Catered to you: Catering is a growing business in the Cape Girardeau area

When it comes to catering in the Cape Girardeau area, the offerings are plenty and sundry. Be it a business lunch, wedding reception, family holiday feast, corporate conference -- or anything in between -- it's likely there's a caterer to meet the need.

Caterers also are addressing the demand of the harried homemaker, creating healthy, close-to-homemade entrees that make their way to the table for an evening meal.

For more than a decade, Terry VanDeWeghe, aka "Ms. T," has been overseeing catering at McAlister's Deli in Cape Girardeau, as well as the catering operations of some of its other locations in Missouri and Illinois.

VanDeWeghe says she has been preparing and delivering business lunches to the same clients, and quite a few new ones, for the past 10 years, and quickly ticks off some of the entities to which McAlister's caters: Procter & Gamble, Mondi, Southern Illinois University, Southeast Missouri State University and hospitals in McAlister's coverage area. She says visiting pharmaceutical representatives calling on medical facilities also represent a fair amount of McAlister's business.

VanDeWeghe serves at a hub of McAlister's catering operation for its area locations.

"I'm here to answer all the questions, respond to the requests for bids, make menu suggestions," VanDeWeghe says, adding she then sends the completed order to the deli that will fulfill and deliver the food.

"What keeps people coming back is McAlister's consistency of quality -- quality breads and quality meats -- and quantity. We're known for generous portions," she says, adding, "The business lunch is our biggest thing. The client has a limited time frame for a meeting and a meal, and we're known for being on time, and also for being all-inclusive. We supply plates, napkins, tongs for serving, drinks, all of it -- even the after-dinner mints."

New to the Cape Girardeau food scene is Faithfully Fed, which opened in April at William Street and Kingshighway.

Cheryl Mothes, who owns the business with friend Tina Graham, says, "Our niche is definitely healthful and delicious food. We can feed a crowd, and it's food you can trust to be nutritious."

Mothes says the pair catered for about 30 people for the two days Christian recording artist Natalie Grant and her crew were in Cape Girardeau for a concert performance.

Sandwich tray at McAlister's Deli. (Glenn Landberg)

"They really wanted healthy food. They were delighted. When they tour, they usually don't have this kind of food as a choice," Mothes says.

Faithfully Fed, too, has found a customer base among visiting pharmaceutical representatives.

"Those planning medical meetings are excited to have the selection we offer -- all-natural, organic food that tastes great, too. They want to walk the walk of healthy choices," Mothes says, adding most customers pick up the catering order, and delivery, setup and accouterments such as tableware can be provided.

The 11-page catering menu of Port Cape Girardeau boasts 19 main-course offerings, including its signature ribs and beef, chicken and seafood dishes; plus a half-dozen pastas, nearly 30 side dishes and salads and 10 desserts.

Beyond that, the Port Cape catering website says, "we are not limited to just these items. We can put together a menu to suit any occasion." Port Cape, which has offered catering for more than 20 years, is in a historic brick building at 19 N. Water St. in Cape Girardeau and has two private banquet rooms.

Terry VanDeWegne, director of catering and marketing at McAlister's Deli prepares box lunches, Thursday, June 4, 2015. (Glenn Landberg)

Likewise, the catering menu of Ray's of Kelso comes in at a hefty 11 pages, with dozens of suggestions for buffet -- both self-service and staffed -- and plated meals.

Greg Rich of Ray's Banquet Center says the business is a combination of "business functions like awards dinners and Christmas parties and wedding receptions."

December, Rich says, is the busiest month. April and May finds them busy with business functions, and spring and fall are the seasons for weddings.

Three or four events in a given week are typical for the business.

A recent weekend? "We'll be serving 2,000 meals with three different functions going on. It is what it is," says Rich, who has been involved in the business 10 years.

"Use our menu suggestions as a guide, but know we are here to design an event and menu especially for you," Ray's website says, adding that dietary requests are welcome.

"We recently did a curry dish by request. The menu is a starting point," Rich says.

Barb Cagle is the one-woman wonder of Barbie's Custom Bistro of Jackson.

"I'm the owner, the manager, the cook and the accountant," Cagle says of her catering business, which has segmented itself into three specialties -- food for business meetings and events, home-delivered evening meals and bereavement meals that serve several people.

"I'm a one-woman shop, and everything I do, I do from scratch," she says, admitting that husband Greg sometimes gives her a hand.

Central to Cagle's menu is her enormous garden, including fresh-picked green beans, cucumbers, lettuce, asparagus and strawberries. She is known for her from-scratch biscuits and cinnamon rolls. Last year she canned 200 quarts of beans.

The menu features "whatever is fresh in the garden," Cagle says, adding she also smokes much of the meat on the menu.

From the website, barbscustombistro.com, patrons can order Monday through Thursday evening meals, with selections mapped out through the month. The meat loaf meal, for instance, at $13, comes with garlic mashed potatoes, a salad, bread and dessert. The centerpieces of other meals range from shrimp jambalaya and chicken fried rice to grilled pork steak and chicken and dumplings.

"Often the evening meals are for the elderly or someone in a health crisis," Cagle explains.

Bereavement meals are growing in appeal, she says.

"People realize the value in sending a meal to a grieving family, rather than sending flowers, when you want to reach out to them. I very much personalize it," Cagle says, adding that after a recent funeral several people called to arrange meals over a few weeks' time.

Cagle cooks in a commercial kitchen that used to be a garage. A recently acquired concession trailer will take Barbie's Custom Bistro on the road.

"We'll have our maiden voyage doing barbecue sandwiches over the Fourth of July in Jackson, and we'll also be part of Jackson Homecomers in July," she says.