Millhouse Catering01

Waupaca County Post

June 1, 2006

Millhouse Catering Opens in Waupaca

By Angie Landsverk, Post Staff Writer

Millhouse Catering has opened in Waupaca and includes several familiar local names.

Partners in the business include Gary Pryor, Dave Simonton, Jerry Graf, Jim Whelan, Terry Martin and Joe Udoni. It also includes Pryor’s marketing partner from Arizona, Mark Stevens and Harlan Berman.

Pryor explained how the partnership came to be and about their plans for the former Foxfire on the Green banquet facility.

“In July of last year, I had the opportunity to buy Chef Fresh – a local company,” he said.

In the process of purchasing that business, Pryor and Graf, who is the president of Chef Fresh, spent the previous summer in the area and attended both the auctions for Foxfire Golf Course and the banquet facility.

Having developed several businesses, including Zinc Bistro and Michael’s – which is now the largest caterer in Arizona – Pryor was interested in the banquet facility at Foxfire.

On March 30, he closed on the banquet facility.

“I brought in Joel Arnold, who has been in the catering business, to manage and run this facility, and Mary Burke to be the director of sales,” he said.

Also during that time, Pryor talked to Don Schmidt, who owns the Red Mill, about purchasing his business. Schmidt did not want to sell.

Pryor said they wanted a new name for this business and also wanted to capture some of the wedding business that occurs annually on the Red Mill property.

Thus, the name “Millhouse” was born, building on the tradition of mills and covered bridges.

In addition, Pryor also got to know Simonton of 9 Pines Catering & Deli.

The idea was there could be two catering businesses in Waupaca competing, or the two could join forces.

“If you can’t beat them, join them,” Pryor said.

They decided to join forces, formalizing it on May 15.

Pryor says that the original Foxfire had run its course.

Simonton has a reputation in the community, and with the new name of “Millhouse” and connections to Simonton, Pryor believes the new business will have more stability and credibility.

Millhouse Catering does banquets at its banquet facility and also caters booked events.

A new program that will be based out of Simonton’s kitchen in King is the “Why Cook?” program. Packages will be available for such things as family reunions, outdoor picnics or graduation parties.

Pryor said the packages will be ready for delivery or pick-up.

“We’re going to start pushing that hard,” Simonton said of the “Why Cook?” program.

Through Millhouse, various events tied to a wedding can all be catered by the same company. For example, the company can cater the rehearsal dinner, wedding and brunch, he said.

“With Dave’s kitchen and having delivery vehicles, we can deliver outside the Waupaca area,” Pryor said.

They can do in-house catering for businesses holding special events within a 100-mile radius of Waupaca. “We have all the equipment,” he said. “We can load up and serve or just deliver.”

In joining forces with Simonton, they have also retained and integrated Simonton’s staff.

Dan Mueller will be one of the banquet directors, Dean Hager will be the executive chef and Nicki Florence will be the associate banquet director.

Changes have also been happening in the banquet facility itself. The bar area was opened up to make it brighter, and the original restaurant was gutted.

Pryor said they added a stage in the former restaurant area that could be used for business and school functions.

One hundred people can be seated in that banquet room, whole 350 can be seated in the other banquet room.

Pryor said that for weddings, both banquet rooms could be used. The smaller banquet room could be set up for children ages 14 and under, with a different menu from the menu that the adults in the larger banquet room would be served. Families could even have separate types of entertainment.

Millhouse Catering is also working with Silver Mist Garden Center, which is doing the landscaping around the outdoor seating area.

“We’re also going to put a grill out there,” Pryor said. “We’re going to promote a package with the golf course – a single price for the food and all the beer you can drink.”