Maria Harper from event catering business The Edinburgh Canapé Company tells us about her catering predictions for the upcoming year.
Hi Maria! Tell us about your culinary journey.
I started cooking at a young age because I come from a foodie family, my mum and both my grannies were amazing cooks. Being part of a big family meant lots of birthday parties and lots of great food. I was immediately attracted to these female led gatherings in the kitchen and I always loved being part of the process of making everything from scratch, I was totally in my element.
I studied journalism and photography and had a career in the arts until I had children and decided to stop working, but once my children were in school, I decided to turn my passion for cooking into a business. Five years later, my business is thriving, and I absolutely love what I do. I feel so lucky! Now Iget to be part of people’s celebrations; there’s nothing better than a party and sharing food with people.
What can The Edinburgh Canapé Company offer corporate clients?
I offer canapés for functions, lunches, hot bowls, finger-food buffets, luxury buffets, and private dining providing three or four course dinners. I’ve recently created a tasting menu experience as well. I also offer cookery classes as a team building experience in a cookery school, these are super fun.
What catering trends do you think we’ll see in 2025?
Health and wellness are huge trends that are here to stay. I’m very passionate about healthy food so my menu focuses on lots of beautiful food that’s not only delicious, but also very good for you. I noticed that my clients asked less for meat these days and tend to be happy with other suggestions that are plant based or sustainable fish or poultry. My clients are increasingly more aware of their guest’s needs in terms of dietary requirements. For every single event last year, I designed menus including vegetarian, vegan, and gluten free variations to meet everyone’s needs.
The trend for sustainable packaging is spreading, but unfortunately, I still see far too much plastic involved in our food supply. In 2025, I think the government should do more like limiting supermarkets from using plastic on their fruit and veg and invest in more sustainable materials.
Clients are continuously more open to food from different cultures these days and welcome new ideas that I might bring to their menus. I love to explore food from different cultures, as a rule I take a cookery class in every country I visit to enrich my repertoire.
Do you think we’ll see technology playing a bigger part this year?
I think technology plays a part in terms of bookings, payments, and data analysis and it’s slowly getting into the kitchen. Some kitchens are incorporating intelligent gadgets that help us cut corners and save time, but prices are still high. I think we will see these changes in larger businesses like restaurants and hotels rather than to smaller size businesses.
How are price increases affecting the industry?
Food supplies have increased in price dramatically in the last two years as well as energy prices and rent, this had a huge effect on catering businesses. It’s not surprising to notice that some corporate businesses are more cautious about their expenditure. In order to preserve my clientele, I decided not to increase my prices in 2024, and I hope I can sustain that during 2025 too. We will have to wait and see how the new Labour government deals with food inflation in the coming year.