Yummy! |
Now in her sixth year at the helm of Ireland’s leading locations catering company, Hot Buns Catering, Tara O’Sullivan takes a break from feeding hoards of Irish crew and Hollywood superstars to toast another successful year in 2005.
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In the late nineties, after having worked in catering for 10 years, Tara O’Sullivan realised that there was a distinct gap in the market in film location catering and decided to look at the industry with a new approach. The aim was to provide restaurant quality food on location, a higher standard than what was available both in Ireland and abroad at that time. Tara wanted to create a company with an emphasis on good food served with a smile, from qualified caterers totally committed to serving the needs of a busy film crew.
Hot Buns Catering first job was on location with ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’. “We were delighted to be offered the job of catering for the film crew both here and in Malta”. From there the company grew, becoming a fully self-contained business with the purchase of two state-of-the-art mobile kitchens. They have become a recognisable force in Irish location catering, working on location for ‘Veronica Guerin’, ‘Bloody Sunday’, 'The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone', ‘In America’, ‘Evelyn’, ‘King Arthur’ and ‘Breakfast on Pluto’ amongst others.
Since 1999, Hot Buns Catering have become familiar faces on film sets around Ireland, with one of their biggest challenges to date being ‘King Arthur’. “We were feeding the upwards of 1500 people some days from five kitchens,” says Tara. “We had done big extras previously on ‘Veronica Guerin’ and ‘Bloody Sunday’, but this was a big crew from day one of principal shooting, right through to the final day.”
However, this was a challenge they delighted in. “We work very hard to keep everyone happy but there are many advantages to what we do, very few people get to see as many of the beautiful sights around Ireland that we do, such as spectacular sun rises coming up over Brittas Bay. We get to cook in locations most people don't even know exist! “
Hot Buns value their relationship with Irish crew-members. “When we arrive on set it is brilliant to see the reaction we get from everyone on set, it makes it all worthwhile. We love food and are passionate about not only how we present it but also how we prepare it. We follow the strictest guidelines in relation to food hygiene and research menus from around the world to bring the most varied menus to our crews.”
They also love their job with an infectious delight:”What’s there to complain about? We get to organise barbeques with the lakes in Luggala as our dramatic backdrop and organise tea and coffee in a field in Ballymore Eustace with Hadrian's Wall next to it! There may be some early starts, but going to work at 5am and seeing the sunrise over the Sally Gap makes up for it all!”
Hot Buns worked on a number of Irish based projects in 2004, such as ‘Breakfast on Pluto’, ‘The League of Gentlemen’s Apocalypse’ and ‘Isolation’ (working title). ‘Breakfast on Pluto’ was exciting for the company as they had just purchased the new kitchens, allowing them to expand catering numbers and to know that it was the first fully independent Hot Buns contract, without having to hire the equipment from someone else. “’The League of Gentlemen’ and ‘Isolation’ were relatively small productions in terms of numbers, but this allowed us to interact with the crew on a more personal level, which generally happens over a longer time frame on a bigger production.”
Hot Buns Catering have recently purchased two high-tech mobile kitchen units that facilitate anywhere between 50-2500 people. Not having to rely on hired units allows them to be more competitive and to travel within Ireland and abroad. They are also able to cater for two productions at the same time, whilst assuring that both locations receive the same quality and service that has become synonymous with Hot Buns Catering.
For further information visit the Hot Buns Catering website www.hotbunscatering.com
By Tanya Warren.
