ALAN'S Catered Events has been recognized as one of the finest Indianapolis catering companies by offering excellent cuisine and consistent, caring service. With over 25 years experience, Chef/Owner Alan Bernstein takes great pride in designing seasonal menus featuring produce from the garden and orchard. In addition to great food, we provide party planning expertise, professional service staff and coordination of outside services such as rental equipment, flowers & decorations, valet parking and tent setups.
When you are planning a wedding, company picnic or holiday extravaganza, Chef Alan will custom-tailor a menu just for you. From the initial phone call to removing the last linen from the table, our entire team is here for you!
We think food is beautiful. We invite you to get a flavor of what we do by exploring the images on our website. They are all from our garden, our kitchen or live events.
ALAN'S Catered Events grew out of love for cooking and entertaining for friends and family. We opened a neighborhood bakery/sandwich shop on the eastside of Indianapolis in 1993 and work as a team. More than marriage partners, Alan is the Chef and Betsy is the CEO. Sales grew by word-of-mouth and we steadily developed into a full service caterer dedicated to fresh, exciting menus and professional service.
Although it can be a strenuous task, we cultivate a large garden on Betsy's family farm south of Terre Haute and we incorporate fresh, HOMEGROWN fruits & vegetables into our seasonal menus. Not only does this indulge Alan's love for gardening and our green passion, we feel that it sets us apart from all the competition. Another thing that makes your experience special is that the presentation is created by Betsy, who is a professional theatrical lighting designer. We enjoy helping our customers and clients celebrate food and the joy of entertaining.
We are members of Catersource and the International Caterer's Association of America. We produce our cuisine in a licensed, inspected and fully approved commercial catering kitchen. We strive to provide a workplace for our employees that empowers them to be their best.
Thanks to our loyal customers, clients and foody friends for helping us reach 3rd place (out of 24 other caterers) on the Indy Channel A-List competition. We are thrilled to have finished in the Top 5 for Best Caterer in the Indianapolis area. Here is a sample of the voter comments: (ahhhh....they make us blush)
Alan's Catered Events is top notch. I have used them over the past 8 years for our company functions. The food is always outstanding and they provide exceptional service and quality. Chef Alan and his team ROCK!
I was fortunate to purchase a tray of fresh black raspberry danish at the Irvington Farmers Market. Absolutely the best!! Alan and Betsy are wonderful people as well as extremely talented and creative caterers.
Attentive. Customized. Friendly and helpful. They truly CATER: Hosting a book club, but are afraid about impressing? Call Alan's. Small lunches, huge events. Themes that coordinate with the flow of the whole event, from entrance to bar to dinner to after effects...food, decor, and creative arrangements that manage the people as well as the eats. Changes because the dynamics change? No problem. They specialize in specialty: Creating in your kosher kitchen, Indian food, Japanese fare, Vegetarian...whatever you need. All coordinated, all great.
While their carrot cake is too die; actually all their baked goods are. Our family favorit is cinnamon rolls; we can't have Thanksgiving without them. The other thing that is wonderful are their canned items from THEIR garden. I have sent Piccalli and Chow Chow as Christmas presents to relatives out of state for a few years. They are the hoped for gift! Alan's is wonderful, a tremendous variety and very willing to work with your tastes preferences.
Chef Alan has been preserving the harvest from the garden and orchard, so you can savor the flavors all year round. Garden House delectables start with fruits and vegetables grown on 3 acres of the original family farm in Terre Haute. Alan, Betsy and a collection of gardening friends nurture a large variety of heirloom vegetables, wild fruit trees and other specialty plants. We often create centerpieces from the rows of flowers planted in the garden.
The catering kitchen staff is very busy in the summer, canning the fresh produce from the garden, in and around a full catering schedule. These tasty veggies, along with the preserved items, are used extensively when we cater your event. You can savor our Garden House products all year long by stopping by our kitchen or booth at the various locations including seasonal farmer's markets.
Find out where you can purchase our products.
Chef Alan hosted a 'live' canning demonstration at this wonderful event which took place at the Irvington United Methodist Church on November 7th, 2010. Other presenters shared information on cold frames, beekeeping, bread baking, rain barrels, worm farming and so much MORE!
In a festive atmosphere, visitors discovered community through the sharing of down-to-earth skills (visit www.spiritandplace.org for details). It was a feast of ideas as locavores ecame together to explore the many ways people can become more self-reliant from garden to kitchen.
Friday, June 11, 2010, marked our 15th year at Zoobilation -- known as the BEST party in Indianapolis!!! Zoobilation is a black-tie, outdoor dining event that highlights 50+ restaurants (and select catering companies) and features great entertainment spread throughout the Zoo grounds. This event raises money to support the care and feeding of the Zoos animals & plants, as well as the Zoos internationally significant conservation & research efforts.
During the evening, we served over 2,000 pieces of Chef Alan's most highly acclaimed dessert --
BLUE RIBBON CARROT CAKE. For the 7th time, our carrot cake was selected by a panel of judges to receive a "Best of the Best" award!! Our booth decor is designed and setup by Stephen Jeffries, owner of The Acorn Tree in Greenfield. Each year we recruit 'booth volunteers' to dish up the carrot cake with a smile!
Link to Zoobilation information or the Zoo's website.
Tickets go on sale in February for next summer's event!!
For many of the past 12 years we have joined other food professionals to experience the largest educational catering conference in the industry -- the Catersource Conference & Tradeshow in vibrant Las Vegas for 4+ days of learning and networking, exciting events, real-world applications of the latest trends, techniques and ideas in catering.
Our profession is laced with an amazing number of challenges. In addition to these challenges, caterers are often presented with crisis situations that permit them to use their creativity and skills to neutralize or solve these problems. Caterers love to find solutions. We are inspired by the experiences of the caterers we meet from all across the United States and over 25 countries!
The caterer's job is to learn about everything new in order to bring exciting ideas and the latest food trends to their clients. Each year we come back from Las Vegas with a bunch of "new", bringing it home to Indianapolis, the greatest city in the midwest!
Check out Chef Alan's blog for more photos & stories!
These menus are just a portion of what we offer to whet your appetite. We customize to your tastes! Scroll the menu to find out how.
ALANS 2010 Morning Fare & Break Service.pdf
ALANS Brunch Buffet 2010.pdf
Chef Alan's VALUE Lunch Menus 2010.pdf
Box Lunch Menu ACE 2010.1.pdf
ALANS HDO Menus 2010.pdf
2010 ACE Plated Dinner Menu rev 7-22.pdf
2010 ACE Plated Dinner Menu.pdf
Presentation
A selection of events to show you some of our our setups and types of events that we handle for our clients.
Weddings
You have taken the first step in joining our family; one that takes pride designing a menu unique to your tastes and coordinating the exciting details of your wedding day.
FOODstuffs
A sampling of some of our favorite recipes to give you a taste of how we approach food presentation.
Garden Portfolio
We celebrate the extraordinary beauty found in the ordinary garden. Just for the fun of it!
Choosing ALAN 'S to cater your reception, lets you & your family enjoy your wedding day! Call us to set up an appointment at your convenience.
W e believe that each bride, groom and their families
are unique, and require the kind of thoughtfulness and creativity that expresses their own individual style.
W hether you choose to entertain your guests at
home, church, outdoors or in a banquet facility, our
tailored menus, food styling and décor design are
available to you whether your event is large or small.
I f you are thinking about a hosting an informal
party in your backyard or a formal wedding reception
with full china & glassware, passed hors doeuvres and
an extensive menu...you will receive the same beautiful,
flavorful food, stylishly presented by our uniformed, professional servers.
I n addition to your reception, we can cater all of
your celebration parties; engagement party, bridal shower, rehearsal dinner & wedding brunch.
O ur attention to detail has earned us a
reputation as one of the finest caterers in
the Indianapolis area. With over 16 years
of experience, we will take pleasure in
helping you design a memorable reception.
Chef Alan
O ur attention to detail has earned us a reputation as one of the finest caterers in the Indianapolis area. With over 16 years of experience, we will take pride in helping you design & execute a memorable event.
Betsy
We bring the fine quality of our food and creative artistry to corporate, social and wedding clients throughout Indianapolis and the surrounding counties.
Scroll through to see how ordering works.
ALANS 2010 Weekday Delivery Policy.pdf
We look forward to helping you plan your upcoming event. Please fill out the form below so that we may better serve you. To get started, please include the following:
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just call
O ur garden provides the most spectacular subjects for photography. We feel blessed to be surrounded by such beauty.
Here's my annual list of Easter Treats available through our catering kitchen. Please call 396-5310 to place your order by Thursday, April 21st. PICKUP will be on Saturday, April 23rd at our kitchen on South Ritter from 10 am to 2 pm . We wish you & your families a very Happy Easter celebration!
Bakery Favorites
Hot Cross Buns
11.40 doz
Russian Kulich
semi-sweet bread with golden raisins, almonds & candied orange peel
9.95 each
Bowknot Dinner Rolls
5.50 doz
Streusel Coffee Cakes
Raspberry, Cherry, or Cinnamon
4.95 each
Teabreads
Banana or Carrot
6.95 ea
Danish Coffee Cakes
Pecan Cheese, Apricot or Cherry
6.50 each
Cinnamon Rolls 1.25 each
Pecan Caramel Rolls 1.95 each
Danish Rolls 1.95 each
Turnovers - Cherry or Apple 1.95 each
Desserts
Glazed Bunny Cookies
old fashioned sugars, glazed & sprinkled
6.25 doz
Rugelach
apricot & nut filled cookies, made with sour cream dough
