By Kyle Waldrep
Sun-scorched pavement greeted The Festive Kitchen staff as they arrived on SMU’s campus on a summer day to prepare dinner for the Mustang football team, coaches and staff.
When Sandy Korem, owner of The Festive Kitchen, first stepped into the old kitchen underneath Moody Coliseum, she found no running water, no soap, no ovens and no microwaves, with only two and a half hours to execute dinner.
Transporting water from her company’s storefront in Snider Plaza that evening, Korem served 170 people dinner, using gas cooktops, grills and imagination.
While SMU searched for a new location for Korem, her team prepared every dinner, on time, no matter the circumstance.
“They will be there at 7 o’clock to eat whether I am ready or not. You don’t want to have hungry football players standing over you wanting to know where their food is,” Korem explained about catering in adverse circumstances.
Since 2012, Korem has served food for the football team during their “two-a-day” football camp in the summer, as well as every Sunday through Thursday throughout the fall season. Starting in the fall of 2015, The Festive Kitchen will serve lunch in addition to dinner.
Raised in Alexandria, La. and a nurse by trade, Korem had no background in the culinary arts, but her love for cooking and entertaining spurred the Festive Kitchen idea.
Korem knew she had a niche in “stay at home mothers” and aspiring professionals who did not have time to cook.
Korem opened her business in a small storefront in Richardson, Texas where she first sold cookies from her own recipe and provided full service catering with her own kitchen-tested recipes.
The Festive Kitchen expanded to a larger catering kitchen with 34 employees and another storefront in Snider Plaza.
The dinner menu for players consists of two or three proteins, typically chicken and red meat, coupled with three carb selections and three vegetable choices.
With no certified nutrition specialist for the football team, Korem studies the player’s nutritional habits to compose the dinner menu.
Korem explains how some players are trying to bulk up while others are losing weight to increase agility and quickness.
Knowing how much to serve the players remains Korem’s biggest challenge.
“The first time we served them queso, the line got about halfway through and we ran out. I sent one of my staff back to the store in Snider Plaza to get more,” Korem said.
Kalli Brooks, Korem’s catering manager, assists Korem with composing and executing each meal.
Brooks explains that the players consume one and a half to two times the amount of food compared to an average person.
“Cinnamon Toast Crunch [is always a favorite with the players]. Every morning during the season we put out two different cereals for them, and if there is Cinnamon Toast Crunch out there, the other cereal has no chance,” Brooks said.
Brooks added that “Louisiana” hot sauce is another player favorite.
“They eat hot sauce on everything, and they like their syrup warm,” Brooks said.
While Korem and Brooks serve the SMU football team, Korem has a full-time staff that accommodates her customers at the storefronts in Snider Plaza and Richardson.
Stop by these to-go stores to try her specialties: gourmet cookie dough, such as cranberry white chocolate and cappuccino pecan; hors d’Oeuvres like parmesan flan and carrot soufflé tartlets; and sides like sun-dried tomato pasta salad or spinach and artichoke spread.
