Serving Boulder Since 1987: What 39 Years of Catering Teaches You
A Spice of Life has catered Boulder since 1987 — 39 years, Best of Boulder honors, and the lessons about food, people, and events that only time teaches.
A Spice of Life started catering Boulder in 1987. Sit with that for a second: before the Pearl Street of today, before most of the venues we now work every weekend even existed, this kitchen was loading vans and feeding this town’s weddings, company parties, and fundraisers. Thirty-nine years later, under owners Becky Davis and Penni Walsh, we are still here — and longevity like that in the catering business is not luck. It teaches you things. Here are the ones that shape every event we cater today.
Lesson One: The Event Is About the Host, Not the Caterer
Young catering companies want to impress. It took years to learn that the highest compliment is quieter: the host who spent the whole evening with their guests because they never once had to think about us. “Guests at their own event” became our promise because thirty-nine years of events proved it is the thing people actually remember. The food has to be excellent — that is table stakes. The feeling of being taken care of is what brings people back.
Lesson Two: Relationships Compound
Boulder is a small town wearing a city’s clothes. The couple whose wedding we catered becomes the office manager ordering corporate lunches becomes the nonprofit board member planning a gala. Organizations like the Boulder Chamber of Commerce have come back to us again and again, and our coordinators get named in reviews because clients think of them as people, not vendors. You cannot shortcut that. You can only earn it one well-run event at a time, for decades.
Lesson Three: The Craft Keeps Moving
The menu that won catering awards in the nineties would bore a Boulder guest today, and that is healthy. Dietary care went from an afterthought industry-wide to one of our defining specialties — gluten-free and allergy-aware menus with allergen labeling as standard practice. Local Colorado sourcing went from novelty to how we write seasonal menus. A long history only matters if the kitchen refuses to live in it.
The Record We Point To
Boulder has voted in the Best of Boulder awards for decades, and this community named us Gold from 2007 through 2021 and Silver in 2022 and 2023. Fifteen straight years at the top, as judged by the people we cook for. We keep the streak framed less as a trophy and more as a standard: every event this year is catered by the team that intends to deserve the next one.
Thirty-Nine Years In, Still Cooking
Whether your event is a wedding, a corporate gathering, or a celebration that deserves better than average, you know where to find us — same town, same standard, since 1987. Let’s get cooking.