by Caroline Gabsewics
Staff Writer
Liz Grenamyer moved her catering business from a 3,000 square-foot rental space to Bella Sera, a 10,000 square-foot facility in Riverside. A year later, Catering by Liz is expanding its operations.
Because of the success the business has had at its new location over the past year — and the fact Grenamyer’s date book continues to remain full — Catering by Liz increased its staff. Grenamyer has also hired Anastasia Regas Stone and Kristine Moore, bringing her total to 20 full-time employees.
“As the company grows, it is imperative to attract and hire skilled, knowledgeable staff who know what it takes to succeed in this fast-paced business,” said Grenamyer, in a press release.
Catering by Liz is also in the process of opening a small retail space to offer a variety of food to-go.
“We have had the space and when we did the build-out we knew we wanted to have a small retail space,” she said. “We have been here for 14 months and people have been asking for it.”
The retail space will be called Bottega di Bella Sera. In Italian, “bottega” means shop and “bella sera” mean beautiful evening. Grenamyer said she had hoped to be open by the holidays, but due to equipment being damaged while in transit to the business, she plans to open the second week of January.
“I think people will really enjoy it,” she said. “There are a couple places like this, but it will be nice to have a little variety.”
Lara McFall will run Bottega di Bella Sera.
Stone was hired to be the business’s sales and event manager. She is responsible for custom menu creation, pre-event coordination, logistics and on-sight management of catering and event services. Stone has experience in the hospitality and finance industries and received her bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Florida.
“Anastasia really enjoys the event planning aspect of the job,” said Grenamyer. “She is quite talented and she brings young, fresh ideas (to the business).”
Moore was hired as the event coordinator and manager for Catering by Liz. She will plan and coordinate the events and services. She is experienced in local catering coordination and food service management, having worked at local restaurants Bistro Aix and the River City Brewing Company. Moore received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Florida.
“Kristine is more of a nuts and bolts gal,” said Grenamyer. “She loves running the events and she is very good at making sure all the equipment that is needed is there.”
She added that they are both great with clients.
Once Bottega di Bella Sera opens, Grenamyer said she is not planning anymore additions or expansion for a while.
“We want to focus on catering and our banquet facility. It (the banquet facility) is beautiful and a lot of people don’t realize we have it,” she said. “We will also focus on the new retail space. I like to make changes one at a time.
“We want to make sure we do it right.”
Grenamyer opened Catering by Liz over 15 years ago and prior to that was in the restaurant business. For more information about Catering by Liz, visit www.cateringbyliz.com or call 387-1955.