Tammy, and daughter Josie; Mike Ivory’s sister, Cheryl Hale; Jessica Howard Ivory, the daughter of Mike and Jo; and grandkids Landon and Raegan Ivory.
“Many of them are part-timers, but everyone has been essential in our success,” said JoAnne Ivory.
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