David Alan Hospitality Group is eyeing a major hiring effort after significantly expanding its presence at a new home on the Berlin Turnpike.
The Berlin-based food-service management company, which provides catering, bartending and event planning services throughout the state, is planning to hire some 80 full-time employees and other part-time staff over the next decade. That will add to its current staff of 22 full- and 150 part-time workers, according to founder David Alan.
The hiring follows the company’s move last year to a much larger, 10,000-square-foot space in an industrial building at 2500 Berlin Turnpike near the municipal border with Meriden, Alan said Tuesday. The site is just 2 miles from its previous 2,000-square-foot home at 1897 Berlin Turnpike.
The industrial building is owned by Dominick DeMartino, CEO and president of DeMartino Fixtures Supermarket & Restaurant Equipment. DeMartino consolidated his business at the 50,000-square-foot industrial site and ceded space to Alan.
Alan said he spent $200,000 to build out the location with 6,000 square feet of warehouse space and the remaining 4,000 square feet split between office and commercial use.
The hope is that the larger space will increase its capacity to serve up to 1,000 weddings a year. That would mark a major increase for the business currently catering 120 to 150 weddings annually.
“The goal is to get to 100 employees in 10 years,” Alan said. “I think that’s what will be needed to make that vision a reality.”
Founded in Watertown in 2008, David Alan Hospitality began as a smaller outfit operating four corporate cafeterias. It has since grown into a multi-tiered catering operation serving venues including downtown Hartford’s Infinity Music Hall, the Wadsworth Mansion in Middletown and the Branford House in Groton.
The company is opening its doors Thursday evening to event planners, customers and other industry stakeholders to learn more about its newly expanded offerings.
