82-Lancaitar Farming, Saturday, March 26, 1994
LOU ANN GOOD
Lancaster Fanning Staff
LITITZ (LANCASTER Co,) —
From the outside, one would never
guess that inside the two-story
frame house at 112 Fairland Road
in Lititz, dinner for 500 people is
being prepared.
It’s home for Dean and Carole
Ziegler and their three children.
It’s also the location for Country
Home Catering, where food for 50
to 500 is prepared before transport
ing to all comers of Lancaster and
York counties and even some spots
beyond.
The Zieglers’ catering business
evolved about eight years ago.
That was when the Zieglers
learned to roasta pig in a 55-gallon
drum. Another caterer was too
busy to meet the demand for pig
roasts and asked the Zieglers to
roast several fra picnics.
They did. They learned the
idiosyncrasies of roasting a 170- to
300-pound porker fra about 20
hours, transporting it by truck, and
carving it at the picnic site. They
learned that the grease from a pig is
highly flamable and can easily
burst into flames when being trans
ferred to the table. After one dis
asterous attempt to douse the
flames with water, the Zieglers
learned to be prepared to beat out
the flames.
“We tried roasting pigs with and
without the skin and learned that
roasting it with the skin on keeps it
more moist and better tasting,”
Carole said.
After the Zieglers perfected
their pig roasting technique, they
began offering other picnic-type
foods. Word-of-mouth soon estab
lished the Zieglers’ reputation as
“offering good home cooking.” It
wasn’t long before the Zieglers
decided to go “whole hog” in the
catering business.
Now the family-run business
offers buffet and sit-down catering
in addition to the outdoor dinners.
The Zieglers turned their two
story garage into a commercial
kitchen and added an addition to
house the restaurant-style
appliances.
It was a hefty decision for the
Zeiglers, who first needed to pay
$l,OOO for a water test to “check
every possible mineral” in order to
pass government inspection, Car
ole said.
The original quote of $25,000
for the refrigerator, stove, sinks,
and equipment was greatly
reduced by the Zieglers who
attended restaurant auctions to
pick up used equipment.
Dean, Carole, and Heather Ziegler stand in front of thi
for their business, Country Home Catering.
Zieglers Go Whole H
The business name. Country
Home Catering, was selected
because it exemplified that the
food is homemade.
“My wife has always been a
great cook,” Dean said.
She also received some tidbits
of advice on cooking for a crowd
from her grandmother, who was
head cook for Brethren Village, a
retirement community. Carole’s
mother and three sisters have often
helped out with waitressing and
some food preparation. An Amish
neighbor makes yeast rolls and
pies for the meals.
In addition to pig roasdngs, the
Zieglers also'serve roast beef that
has been marinated in spices and
roasted in a barrel. Some other
:ntrees include barbecued chick
in, delmonica steak, ham loaf,
meat loaf, turkey with filling,
boneless stuffed breast of chicken,
breaded baked chicken, baked ham
with pineapple glaze, baked
stuffed flounder, chicken cordon
bleu, baked stuffed pork chops,
and pork and sauerkraut.
Carole estimates that the most
popular choices are roast pork or
marinated chicken breast with
baked com.
While some people are inclined
to believe that catering for small
groups is easier, Carole disagrees.
She doesn’t think it takes that
much more time to prepare the
food. She said, “I prefer large
groups, which are mainly drop-in
to serving the group is spread out
over a period of hours instead of
serving 100 people an hour.”
A stove is installed in a cube van
used for catering purposes. Having
the stove on the truck usually
works really well except on rainy
days, when running back and forth
between the truck and pavilion can
be a drenching experience.
Summer months are the busiest
for catering. Often, the Zeiglers
have two and three catering din
ners on a Saturday. Dean works
full time for White Oak Mills haul
ing pigs. It is not unusual for his
schedule to prevent him from
returning home in time to assist
Carole. Nonplussed, Carole is
known to roast a pig herself in
addition to doing additional food
preparations.
“You learn to make do,” said
Carole, who presents a calm stead
iness to the many demands of run
ning the business. “In this busi
ness, you’ve got to be prepared for
anything to happen.”
Although Carole and Dean
almost always do total food prepa
ration themselves, they hire wait-
*•
V«,-> '•
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r
Country Home Catering owner Carole Ziegler and her daughter Heather serve a
small buffet-style luncheon. Carole and her husband Dean prepare food for up to 500
persons.
resses to help serve the food. Their
own children, Brandon, 11; Corby,
9; and Heather, 5, even get their
fingers in preparation.
Heather said that she likes to
help her mother peel cooked pota
toes and eggs. Her brothers help
with wrapping and serving bar
becued chicken.
When the family returns from a
catering appointment, it is not
unusual for neighboring children
to come over to help eat up the lef
tovers and help with cleaning up.
Brandon and Corby have an
ulterior incentive for helping with
the catering business. Their dad
promises that they may buy more
sheep for their 4-H projects. Last
season. Brandon took the champ
ionship market lamb placing at the
Manheim Community Farm
Show.
The sons’ love for sheep was
instilled in them by their father,
who learned to shear sheep when
he was an FFA student at Manheim
ick used to transport food
In Caterin
Installed to prepare for the catering business.
Central High School. For three
summers after graduation, Dean
quit his full-time job for three
months to travel around the state to
shear sheep.
The boys raise the sheep on a
neighboring farm, where they built
a ramp and hurdles to exercise the
sheep.
It is not unusual for Carole to
help out with the sheep. In the first
week of training, the sheep are
often stubborn and Carole loads
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them on a wagon when they refuse
to cooperate.
“I’m not animal person,” Carole
said.
But put her in the kitchen, and
life takes on a whole new perspec
tive one that the whole family
shares. They sometimes daydream
of building a banquet hall or open
ing a restaurant so that more peo
ple can enjoy the good taste of
Country Home Catering.
For more information, call the
Zieglers at (717) 664-4254,
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