Great Perfomances

What Great Perfomances does

Great Performances is a privately held, New York City-based catering and hospitality company founded in 1980 by Liz Neumark, headquartered at 2417 3rd Avenue in the Bronx. The company operates two primary service lines: Catering & Events, which provides full-service catering and event production for corporate events, nonprofit galas, weddings, social celebrations, and festivals; and Hospitality Management, which designs and operates cafés, restaurants, workplace dining programs, real estate amenities, and white-label hospitality services for cultural and commercial partners. Great Performances serves as the exclusive or preferred caterer for marquee NYC venues including The Plaza Hotel, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Apollo Theater, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and serves selective national events such as the NYC Wine & Food Festival (where it is in its tenth year as official caterer), the Miami Boat Show, and the South Beach Wine & Food Festival.

The company's most distinctive physical asset is Katchkie Farm, a wholly-owned 60-acre certified organic farm in Kinderhook, NY (Hudson Valley), which supplies up to 30% of produce used in the kitchens during the May–October growing season and also functions as a 1,000-guest-capacity event venue. Supporting infrastructure includes a South Bronx culinary campus that consolidates kitchens, logistics, and service teams, plus a 2-acre learning garden at Katchkie Farm that hosts The Sylvia Center, a nonprofit food education organization founded by the company's founder.

The business model is professional services and managed services, with revenue generated from custom event contracts (priced per event based on venue, guest count, menu, and staffing) and from ongoing hospitality management contracts with cultural institutions and commercial partners. GTM is consultative and direct: dedicated event specialists guide clients from concept through execution, with exclusive venue partnerships serving as a primary acquisition channel and word-of-mouth within the NYC cultural and corporate community reinforcing demand. Distribution is regional — primarily NYC, the five boroughs, and greater New York — with selective national event work. The company employs 251–500 people and operates without disclosed external funding, M&A, or public market presence.

Name

Great Perfomances

Legal name

Great Performances

Website

https://greatperformances.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1980

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

Great Performances is a privately held NYC catering and hospitality company founded in 1980 that provides full-service catering, event production, and managed hospitality services for corporate clients, cultural institutions, and private celebrations, leveraging exclusive venue partnerships and its own 60-acre organic Katchkie Farm.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Event Catering Services

NAICS

Caterers (722320), Special Food Services (7223), Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation (71)

SIC

Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810), Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Venue & Banquet Hall Catering (THAFAIAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Wedding & Social Event Catering (THAHAKAE), Gala, Fundraiser & Nonprofit Event Catering (THAHAKAF), Fine Dining Restaurants (THAFACAA), Food Festivals & Culinary Events (Ticketed Tastings, Pop-ups) (THAJAGAL)

Keywords

• Event catering services
• Hospitality management
• Corporate event catering
• Wedding catering services
• Food service operations

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Catering & Events: Full-service event catering for corporate events, cultural galas, weddings, and private celebrations. Services include event planning, curated catering, beverage service, event staffing, venue selection, design, and special event production. Revenue is project-based, varying by event scope, guest count, menu selection, and service requirements.
2. Hospitality Management: Operates cafes, restaurants, and visitor-facing dining experiences within cultural institutions and public spaces. Manages cultural institutions, workplace dining programs, real estate amenities, and provides white-label hospitality services to partners.
3. Venue Operations: As exclusive caterer for Katchkie Farm venue, revenue is generated from private events, nonprofit events, social gatherings, and weddings hosted at the farm location.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Great Performances is a New York City-based hospitality company providing full-service catering and event production for corporate events, cultural galas, weddings, and private celebrations, as well as operating hospitality management programs (cafés, restaurants, workplace dining, and cultural-institution dining). The company owns and operates Katchkie Farm, a 60-acre organic farm in the Hudson Valley, which supplies up to 30% of seasonal produce to its kitchens and doubles as an event venue.

Product overview

Great Performances is a New York City-based hospitality company offering catering and event services, hospitality management, and culinary experiences. The company's core offerings include Catering & Events (corporate events, nonprofit galas, weddings, social gatherings, and festivals) and Hospitality Management (operated cafés, restaurants, workplace dining, and cultural institution services). The company owns Katchkie Farm, a 60-acre organic farm in the Hudson Valley that supplies produce to its kitchens and serves as an event venue. Community initiatives include the GP Fellowship Awards program (up to $20,000 annually for service team members), the GP Artists program, and support for The Sylvia Center nonprofit food education organization. The company also produces culinary content through its Chefs' Choir recipe series and monthly Food Festival program. Great Performances serves as exclusive caterer for venues including The Plaza Hotel, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Apollo Theater, and other major cultural institutions.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• GP Fellowship Awards: Annual fellowship program awarding up to $20,000 to members of the GP service team pursuing creative, educational, or career-development goals in visual arts, performance, writing, design, and education.
• GP Artists
• Chefs' Choir (SM)

Products and services

• Catering & Events Full-service catering and event planning for corporate events, nonprofit galas, weddings, social gatherings, and festivals across New York City. Includes menu curation, event design, staffing, beverage service, and event production.
• Hospitality Management Design, staffing, and operation of culinary experiences including cafés, restaurants, workplace dining programs, and cultural-institution hospitality services, with white-label options for partner organizations.
• Katchkie Farm Venue & Events Private and nonprofit events, weddings, and social gatherings hosted at Katchkie Farm in Kinderhook, NY (Hudson Valley), with on-site greenhouses, a barn, an outdoor pavilion with pizza oven, and a 2-acre learning garden.

Named customers7 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• The Sylvia CentercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Sylvia Center is a nonprofit dedicated to creating healthy communities through cooking, founded by Great Performances founder Liz Neumark. Based at Katchkie Farm, the organization teaches children and families about food choices through hands-on cooking classes, nutrition education, and school-based programs. Great Performances supports the organization and hosts programs at the farm. The Sylvia Center operates independently as a nonprofit, extending the impact of the farm beyond commercial operations.
• South End Children's CafeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with the South End Children's Cafe in Albany, NY, where The Sylvia Center's chef educators lead Friday cooking sessions for children in their after-school program. Great Performances supports the initiative as part of their community food education mission.
• Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer CenterminorGTM or Marketing PartnerGreat Performances has catered the annual Comedy vs Cancer benefit event for multiple years. The 2026 event at Jazz at Lincoln Center raised more than $2.5 million for blood cancer research, with the event having raised more than $9 million since 2019.
• Find Your Light FoundationminorGTM or Marketing PartnerGreat Performances has partnered with the Find Your Light Foundation for their annual gala at Jazz at Lincoln Center for two years. The foundation's work champions creativity as a pathway to confidence, opportunity, and joy.
• World Science FestivalminorGTM or Marketing PartnerGreat Performances supports the annual World Science Festival Gala at Jazz at Lincoln Center, blending scientific inspiration with thoughtful design and innovative menu concepts.
• Katchkie FarmcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerKatchkie Farm is owned and operated exclusively by Great Performances. The 60-acre organic farm in Kinderhook, NY provides produce for the catering operations, hosts The Sylvia Center's learning garden, and serves as an event venue. From May through October, up to 30% of produce comes from the farm.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves1 record

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Abigail Kirsch: Long-established NYC exclusive venue caterer (e.g., The New York Botanical Garden, Brooklyn Botanic Garden) operating the same premier-event, venue-anchored model as Great Performances. Directly comparable on customer base (corporate galas, nonprofit, weddings) and exclusive-venue strategy.
• Union Square Events: Catering and hospitality arm of Union Square Hospitality Group (Danny Meyer), focused on NYC cultural and corporate events. Comparable business model, target client mix (corporate, cultural, private events), and venue-driven positioning.
• Olivier Cheng Catering: NYC-based premium catering and event production company serving cultural institutions, corporate clients, and weddings. Directly comparable on segment (corporate galas, nonprofit, weddings) and premium-service positioning.
• Thomas Preti Events: NYC luxury event catering and production company serving high-end corporate, nonprofit, and private events. Comparable on premium-event positioning, clientele, and full-service event production scope.

Broad incumbents

• Restaurant Associates (Compass Group): Hospitality management division of Compass Group operating restaurants, cafes, and catering within cultural institutions, corporate, and museum clients (e.g., The Met, Hearst). Direct overlap with Great Performances' hospitality-management business, though at much larger scale and across many venues.
• Patina Restaurant Group / Patina Catering: Catering and hospitality operator serving cultural institutions, sports venues, and premium events (e.g., Lincoln Center-adjacent properties). Comparable on cultural-institution catering and venue hospitality; operates at broader scale and geography.
• Aramark: Large-scale food services and hospitality provider with cultural-institution, sports, and corporate-event catering. Overlaps with Great Performances on venue hospitality and event catering but at vastly broader scale and lower premium focus.
• Sodexo Live!: Event and venue hospitality division of Sodexo, operating premium catering at cultural and entertainment venues. Comparable on venue-anchored catering model; competes at the institutional scale Great Performances addresses via hospitality management.
• Daniel Boulud / Dinex Group Events: Celebrity-chef hospitality group with fine-dining restaurants and event/catering operations in NYC. Comparable premium brand and high-end private event offerings, though catering is a smaller part of the broader fine-dining portfolio.

Emerging players

• ezCater: Corporate catering marketplace connecting businesses to local caterers. Not a direct competitor on luxury galas, but overlaps on the corporate-events segment and signals the digital/marketplace direction of the broader catering industry that Great Performances has not entered.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/gpfood
• Facebookfacebook.com/gpfood

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Great Perfomances