Philadelphia Catering Company Now Serving Rainforest Alliance Certified Coffee

Cafe Excellence: Coffee with a conscience

Cafe Excellence: Coffee with a conscience

A few years back we took a look at our coffee supplier to make sure we were providing our customers with the best value.  What we found was that our coffee roaster, Cafe Excellence, was a great small local roaster providing some of the best coffee around.

– see blog – https://philadelphiacateringblog.com/2012/07/.

This time around being true to our mission on sustainability we decided to take a look to see if there are more sustainable options we can take advantage of with our coffee service.  Cafe Excellence again does not disappoint.  Also being committed to sustainability Cafe Excellence carries a line of coffee with the  Rainforest Alliance Certified seal.

RAC Seal of approval

RAC Seal of approval

According to the Rain Forest Alliance;

Products bearing the seal originate on, or contain ingredients sourced from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms or forests. These farms and forests are managed according to rigorous environmental, social and economic criteria designed to conserve wildlife; safeguard soils and waterways; protect workers, their families and local communities; and increase livelihoods in order to achieve true, long-term sustainability.”

We serve a lot of coffee.  Last year we served 97,454 cups of coffee and 719,368 cups of coffee since 2004.   Our 15 Year PCC veteran employee, Joe Kidd is responsible for brewing most of it and he is very pleased with the new initiative.  So once again a simple day to day business decision can have far reaching effects to help improve lives, our environment, and our planet.

Our 15 year veteran employee, Joe Kidd in action

Our 15 year veteran employee, Joe Kidd in action

 

PCC Owners Alan and Tim celebrating Joe and his 15 excellent years of service

PCC Owners Alan and Tim celebrating Joe and his 15 excellent years of service

Cafe Excellence is planning on expanding their Rain Forest Alliance Certified offerings and you can buy them online – check them out – http://cafeexcellence.com/rainforest-alliance-coffee/

To learn more about the Rainforest Alliance – http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/about

Bravo Cafe Excellence!

Bravo Cafe Excellence!

Some Brotherly Love in Yosemite

Putting Some Yo! in Yosemite

Putting Some Yo! in Yosemite

Yosemite National Park.  An incredible place to visit, an even more incredible place to live.  Surrounded daily by the awesome beauty of Half Dome, El Capitan, Yosemite Falls, Vernal Falls and the list goes on.  Cool people, perfect California weather, authentic cheese steaks (cue sound effect of needle dragging across record)….I mean NO cheese steaks.  What is a former Philly girl to do?  About 10 years ago, my sister Cathy moved to Yosemite Valley to continue her teaching profession and discover her love of nature and climbing.  Living in Yosemite has been a rewarding and rich experience, however it comes at cost.  While you are surrounded with magnificence, you are also in a culinary desert.  That’s a slight exaggeration, but finding a real cheese steak in Yosemite Valley is as about as likely as finding a grizzly bear walking down Market Street.

Nothing compares to those delicious, just right chewy-soft rolls.  Urban legend says the secret is the Philly water used in the recipe that makes them impossible to duplicate.

Nothing compares to these delicious, just right, chewy-soft rolls. Urban legend says the secret is the Philly water used in the recipe that makes them impossible to duplicate anywhere else.

Cathy is a cheese steak aficionado.  A veteran of the grill – spending much time making this classic sandwich for hordes of satisfied customers in our Powelton Pizza days.  Last month I received an email from her asking if it is possible to send all the ingredients necessary for her to have a Philly cheese steak party.  Sure …no problem if you don’t mind shipping costs in the hundreds of dollars!!  She sadly declined.  We decided since her birthday was around the corner and she truly was jonesing for this great sandwich,  Philadelphia Catering Company would help her out and ship a Philly cheese steak feast to the land of grizzly bears.

Thanks to overnight shipping and dry ice, the package arrived safely.

Thanks to overnight shipping and dry ice, the package arrived safely.

The package arrived safely (and still frozen) on her birthday.  She gathered a group of her Yosemite friends and got to work making this Philly feast. As I mentioned, Cathy is a cheese steak making veteran, and like riding a bike, a skill you never forget.

Here's the beef!

Here’s the beef!

You can take a girl out of Philly, but you can never take the Philly out of a girl. Amen.

You can take a girl out of Philly, but you can never take the Philly out of a girl. Amen.

The Philly feast was a success.  Cathy’s friends enjoyed authentic Philly cheese steaks out in the wild west of Yosemite.  It was the talk of the valley. Now I’d say for sure that’s bringing some Philly Yo! into Yosemite.

Philly rule: Never discuss the calorie count of a cheese steak, especially before everyone's about to eat.

Philly rule: Never discuss the calorie count of a cheese steak, especially right before everyone’s about to eat.

Some happy campers!

Some happy campers!

Even kitty Dolomite got a sample.

Even kitty Dolomite got a sample