KANGIQLINIQ/RANKIN INLET
Attendees of the Kivalliq Trade Show may have been on the lookout for free items from exhibitors but A&K Catering was busy prepping hundreds of snacks and meals behind the scenes.

The small company, co-owned by Kelly Lindell and her husband Amauyaq Lindell, catered many of the snacks, drinks and banquet meals for the three-day event.

Kelly spoke to News/North the day after the trade show finished on Oct. 1 and said that catering the event involves weeks, if not months, of menu and supply planning.

"It's fun because we get to bring in some things we wouldn't do on a regular basis or do some specialty things we don't do every day," she said. "It's exciting for us to do it."

The company provided snacks for the youth delegates who attended the meet and greet event on Sept. 28, beverages and snacks for the trade show at the community hall and the 180 meals for the banquet on Sept. 30.

"Everything went off pretty smoothly and I believe everyone had a great night and a great meal," she said. "I'm hoping everyone went home full."

Kelly said she estimated this is the third year her company has catered the Kivalliq Trade Show.

"We used to just do the snacks at first," she said. "This year I think was a huge success."

This year the menu consisted of prime rib, roasted turkey breast, lobster macaroni and cheese, as well as salads, homemade pies and chocolate truffles.

"We worked really hard this year to make sure it was a special event food-wise," Kelly said.

When it came to staffing, Kelly relied on 10 high school students as servers for the banquet and four to five people in the kitchen.

Outside of events like the trade show, Kelly employs approximately 10 to 15 students during the winter months when the company is open in the arena.

"It's just a great opportunity for these girls to get more hours, get some more experience," she said.

Kelly said the success of catering events like the trade show also serves as great advertising for the company for future events, both public and private.

"We get a lot of contacts through something like this," she said. "I always say my advertising is through my food.

"Our food speaks for itself, so it's a great opportunity for us to have that type of exposure."

Kelly even had to hire additional staff and in some cases, turn down requests for catering because her team was too busy.

"We take on the jobs we can and we try to do a good job with what we do take on and we just keep going on from there," she said.

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