Pinch Food Design is a newly launched catering company co-owned by a chef, Bob Spiegel, and a designer, TJ Girard. Befitting its parentage, the company is a bit of a culinary-design hybrid, with Bob overseeing its array of bite-size “mini-foods” and TJ coming up with innovative ways to display and serve everything. I dropped by their first event last week, a party for a business client in Grand Central’s Vanderbilt Hall. The first thing I saw was this hedge of hors d’oeuvre standing straight up like an edible picket fence. Photo: Wendy Goodman
With a spray bottle and a squeegee, TJ demonstrates just how simple it is to clean the silicone table cover. Photo: Wendy Goodman
TJ took me around to the back area, where her team was preparing mini-foods. I loved these trays outfitted with repurposed drawer pulls that would act as little food pedestals. So clever! Photo: Wendy Goodman
Another unusual serving tray by TJ. You can understand why they call their catering tools “food furniture.” Photo: Wendy Goodman
The Honey Comb Tray is made of white acrylic and fitted with a removable honeycomb-cutout lining that helps food stay in place. Photo: Kerri Brewer
The Pinch logo on Bob’s jacket Photo: Wendy Goodman
This architectural Walnut Matrix tray could be an object on your table when it’s not being passed around at a party. Photo: Wendy Goodman
These stands are devised for easy access to hors d’oeuvres on the floor. Photo: Wendy Goodman
I thought this was pretty ingenious: hanging savory breads off copper hooks. The system was inspired, TJ says, by her mother’s hanging copper pots at home. Photo: Wendy Goodman
A woven rubber basket (one of the rare Pinch pieces TJ did not design) can be used for displaying greens or just about anything else. Photo: Wendy Goodman
TJ thought this copper bird feeder would be a good napkin holder. I am sold. Photo: Wendy Goodman
Solving the classic cocktail-party conundrum, they designed this glass-plate combo so that the former easily fits atop the latter. Photo: Kerri Brewer
The wood and ceramic Spoke Tray is ideal for serving mini-doughnuts. Photo: Kerri Brewer
