Trends and Great Ideas: The Conveyer Belt

You may have had sushi delivered to you via a conveyer belt in a Japanese restaurant and thought that could be a cool idea for catering, but Eric Michael is pretty sure that the only catering company in the United States doing it is his company, Occasions Caterers in Washington, DC.

There's a reason for that: This kind of conveyer belt is only made in Asia and is not normally made for the demands of off-premise catering. Occasions special-ordered two conveyer belts from a company in Korea, at a cost of roughly $10,000 each. "We had them built to withstand movement, with additional structural pieces on the legs and made of sturdier stainless steel so they can bounce around on a truck," Michael says. They also were built to fit in the company's largest truck, which is 20 feet long.

"If we could have rented it we would have rented it, " Michael says. "We made a very big investment in this, but it has been a wonderful investment." People are so enamored of it." He plans to have a third conveyer built and possibly a fourth.

At least one of the conveyer belts is in use each week for an event. Michael says they are especially popular at large corporate events - and also get the kind of attention that has brought additional business to the company.

Although about half the time, Occasions is using the conveyer belt to serve sushi, Michael has done hors d'oeuvre, cocktails (small, frozen shots) and desserts on it as well. He's even served a seven-course dinner for 20 people who were seated around tables surrounding the conveyer belt.