I couldn’t let the year go by without writing this review. Let me start off by saying hiring Startup Caterings for my wedding was THE BEST decision I made out of my entire wedding. I am West African and had a big West African wedding with 300+ people and Sam and his staff fed everyone with so such professionalism and grace. The food was SUPERB and fresh! Till this day people still compliment the food and mention how flavorful it was. Sam worked with me, my husband and our parents to create the most perfect menu. He was kind, professional, patient, and all around amazing (even through my bridezella moments lol). I’m forever grateful for how well he took care of us the day of my wedding and I pray that you all read this and make the right decision and book them. Trust me, you will not regret it! Thank you Sam and team for everything!!!

I can’t say enough about how amazing Sam is. This review is long overdue, but we are still talking about how incredible he was for our New Year’s Eve dinner party in 2021. He was such a joy to work with, customizing everything to our exact needs and made the night so special for us. I was confident the night would be amazing because from start to finish he was attentive, creative with his suggestions and personable. I was able to relax and enjoy the night knowing Sam had taken care of everything for us. Looking forward to planning more events with him!

I would give Start Up 6+ stars if I could.
Professional, responsive, caring, attentive to details, flexible, inconspicuous and….:the food was amazing.
It felt like we were working with family.
Truly highly recommend them!!!

They did an amazing job catering my wedding! I was so happy with everything they did to help make my day exactly what I wanted!!

We used Startup Catering for my daughter's wedding. We had a few special requests - and there were no questions asked. Sam did a great job of listening and capturing what we wanted and made sure every aspect was unique to our preferences, taste and budget. Sam and Katie provided us with the highest customer service, organization and communication from day 1. They were so personal and coordinated everything which made our lives easy during this busy time.They provided a creative food presentation that was delicious and great service the actual day of the wedding. We received SO many compliments from our guests and could not have been happier! Startup catering assisted in making the event an unforgettable experience.

I deeply regret the need to write this review, as it goes against my principles to harm someone's livelihood. Throughout the process, I made every effort to maintain a civil tone. However, I am profoundly disappointed by Sam and Christy's response to my initial concerns. The issues I raised included the missing trays of Caesar Salad, the Pork & Brisket Asian Fusion Taco appetizers served without embellishments, the trays of Penne with Vodka Sauce served with sauce on the side instead of being cooked together as per our request, and the absence of a variety of leftovers for the $56.96 per person I paid for 75 people (although only 62 attended) at my daughter's outdoor wedding event on July 4, 2023.

Instead of addressing these concerns in a professional manner, their response felt like a personal attack against me. It was disheartening that they turned the focus onto a secondary issue—the one-hour storm that occurred at the beginning of our 4:00 event. There was confusion regarding the contingency plan for rain and whose responsibility it was to cover the food table in such a scenario. My daughter reminded me that I did reach out to them the day before to inquire about having a tent to cover the food in the event of rain, (please see the attached screenshot of that text). It turned out that their subcontractor, Elijah, did make necessary adjustments by using his 10 x 10 tent and shifting the prep area into the back of a van, which was not a professional catering truck with a kitchen.

We accepted this as their contingency plan for rain, but later I was chastised by Christy for not providing the covering myself, despite their initial response as mentioned above. There were other complaints raised by my guests after the event, which I missed due to my role as the mother of the bride and being preoccupied with hosting duties. Additionally, I have not yet received the promised $200 refund for the missing Caesar Salad. Instead, they responded in an unkind manner, focusing on my perceived shortcomings as a client.

Despite these issues, I want to acknowledge the efforts Elijah made to compensate for the challenges he faced and the missing item. He maintained professionalism throughout, although his setup lacked functionality for this type of outdoor event.

Startups Catering and events was hired to provide the catering for our wedding after finding their company listed on theknot.com.

Listed below are some of the shortcomings that were observed and brought to our attention by family and guests.

- Catering staff arrived at the event well over an hour LATE.

- The presentation of the food at the wedding was subpar and nowhere near wedding standards. The presentation was not remotely similar to the photos on the Startups Catering website. We later realized that most if not all of the companies online photos were a scam and most likely pulled from Google. (I will attach the photos to this review if possible).

- By the time my wife and I went to get food at the cocktail hour (15 minutes before it ended) they were completely out of multiple appetizers.

- There were no servers at the cocktail hour, so our guests were forced to serve their own food. (We payed for five SERVERS as listed on our contract).

- There weren't enough napkins or utensils placed out at the cocktail hour.

- Multiple guests stated they were unaware that food was even served at the cocktail hour due to the minimal quantity and lack of presentation.

- Dinner was served an hour late which postponed the rest of the reception. The Djs actually played an extra 20 minutes at the end of the night because they felt bad for us.

- Many guests complained about the food being cold, under or over cooked, and inconsistent. Some stating their portions were inedible.

- The Tri Tip carving station was labeled as “TRIP TIP” which confused many guests. Guests complained that the beef was undercooked, chewy, and could not cut it up due to a lack of steak knives on the tables.

- The garden salad was served inside of a crumpled up table cloth.

- Vegetables were not fully cooked and many guests complained about them being raw.

- Pasta was served plain in the trays without sauce which was aesthetically unappealing and caused the pasta to clump together.

- The pasta sauces were not located next to the pasta. The sauces were coagulated and not stirred which looked extremely unappetizing. They were not labeled and the employees who were standing there could not answer any questions due to a strong language barrier.

- The Mahi Mahi was labeled as Halibut which could have caused a SERIOUS issue if someone was allergic. Multiple guests complained the fish was not seasoned and was very dry.

- Other than the Tri Tip station, no one was serving food. Our guests had to self serve all of their food during the evening. This was upsetting due to the fact that we paid for five SERVERS, which we were under the impression would be serving the food.

- The presentation of the beverage station, coffee station, and ice cream sundae bar were DISGRACEFUL.

- The ice cream bar looked horrendous with plastic cups filled with melted ice cream inside. They also ran out of whipped cream, toppings for the ice cream, and the coffee station ran out of milk.

- A few of the servers/ staff were dressed informally. Employees were seen bussing the tables with black garbage bags during the reception.

- After the wedding I received many complaints from guests stating that there was not enough food and some did not even get to eat. This Including all 6 of the outside vendors that we INCLUDED in the overall headcount for food. Our three photographers and three DJs did not even get a chance to eat any of the food at the cocktail hour OR the dinner due to a lack of quantity. The photographers were seen eating fast food in the corner which was humiliating to say the least.

Furthermore, many of our guests and vendors commented on their disappointment some even stating it looked worse than a work luncheon. Which was truly disheartening and embarrassing on our one and only wedding day.

After reaching out to the owner Sam Schultz about my dissatisfaction, I received no reply for 15 days. I then reached out a second time requesting a response to the matter and after a few more days, finally received a reply of "Ok".

A few months went by with no resolution so I contacted my attorney who sent a formal letter requesting a resolution.

After about a week we received a response from Sam stating he believes his team provided services with care and professionalism. Later in the email, Sam stated "I understand that there may have been areas where expectations were not fully met" and that he would be open to a reasonable discussion about a partial settlement. It has now been over 6 months since the wedding, no resolution was ever given, and he has since stopped responding to all forms of communication.

In conclusion, Sam Schultz has horrible customer service, used fraudulent images on his website, and car salesman-like friendliness/ tactics to assure my wife and I that our wedding day would be amazing, which in fact was nothing but a SCAM!!