Main & Market | 914 Bay Ridge Road, Annapolis | 410-626-0388 | mainandmarket.com
Main & Market has elevated catering to a science. The Annapolis restaurant has been handling events for two decades, so they’ve seen and done it all. Main & Market puts on weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs, corporate functions, lunch programs for private schools, along with birthday and holiday parties.
They consider house parties a particular specialty.
“We are the workhorse of the business,” Main & Market Vice President Evie Turner says of the company’s catering. “The nice thing about private home events is a lot of our staff has been with us for a long time. Clients know us and trust us to come in and take over. We set up everything to make it look nice so they (customers) look good, too.”
Of course, there is more to Main & Market, formerly known as the Main Ingredient, than catering. The bakery also sets them apart and features wedding cakes and customer-favorite deserts like chocolate decadence, almond pound cake with pastry crème and strawberries, and carrot cake pie.
“It’s unique,” Turner says. “There’s not many (restaurants) with a bakery.”
The café and the outstanding food served from breakfast to dinner can’t be overlooked.
We recently talked to the 47-year-old Turner, a member of the International Catering Association, about the restaurant’s top sellers, full-service catering, and the history and rebranding of the establishment.
How do you keep your catering customers coming back?
Half of it is personal relationships with the clients. You know what their expectations are, the venue, and the environment. That’s all-important because the less work they have to do, the better. They know what we are going to provide, and we meet their expectations in that way. We have a lot of repeat customers, so that should stay with them.
You have loyal staff. Tell me about that.
We have five employees that have been with us for at least 20 years. I have been doing it for 22 years. Our executive chef [Brett Cureton] has been here about the same amount. We a lot of staff that have been with us for 10 years plus. I think it pleases the customers because they like to see familiar faces.
Does having a good work culture lead to a better product?
I think so because everyone cares and knows what the product looks like and knows what to expect. We are always here. If we are not at an event, we see how something goes out the door and how it’s supposed to be prepared and presented. That’s important because our client of four years ago wants the same product today. It can’t be different.
How would you describe the menu?
It’s creative American cuisine, but its gourmet comfort food. I think almost everything has a little bit of comfort added to it—even the salads.
What sets the restaurant apart from others?
It’s a very welcoming and inviting place. The service people are really friendly and know our clients. If they don’t know you, they certainly make you feel welcome. And the consistency of the food. When you order something, it’s going to be the same every time.
What did the restaurant start out as and how did you expand?
It started out as Gourmet to Go in 1993. There weren’t many seats. I think we were ahead of the times. I don’t think people were ready for that yet. We always had a bakery. We offered salads by the pound. You could get dinner to go. Everything was cold. You would take it home to reheat. There wasn’t much in Bay Ridge at the time, so the demand for a restaurant was high. People would always come and in and say, “You should have a restaurant.” That happened in 1996. That made much more sense.
What is the top selling food item?
The café salad. It has sliced pears, gorgonzola cheese, and maple champagne vinaigrette dressing. We put a grilled slice of chicken on top. It’s pretty refreshing. The combination of the maple champagne dressing and the pepper-corned chicken is delicious together.
What else are the customer favorites?
People love our Masterpiece. It’s turkey and cheddar sandwich that is covered with egg batter and panko bread crumbs. We put pepper jelly on top of it. It’s a comforting and very satisfying sandwich. We just added it to our breakfast menu with an egg on top.
Why did the restaurant change its name? How has it worked out?
We didn’t trademark Main Ingredient. There was a Philadelphia company that trademarked Main Ingredient. They approached us and we tried to make things work. We were ready for a different look on our logo. We did a marketing search. A lot of people think Main Ingredient is a caterer or a cafe. This way, with Main & Market we are the same, but we are different. We weren’t concerned about changing the name, because people that know us realize we are still here. The product is still good. We decided to take that leap of faith. It’s been two years and it has worked out great.
