MANILA – Here’s good news amid all the unfortunate things happening this 2020: The Moment Group finally has a catering arm, which means you can now have your favorite items from Ooma, 8 Cuts, Manam, Din Tai Fung, Shawa Wama, Bank Bar, and Mo’ Cookies served at your birthday party, wedding reception, or any other big celebration.

Picture this – you get to feed your guests with Ooma’s Truffle Hanger Steak and Manam’s House Crispy Sisig, and even throw in shawarma and tempura stations, a halo-halo booth, and a cookie area, all at the same time.

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But instead of giving fixed menus and “per-head” rates, Moment Catering is doing things differently by offering a minimum rate of P50,000, which can be used according to your specifications.

Aside from choosing which dishes to serve (they have more than 20 live station options, on top of the menu items), you can also decide on how they will be presented – buffet-style, plated, cocktails, or even as packed lunches.

“When we started Moment [Group], we really just wanted to make restaurants. It (catering) wasn’t really part of the plan because it’s so different from having restaurants. But a couple of years ago, a lot of our old friends, they were like, ‘Could you help curate a moment for us?’ In their own home, or in their office, in a park, anywhere. So we started to say yes to our friends and kind of cater our food that they wanted in other spaces, not in our restaurants. And then last year, we saw that the catering had just grown so much organically,” said The Moment Group co-founder Abba Napa.

“And then we realized, we were doing na pala the catering event every other day,” she went on. “So we thought, maybe it’s a good time to tell the rest of the public that we are now able to curate a moment for you outside the four walls of our restaurants, with all of our different brands.”

While they are offering catering services in Metro Manila and out of town (“I think right now, Bulacan to Tagaytay might be our range,” Napa said), The Moment Group is also opening the doors of its cafeteria and test kitchen in Makati – The Mess Hall – to those who have yet to find an events space.

Want to know more? ABS-CBN News got to sit down with Napa during the launch of Moment Catering at an ancestral home-turned-events venue in New Manila, Quezon City.

Here are excerpts from the interview:

Q: How does your catering service work? Is there a general menu with all the dishes from the different Moment Group restaurants, and then the client gets to mix and match?

A: Yes, there’s a Moment Catering website and Instagram and you can reach our catering sales team there. You have a one-on-one with them and we can really curate it for you and make it what you want. Do you want it all-Filipino with just Manam, or just Japanese with Ooma, or just American with 8 Cuts? Or would you like a little mix of everything? We can do all that.

Q: Are there dishes that are exclusively available at Moment Catering?

A: Yes, we’re creating dishes just for catering, dishes that people kind of look forward to in a party – like paella. We’re also going to do roast beef carving soon, and cochinillo, things like that. Those are all exclusive to the catering because we already have Filipino at Manam, Japanese at Ooma, American burgers at 8 Cuts, xiao long bao at Din Tai Fung, cookies at Mo, and Mediterranean with Shawa Wama. So whatever cuisines we don’t have as a brand, we’re creating them just for catering, like Spanish and Italian.

Q: Let’s say there’s a customer who wants a specific dish in his or her event. Are you guys open to that, or not for now?

A: We have a test kitchen so we’re creating dishes every day – so we definitely can create something special for our guest. Of course, with enough lead time to make sure we can perfect it. But yes, definitely.

Q: Is there a minimum headcount or amount for Moment Catering?

A: For us, it doesn’t really matter how many you are, but the minimum amount to book with us is P50,000.

Q: What can P50,000 give you?

A: P50,000 can give you a very nice lunch or dinner for 50 people, or a little bit more. It can give you… probably a really nice cocktail party or pica-pica for maybe 70 to 80 people. Or it can give you a super nice spread for like, two dozen people, a very nice sitdown dinner. That’s also what we’re trying to say – we’re not trying to say, ‘this has to be the per-head [rate],’ we’re not trying to say ‘this is the number of people.’ Kahit dalawa lang kayo on top of a hill… let’s say you want to do it because you want to propose, we’d gladly bring in the flowers and champagne for you for that. Or if you want 100 packaged meals when you go on a team building, packaged in a box for you with iced tea, we can also do that. There’s no limitation.

Q: When they get you guys for the catering, does it also include styling?

A: It includes all the styling for the tables and the buffets, and we can also help you with your other party needs. We have a lot of friends for music, we have a lot of friends who are florists. We can give recommendations, we can help hook them up or even arrange for it and stuff. But definitely for all of the table setups and all the buffets, it’s all our in-house team. It’s our experienced in-house design team that helps with catering team.

Q: Can you also do formal setups like weddings, as opposed to more casual birthday parties?

A: We can definitely adjust. But as you can see all our brands – the DNA of our brands, the personality of our brands – it’s really more laidback, a little more fun and casual. So that’s what’s we love to do, but definitely we could do more formal if the client requires that.