Constellation’s COVID Pivot

Like everyone in our industry, when the pandemic paused all catering and event business, we had to pivot to develop safe, socially distanced solutions to sustain revenue, employment, and client connectivity. The goal: bring an elevated and flexible culinary experience directly to consumers and ultimately use quality food to spread joy and connectivity. Born from Constellation Culinary Group's philosophy that good food is connection, the team saw their community in need of connectivity more than ever amid the global pandemic.

Tapping into our entire team's culinary expertise and creativity, we began to develop a new, pandemic-friendly sub-brand called Prepped by Constellation. A virtual event and drop-and-go catering concept, Prepped provided tailor-made gourmet menus directly to consumer's doors for small gatherings and virtual events in the Greater Philadelphia Area.

The event packages featured Continental cuisine with elevated, innovative menu items and packages, perfect for any occasion – from reimagined holidays to intimate special occasions and hybrid corporate events. Prepped took inspiration from Constellation's signature mark - a marrying of presentation, experience, and taste – to introduce consumers to a new catering format suitable for the current climate.

Due to the pandemic, we understood the need for flexibility in feeding small groups, often in various virtual locations, and offered an assortment of packages within each meal category, plus signature add-ons for an additional price.

An important aspect of the launch was the creative, eye-catching branding of Prepped. Simple yet fun and youthful, we work with Two Paper Dolls to convey the ease and playfulness of the drop-and-go menu while maintaining its credibility and experience. Engaging menu items like DIY cookie decorating kits and seasonal cocktail mixers complimented the bold and bright Prepped branding.

With reduced resources and budgets and increased safety regulations, our team came together to update and renovate our commercial commissary kitchen to include conveyor belts and a packaging production line to fulfill the Prepped orders. We established staff safety measures with increased PPE, social distancing regulations, enhanced sanitation, and daily temperature checks. Most importantly, we ensured the model prevented staff from directly interacting with clients and maintains the highest food safety regulations. The new division also required a significant investment in email ordering capacities, marketing, and environmentally friendly, individualized food packaging products and solutions.

Launched in time for Thanksgiving, Prepped was an instant success providing client's easy, stress-free holiday meals delivered directly to their door without sacrificing quality. Throughout the winter and into early 2021, Prepped achieved its launch goal of getting furloughed team members back to work while observing the CDC guidelines.

The Prepped business model is set to continue throughout the pandemic and beyond, providing elevated and flexible culinary experiences while using quality food to spread joy and connectivity. Our team looks forward to getting back to our core in-person events but also looks forward to channeling our creativity and innovation in the meantime.