Centre County’s Gourmet Girl Takes Business to ‘Next Level’ with Private Picnic Offerings

In 2020, personal chef Amanda Cruz expanded her business, The Gourmet Girl, to include not only her personal chef services, but also a new line of products: grazing boxes that feature gourmet cheeses, charcuterie, crudités and other items, for upscale snacking. 

Now, after a year of the grazing boxes gaining popularity, Cruz is expanding her business again, offering posh, private picnics around Centre County. 

“It was kind of the next level for us,” Cruz explains. “There’s the grazing experience we already do. We could create this beautiful setting, too, where people show up and have this boutique-style event, where they have an upscale picnic experience in a unique location.… Last summer, I saw a similar company in Florida that started doing this, but I felt like we were still, in that first year, figuring out our groove and learning what our customers wanted and strengthening our partnerships with local businesses… And I felt like we couldn’t just add that on…” 

So, over the winter season, Cruz discussed the idea with some of her local partners, who previously acted as pick-up locations for grazing box orders, and began brainstorming. Once the rush of gift-giving with this year’s Mother’s Day and graduation weekends ended, she went live with her new private picnics offering. 

To book a private picnic, customers visit the Gourmet Girl website and submit a request for a particular date and number of guests. Within 24 hours, Cruz gets back to the customer to discuss their ideas and interests for the experience. Do they want a vineyard view? A waterside locale? Mountain sunset views? Whatever their vision, she selects a venue based on what the customer wants; she can even do picnics at private homes.

“We take care of the decor, the dishes, the food, the florals, the beverages…” Cruz says. “We have the essentials, like sunscreen, bug spray and hand sanitizer. We have games, like a jumbo set of Jenga blocks and Connect 4. The sweets come from one of our local bakery partners, like Crust & Crumb Cafe, The Cakeshop, The Cakery or Dolce Vita, depending on what the customer’s interested in. Then we set [it] up for them. They get a two- to three-hour experience. We take care of the set up and clean up. They just show up and enjoy it.” 

Picnic pricing begins at $250 for a picnic for two people. The adult-oriented experiences are, Cruz notes, ideal for events such as showers or special occasion celebrations, or even a fun date night or ladies’ brunch. For those wanting to book a picnic on a specific date, she recommends customers book as early as possible.

Cruz credits her business’s growth over the last year to her local partnerships, saying they’re one of the best perks of her job. 

“I consider the best part of what I do getting to network with and collaborate with other businesses,” she says. “I think that was the secret to surviving the last year and thriving and continuing to grow — other businesses supported me through teaming up or offering to team up.” 

Looking to The Gourmet Girl’s future, Cruz is adjusting to changing event needs, as well as larger events. 

“With things reopening now, there’s been a lot of booking of grazing tables, larger platters being ordered for gatherings and, we’ve come through a full year now, so we’re starting to do Father’s Day again, Memorial Day and July 4th again, so we’re repeating and building on things we did in the past… Weddings are definitely happening,” she says. 

“People are booking grazing tables with big displays, where guests will use serving utensils to serve themselves, rather than having everything individually boxed or pre-packaged… We’re getting ready for the fall and football being back and thinking in terms of tailgating orders. This year will definitely be very different from last year, but just as exciting.”

Learn more about The Gourmet Girl at www.gourmetgirlpersonalchef.com.