Cheat Little
CATERING
650-227-1125
www.cheatalittle.com
Town of Atherton - Holbrook-Palmer Park
RFP - September 16, 2025
REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL - SUBMITTAL STATEMENT
This Proposal is being submitted by Cheat A Little Catering in response to the RFP issued by Town of Atherton on June 19, 2025 for Event Management Services at Holbrook-Palmer Park, and has been prepared toward compliance with all specifications, instructions, requirements and contract terms as set forth in the named RFP, unless exceptions are noted according to the RFP instructions.
We acknowledge our commitment to follow through with all proposed work plans and processes as may be negotiated and agreed upon, should we be selected as the Awardee, and intend to sign a Professional Services Agreement and provide all insurance and documentation required.
INTRODUCTION - COMPANY OVERVIEW
Now in our 20th year, Cheat A Little Catering is a full-service catering and event management company, which started in August 2005. We provide numerous styles of food service, and bring all necessary components together for a successful event, including full bar beverage service, staff, rentals, floral, lighting, audio/visual, valet parking, gourmet coffee cart service, DJ and other entertainment. We cater social occasions, such as weddings, anniversaries, birthdays and showers, as well as corporate events to include receptions, awards ceremonies, holiday parties, business meetings and networking mixers.
In addition to our core catering and event business, for the last four years, we also provide event management services to San Mateo Garden Center. Since early 2021, we have successfully managed the social and corporate events for this venue, encompassing all aspects of the management process; from initial inquiry, site visits/walk-throughs, sales and application approval, scheduling vendors and event-related appointments, preparing for and providing pre-set service for the three spaces at the Center, and ensuring appropriate staff are assigned day-of for each event.
We look forward to discussing further how we would be a good fit to provide exemplary service for your event management needs.
Sincerely
Brian R. Mof
President and Owner, Cheat A Little Catering
733 California Drive • Burlingame, CA 94010
COMPANY DETAILS - BACKGROUND - RELEVANT EXPERIENCE
Cheat A Little Catering started in August 2005 as an LLC, and with steady growth became incorporated in the State of California as an S Corp in April 2013. Our commercial kitchen and warehouse operation is located at: 733 California Drive, Burlingame, CA 94010. We currently have a total of 19 employees, 3 of whom will be assigned to various tasks related to the event management services of Holbrook-Palmer Park, with a 4th staff person to be hired within 30 days of our being awarded this contract.
The person authorized to contractually bind Cheat A Little Catering is:
Brian Morriss, President
733 California Drive
Burlingame, CA 94010
650-227-1125
[email protected]
Brian has successfully owned and operated Cheat A Little Catering since its commencement, growing the company from a small, in-home boutique catering service, to a seven-figure full-service catering and event management company. As well, while managing sales and catering operations, Brian has also been the main point-of-contact and manager of the event management services provided to San Mateo Garden Center for the last four years.
Singley, Brian has grown the social and corporate events revenue to an average of $75,044 per year, with total revenue of $300,175 since April 2021. This excludes clubs, city and county meetings, and other events, which we are not responsible or compensated for.
In reviewing the revenue of Holbrook-Palmer Park events totaling $380,744 over the same time period, which we are assuming also includes revenue from Contractor non-compensated events; we are confident in our ability to successfully manage HPP, especially with a larger, dedicated team.
Venue Relationships
We are very fortunate to have several rewarding venue relationships that have produced repeat events for both our company and the venue itself. Please see a list below of venues we've catered, many of which are preferred caterer venues.
Beth Am-Los Altos Hills, Camron-Stanford House, The Candy Store, Caroland's Chateau, CuriOdyssey Museum, Devil's Canyon Brewery, Filoli Historic House and Gardens, Fox Theater, Elizabeth Gamble Gardens, Grace Cathedral, The Great Highway, Hacienda de las Flores, Hiller Aviation Museum, Hillsborough Racquet Club, Holbrook-Palmer Park, Jewish Community Center (Palo Alto, Los Gatos, San Mateo, San Francisco), Kaiser Center Rooftop, Kohl Mansion, La Honda Winery, Lucie Stern, Rengstorff House, San Mateo Garden Center, San Mateo History Museum, San Francisco City Hall, SFO Museum, Stern Grove, War Memorial-Green Room, Woman's Club of Palo Alto.
Lastly, there is no negative history of having been judged guilty or liable to disclose, specifically any prior or on-going contract failure, or any type of litigation, with any principal or employee of our company.
KEY PERSONNEL - QUALIFICATIONS
Brian Morriss
President and Owner, Cheat A Little Catering
As the Principal-in-Charge of this project, Brian brings 20 years of experience in managing and operating a catering and event management business; growing revenue year-over-year. Brian has been responsible for providing the main event management services for a similar local venue. As a company, we are familiar with Holbrook-Palmer Park, having catered numerous events in previous years at all three main venue spaces on property.
All Martella
Event Manager, Cheat A Little Catering
As our company's event manager, Ali is responsible for planning all the event details; including conducting site visits, scheduling staff, developing and managing timelines, coordinating with venues, handling logistics, and overseeing events day-of. Just previous to joining Cheat A Little, Ali was the manager of executive events at a venue in San Francisco, leaning towards executive-level members and hosting corporate dinners, high-level meetings and larger-scale gatherings.
Jamie Schmidt
Catering Logistics Coordinator, Cheat A Little Catering As our main warehouse associate, Jamie is our "back-of-house" facilities guru, coordinating all logistics for upcoming events, scheduling staff for warehouse and janitorial, running errands, and ensuring all equipment, serve ware and catering-related items are pulled, allocated and loaded to our catering vehicles. Post-event duties include breakdown, clean-up, and re-set. Her previous work experience involved handling the entire catering and event process, from client consultation to event execution, including vendor and venue coordination, and staff management.
REFERENCES
Reference 1:
San Mateo Garden Center
605 Parkside Way
San Mateo, CA 94401
www.sanmateogardencenter.org
Contact: Mike Drilling, 650-302-2828
Service: Event Management
Current Contract: April 2021 to Present
Revenue/Sales to Date: $300,175
Reference 2:
Filoli Historic House and Garden
86 Canada Road
Woodside, CA 94063
www.filoli.org
Contact: Helene Dubuc, 650-364-8300
Service: Food/Beverage Catering, General event-related services Status: Preferred Caterer
Average Annual Sales at Venue: $471,114
REFERENCES - Continued
Reference 3:
CuriOdyssey Science Museum and Zoo
1651 Coyote Point Drive
San Mateo, CA 94401
www.curiodyssey.org
Contact: Diana Turner, 650-342-7755
Service: Food/Beverage Catering, General event-related services Status: Preferred Caterer
Average Annual Sales at Venue: $67,322
Reference 4:
La Honda Winery
2645 Fair Oaks Avenue
Redwood City, CA 94063
www.lahondawinery.com
Contact: Lise Sutherland, 650-366-4104
Service: Food/Beverage Catering, General event-related services Status: Preferred Caterer
Average Annual Sales at Venue: $102,581
Reference 5:
Hiller Aviation Museum
601 Skyway Road
San Carlos, CA 94070
www.hiller.org
Contact: Lanie Agulay, 650-654-0200
Service: Food/Beverage Catering, General event-related services Status: Preferred Caterer
Average Annual Sales at Venue: $66,301
Reference 6:
San Mateo County History Museum
2200 Broadway Street
Redwood City, CA 94063
www.historysmc.org
Contact: Susan Smith, 650-299-0104
Service: Food/Beverage Catering, General event-related services Status: Preferred Caterer
Average Annual Sales at Venue: $56,349
SCOPE OF SERVICES - WORK PLAN
Scope of Services
The Cheat A Little Catering team is to provide general event management services for the "life of the event," from initial inquiry to final cleaning and re-set. Main points of services provided are as follows:
• Generating leads: marketing/advertising, networking, promoting, social media, website updates
• Processing inquiries: receiving and responding to phone calls and emails, providing rental information, and following up to conclusion
• Scheduling venue site visits and walk-throughs
• Obtaining/completing rental applications/agreements, processing approvals, invoicing and collecting deposits and fees
• Logging and tracking all event leads and sales, updating administrative and financial records, and calendaring all events
• Scheduling and staffing all events; ensuring a day-of point-of-contact is assigned • Coordinating with clients and vendors regarding deliveries and pick-ups, setup and strike • Ensure day-of staff is prompt to grant access to client and vendors at agreed upon reservation time
• Ensuring all event spaces and facilities are "event-ready" prior to event date and start time, including any setup as may be required
• Scheduling janitorial service and ensuring all event spaces and facilities are re-set to proper standards post-event
• Compliance day-of: ensuring adherence to ordinances, policies, do's and don'ts, and any and all Town regulations and restrictions
• Maintenance ongoing: ensuring that venue equipment, inventory, amenities and facilities are handled carefully, maintained properly, cleaned sufficiently, and stowed appropriately as to safeguard its condition for ongoing, future use
• Broad-scale: frequent venue walk-throughs in observation of general building conditions and noting any potential issues with regard to repairs and maintenance of HHP buildings, grounds and facilities
Work Plan
The following Work Plan will provide an overview of our planned approach to assuming the function of event management service provider to Holbrook-Palmer Park, to include venue promotion, practical day-to-day administrative responsibilities, as well as setting financial goals and executing monthly reporting.
• Marketing/Advertising/Promoting
Learn any current or previous Town promotional avenues; liaise with appropriate Town staff
Research available print options, publications and flyers Seek no-cost or cost-effective online venue promotional sites Maintain current Town/HHP website updates
• Attend Town, Chamber of Commerce, and industry-related networking functions Cheat A Little Catering "eNews" - venue and event management service promotion to our subscriber list of over 4,000 quality clients and leads • Gather email addresses of inquiries/leads for updates and venue promotions • Target-Market Advertising - review previous/historical revenue classifications (weddings, social events, meetings/classes) and tailor marketing efforts for specific classifications; i.e. weddings, celebrations of life, corporate offsites/meetings, etc. • Administrative Maintenance/Calendaring/Venue Representation Cheat A Little Catering to hire 4t member of the team to dedicate 24 hours per week to HHP event management services
New inquiry response: same day or within 24 hours
• Provide inquiry with rental application/agreement, fee structure, calendar availability, amenities/inventory list, policies/regulations/restrictions/ordinances Maintain venue onsite presence two days per week, set days and business hours, to be published and/or provided to inquiries and renters
Schedule venue site visits and showing of property and event spaces, essentially on set days and/or on other days, as required
Process rental applications/agreements
Process invoicing and payment collection
Process deposit refunds (and cancellation returns, as required), after post-event inspection, within 7 business days
Schedule events on calendar and update all lead generation, reservations and revenue/sales tracking documents and spreadsheets
Schedule renter/client "all vendor" walk-throughs prior to event date Schedule all setup/pre-set, event day-of staff, janitorial and post-event re-set Inquiry/Client/Renter interaction - our staff will provide service with a smile, exude positivity and confidence, maintain a "firm, but fair" demeanor when responding to venue restrictions, making appropriate accommodations and offering flexibility as needed, while ensuring venue protocol and policies are adhered to Organization, punctuality, preparedness, and good follow-through are all key components to the success of venue and event management • Cheat A Little Catering to be listed/promoted as the Premier Caterer, with a limited selection of additional Preferred Caterers
• Revenue/Reporting
• Set revenue/sales goals for overall venue and/or target markets/classifications • Maintain daily/current updates of all pending and confirmed reservations on calendar, database and tracking
• Maintain shared drive documents and tracking (ongoing or on-demand, as requested)
• Generate and provide Event Management Service Invoice - completed at the end of each month, within 5 business days of event month; to include all completed events, both compensated and non-compensated, and all pertinent details of each event; i.e. venue space, type of event, guest count, rental fees, etc.
Generate and provide Monthly Activity Report - completed at the end of each month, within 5 business days of event month; to include all completed events for the previous month, staff and any subcontractors assigned/services performed, as well as any warnings, citations, violations, written or verbal complaints from clients/renters and others, as relates to specific events, services performed, or any such instance or issue which occurred within the previous month
REVENUE SHARE - COMPENSATION- CONTRACT TERM
If awarded the contract to provide Event Management Services to Holbrook-Palmer Park, we acknowledge and anticipate this to be a successful "partnership" and propose the following compensation plan. Accept this as an initial proposal, a good starting point, and with the understanding each aspect is negotiable.
• Minimum Guarantee
• $3,000.00 - Minimum Guarantee, monthly for the first 3 months of Contract, to off- set initial financial investment, ramp-up time, and to provide services for no-fee / non-compensated events and meetings
• Rentals Share
• 35% of Event Rental Fees, to include main fee, and overtime/additional hours; excludes Deposits
• Monthly Fee
• $1,625.00 - Fee for Event Management Services, invoiced monthly, to off-set administrative and labor/staff costs
• Town Events
• No-fee / Non-compensated Town-sponsored events and meetings, up to fifteen (15) hours per month
• In-Kind
• $3,000.00 - In-kind donation of catering services, an annual amount to be used at the Town's discretion, all at once or in increments; subject to our calendar availability
• Invoicing
• Services invoiced monthly covering all events the prior month, generated within 5 business days of event month, and payment shall be due and payable within 15 days of invoice date
• Contract Term
Initial term of three (3) years, renewable at the option of the Town for up to three additional one (1) year terms; total term of Contract may extend for six (6) years from commencement
DISCLOSURE
A note of disclosure; there are no past, ongoing or potential conflicts of interest in performing the services as outlined in this RFP and in the practical day-to-day responsibilities of managing the events and processes for this venue. The venue for which we currently manage events (San Mateo Garden Center) is fully aware of this RFP submission.
SALUTATION - NEXT STEPS
Please accept our sincere thanks and appreciation for your consideration. We're confident we can create a mutually beneficial relationship with the Town of Atherton, and to provide superior service in the execution of all that is required in the management of your venue's events. We look forward to next steps.