Meet Anthony Lambatos | The Coach and Co-owner of Footers Catering at Social Capitol and MIBE

We had the good fortune of connecting with Anthony Lambatos and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Anthony, can you share the most important lesson you’ve learned over the course of your career?
By far the most important factor behind our success is our emphasis on creating a great place to work and taking care of our people, but a critical lesson for me was to understand one of the dynamics behind that. There is a misconception that we need to make work easy in order to make employees happy. When you think about the things in life that you are most proud of accomplishing, they aren’t things that were easy to complete. The things we are most proud of usually come with struggles, challenges, and tests along the way. They push our limits and require us to stretch beyond what we may have thought was possible. And once we get to the other side, we get to reflect on what we were able to overcome and wear it as a badge of honor as we share our triumph with the people we love and care about. At the extreme it is why people choose to run marathons, to study for years to get a PHD or to become Navy Seals. And at an everyday level, it is the challenges that stimulate our minds and bodies and keep us engaged in the work we do.

Creating a great place to work, does not mean making work easy for employees. When companies embrace the difficult aspects of what they do, they attract people who value those challenges. The mantra goes from “This is hard, and it sucks” to “This is hard, and we can do this!” People feel honored to have a place on a team that is accomplishing great things and motivated to do their part. Camaraderie amongst their team members is strengthened because of the shared experience and having faced a difficult challenge together.

What should our readers know about your business?
My wife, April, and I have owned Footers Catering for the past fourteen years, but it is a 43-year-old company. We offer full-service catering for weddings, corporate parties, social events and non-profit galas in the Denver metro area, mountain regions and beyond. While we pride ourselves on our ability to execute large and complex events, cooking on site at events and hiring and training our service team in house, what really makes us unique is our company culture. Since purchasing the business, our primary focus has been on creating a great place to work. A place where our people are utilizing their top strengths every day, where they feel like they are part of something bigger than themselves and where they get to work with people they love, trust and respect. We credit this approach to our success and we’ve been fortunate to have been named a top place to work by multiple publications. In 2021 we opened our event venue, Social Capitol, in Arvada, where we can host events for up to 800 people. Finally, we have a sister company called MIBE (acronym for Make It Better Every day), where we provide education on heart leadership and intentional culture building. We host an annual national conference, workshops throughout the year and offer a monthly training program for our clients.

Along the way we’ve learned a lot, but ultimately our philosophy is that if we lead with our hearts and take care of our team, they will take care of our clients and their guests. My father started catering with a desire to bring restaurant quality food and service to catered events. While we still do that today, our formal mission statement was created with the help of our team when we purchased the business from him in 2010. It reads:

-Love what you do
-Make it better every day
-Create exceptional experiences

The three bullet points help our team remember the mission and it is consistently reinforced so that we can truly live by it every day. We are firm believers that fun and productivity go hand in hand, that when people are loving their job, they have the ability to reach higher levels of potential. There are countless things that you will see happening around our business to emphasize this. From lunch and learns where team members share their origin story to impromptu dance parties in the kitchen and each meeting ending with “MIBE Tribe on Three.” We celebrate individuals at our annual core value awards and through our “Jimmy Buck” recognition program that pays homage to our founder, Jimmy Lambatos. We also celebrate the team through unique events during the year like our Summer Olympics, All Team Spring Training, Holiday Lip Sync Battle and our annual company vacation to Mexico.

The pandemic was probably the biggest challenge that we have had to face as business owners. We never imagined our thriving business could essentially go to zero over night when in person gatherings went away. Fortunately, we were able to retain most of our full time team members and they were willing to do whatever it took to get by. We offered delivery packages for special holidays like Mother’s Day, Easter and Father’s Day. And as outdoor events started to come back that summer, the team members we had all pitched in to execute those events. Our emphasis on taking care of our team was instrumental in our recovery.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’m a huge sports fan, so I would most likely take them to see a Broncos Game. There is something special about the energy of the orange clad fans on a sunny fall day. We would go to the VIP tailgate party (catered by Footers) outside the stadium before the game, then head in to make sure we see the parachuters land precisely on the 50-yard line during the pre-game festivities. Hopefully the Broncos get a win and after the game, I’d take them to one of my favorite downtown spots for dinner – Rioja in Larimer Square for some of Jen Jasinski’s handmade pasta, followed by a stop at Little Man Ice Cream to round out the day.

Day two we’d start with breakfast at Snooze enjoying an appetizer pineapple upside down pancake to start. I seriously love everything about that place. They serve awesome food, and it always comes with consistently awesome service. Once our bellies were full, we’d head to Red Rocks to take in the natural beauty of the most incredible concert venue in the country. Bonus if we actually get to see a show there, but just hiking around when it’s empty is pretty cool on its own. We would head back to Arvada to Social Capitol and the Footers Catering headquarters to have lunch with our team. It’s a daily tradition that our team eats lunch together and it’s special when we invite guests to join us so they can get a glimpse of what makes our team so special. We’d hop in the Cryotherapy chamber at Footers after lunch (it’s an employee benefit we added last year) for an afternoon pick me up.

Day three we would grab some breakfast burritos from Viva Burrito on our way up to Beaver Creek for some skiing. It’s my favorite place to ski because there is a wide variety of terrain that is easily accessible from single points on the mountain. It’s also not as crowded as the other resorts along I-70. After a hot tub soak (and massages) at the Park Hyatt, we’d go to Beano’s Cabin for dinner and enjoy the sleigh ride experience to get there before enjoying an incredible mountain inspired meal.

After staying the night in Beaver Creek, we’d head over to Craftsman in Edwards on day four. Their Green Chile Philly is one of my favorite sandwiches ever. On our way back down to Denver, we’d stop in Idaho Springs for a flight of beer at Tommy Knocker brewing. To end the day, we’d go have a drink at El Five on the rooftop to enjoy the view of the city and the mountains. Shoutout to their N/A cocktails – much more than juice and soda. Then we’d head to dinner at A5 Steakhouse. I love their modern spin on a traditional steakhouse. The beef tartare is amazing!

Finally on Day 5 we’d go for a bike ride. I love to ride up Lookout Mountain. It’s a tough climb but the view at the top is awesome. On the way down we’d stop at The Golden Mill in Golden to enjoy some samples of Colorado’s finest craft beers on their rooftop overlooking the river. Lunch would be at Leven Deli. Anthony Lygizos and his team make some of the best pastrami in town and their Italian Sandwich is one of my faves. For dinner, we’d have to go to my dad’s restaurant, Jimmy’s Jersey Street Café. He does a great job with the food, but even better is him holding court amongst the table sharing countless stories of his 40+ years in the hospitality industry.

Finally on their way out of town, I would drop them off early enough at the airport so they could go see Jilly Wright and her team at The Executive Shine shoe shining chairs at DIA. It’s so much more than just a shine, the team there really takes pride in what they do and loves engaging with their customers. They have a motto that they give “Soul to Sole” services by connecting with their customers and pouring love into their job.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would not be where I am today without my wife, April, and our team at Footers Catering. A lot of people say; “I can’t imagine working with my significant other”, and I say, “I can’t imagine not working with my significant other”. She compliments my skill set and has been the driving force behind our growth and trajectory at Footers. Our team is incredibly special, and I’m inspired by them every day. They have accomplished incredible things, and they deserve all the credit for our success as a company.

Website: https://footerscatering.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/footerscatering/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthonylambatos/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Footerscatering

Other: Venue: https://socialcapitolevents.com

Heart Leadership: https://themibe.com

Image Credits
Ali and Garrett Photography
All Digital Photography
Garlic Media
MiHi Entertainment
Shanna M. Photography