#54 Sudi Karatas: 5 Catering Stories that Explain Everything

In this episode, I sit down with Sudi (AKA Rick) Karatas, author of How Catering Sucked the Life Right Out of Me, a working caterer, writer, actor, and lifelong observer of human behavior around various buffets. Sudi has spent decades inside high-end events most people only see for a few hours, serving celebrities, working million-dollar parties, and watching how power, money, and entitlement actually behave when the food comes out.


Catering work, hospitality burnout, food waste in events, restaurant vs catering jobs, and creative survival jobs all collide in this episode. Most people assume catering is easier than restaurant work. More flexible. Less pressure. Fewer consequences. 


From unpaid breaks and discarded food to five-million-dollar children’s parties and celebrity rehearsals, he exposes how catering quietly amplifies everything in hospitality. The systems reward excess, normalize waste, and slowly disconnect workers from meaning, even while offering freedom on paper.


Expect to Learn

• Why catering waste is not accidental but structurally guaranteed
• The hidden reason catering feels harder than restaurants over time
• The moment walking off a shift becomes the only rational move
• How “flexibility” can quietly trap creative people for decades
• What guests do at catered events that instantly irritate

Links

• Sudi Rick Karatas official website (https://www.sudirick.com/)
• How Catering Sucked the Life Right Out of Me (https://www.amazon.com/How-Catering-S...)
• Sudi Rick Karatas on YouTube (   / @sudirick  )
• Sudi Rick Karatas on Instagram (  / sudirick  )


Service starts now.


Follow the show:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (https://open.spotify.com/show/0f7LAx6...) ,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (https://podcasts.apple.com/me/podcast...) ,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (   / @servesyouright  )


I talk mostly to people in and around the service industry space. I'm looking to hear from the people I wish I could have talked to when I was coming up in restaurants. Said another way: I am trying to make sense of this wild, beautiful mess of a life, and help others that are feeling similarly confused and/or lost. Check out the Podcast Website ⁠Here⁠ (https://servesyourightpod.com/) and get in touch with me!


Classic Episodes You May Like:

• #22:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Doug Frost MW MS⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (https://open.spotify.com/episode/1Mh5...)
• #23:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jeffrey Morgenthaler⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (https://open.spotify.com/episode/29aT...)
• #31:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ET: Entrepreneur (and creator of Surfer on Acid)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (https://open.spotify.com/episode/3Lwz...)
• #38:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Aaron Goldfarb Hunting for Ancient Booze⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (https://open.spotify.com/episode/66xL...)
• #39:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Edward Slingerland's Masterful work on Intoxication⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (https://open.spotify.com/episode/7i7c...)
• #46:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Andrew Hurley of Vegas.Wine⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (https://open.spotify.com/episode/2tO0...)

As always, I’m just here taking notes, trying to figure out what it all means.


Cheers