We were lucky to catch up with Henri Lorenzi recently and have shared our conversation below.

Henri, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Often outsiders look at a successful business and think it became a success overnight. Even media and especially movies love to gloss over nitty, gritty details that went into that middle phase of your business – after you started but before you got to where you are today. In our experience, overnight success is usually the result of years of hard work laying the foundation for success, but unfortunately, it’s exactly this part of the story that most of the media ignores. Can you talk to us about your scaling up story – what are some of the nitty, gritty details folks should know about?

So much has changed in the last seven years in hospitality in America. A government mandated lock downs, supply chain issues, staffing shortages. All of it has played its role in changing how we operate as a catering company, but the foundation the business has been built upon has stayed the same. We have tried to grow organically. Our marketing budget is less than $1,000 per year, but we have done a great job executing the events that we have booked, and telling our story on social media. You can’t beat word of mouth in terms of effectiveness. The other side of that is trying to give the employees a work place to be proud of. We have invested a lot of resources into developing staff, and improving work place conditions, and in return, we have a lot less turnover than our competition. Having a staff with experience is key when doing off site catering, otherwise you are focusing on the basics instead of focusing on improving.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Celebration on Wells is a catering company based out of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Lake Geneva sits on the shores of a beautiful lake, north of Chicago, Il, and south of Milwaukee, WI. We offer a variety of services, including venue management, off site bartending, event planning, and catering. No two days are ever the same!

Some may say hospitality is in my blood. I am the fourth generation in my family to work in hospitality, dating back to my great grandfather working summers in Nice and winters in the Alps. I’m named after my grandfather, who was quite the legend in our industry. He worked in hotels, restaurants, and casinos all over the world. Him and my father are both a huge inspiration to me. I’ve been working in hospitality ever since I’ve been old enough to carry a crate or fold a napkin. I graduated from the University of Wisconsin LaCrosse with a business management degree in 2014. Shortly after that, I moved to Southern California to work for the formerly known St. Regis Monarch Beach, after that I spent time at the St. Regis Deer Valley in Park City, Utah. After four years of being away, I made the decision to move back home to Wisconsin to take over the family business. I have no regrets leaving the corporate world.

I am proud of the way we conduct business. From taking an idea and turning it into a reality, we are there every step of the way. We take a lot of pride in responding to our customers in a timely manner, and offering a product that our guests enjoy and talk about for years.

Do you have any good marketing stories?

One of the first chances I had to book a large wedding really helped shape my approach. I was new to the process of selling weddings, but I was eager and had a lot of ideas. I had a family come in to meet with me. A husband, wife, and their daughter. The husband was a large man who some may have been intimidated by. We sat down to discuss details of their wedding, and the father turned out to be the one most excited for the wedding. He had a book with handwritten notes of all of the vendors he had spoken to in regards to the wedding. I pitched him some of the ideas I had, and he loved everything I had to say. He wrote me a check to book the date before they left. It made me feel amazing knowing someone out there agreed with me. He made me promise I would take care of his daughter for her wedding day, which of course I agreed to. This small transaction gave me much needed confidence. A couple of months went by and the mother of the bride reached out to me. Her husband had suddenly passed away. The family was heartbroken, but decided to continue with the wedding, as that would have been the father’s intentions. The day came and I tried my best to make every detail perfect. I hope I made her father proud. I wish I could have the chance to thank him for his kindness and believing in me before I believed in myself.

Have you ever had to pivot?

March 2020, we were scheduled to have a very busy year. Next thing we know, there are government mandated lock downs. The uncertainty was a lot to deal with mentally. We were forced to cut our full time staff in half. The only calls we received for over a month were in regards to cancelling or postponing events. We put all of our resources into doing deliveries. Something we were very unfamiliar with. It wasn’t extremely lucrative, but it helped us keep the doors open until small events started happening.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.celebrationonwells.com
• Instagram: @Celebrationonwells
• Facebook: Celebration on Wells
• Yelp: Celebration on Wells