It started as a calling card—a perq with your perm.

“When the recession hit, we needed something to retain and attract customers without excess budget,” says Executive Chef Alexa Lemley. “We decided to make homemade marshmallows and give them away at hair salons, along with a catering menu. We figured if you could still afford to get your hair done, then you still had money for parties.”

That was the seed of a business transformation for Lemley’s Catering in Columbus, Indiana, a family-owned company since 1968.

The artisan marshmallows were a hit, and the hits kept coming. “We got a booth at a farmer’s market,” Lemley continues. “Then we were written up in an article and became part of the statewide program called Indiana Artisan. It just blew up from there.”

Lemley and partner Samantha Aulick launched 240Sweet, a retail marshmallow operation offering more than 100 varieties of puffy treats from Avocado Lime to Saffron Pistachio.

“It carried us through, giving us the income to keep going on the catering side,” explains Lemley. And as the retail business grew, the duo designed catering stations to take advantage of the mallow craze. Their s’more station lets guests toast and assemble their own dessert creations with a variety of flavored marshmallows and gourmet toppings, while the S’more on a Stick station features a chef serving up toasted treats on sticks.

Each mallow is toasted on a little butane stove, then extinguished in the toppings. These are big, soft, one-and-a-half-inch square blocks with chef attention to flavor.

Lemley says corporate groups go for the do-it-yourself option. “They’re drinking and having a good time. There’s fire,” she says. “We give them these big churrasco swords to use with our oversize puffs—they love that. The engineers get all engineer-y on their toasting technique. I heard one say, ‘Oh, no, I’ve had an accidental incendiary event.’”

Cassie Kellogg, project manager for Cummins, Inc., booked a s’more station for a country cookout-themed event. “Everybody loved it,” says Kellogg. Chocolate marshmallows were her favorite, and she’s already booked a S’more on a Stick station for her next event.

Wedding-goers prefer their s’mores served on sticks as well. “They’re dressed up, but it takes adults back to a place of kid-ness,” says Lemley. “There’s always someone who says ’I don’t like marshmallows.’ I tell them, ‘Well, you have to try one, since I have the pointy stick.’ And they always say ‘Wow, I don’t like marshmallows, but this is great.’”

Lemley’s also supplies the s’mores to two area Courtyard by Marriott properties. “Out-of-town visitors love tasting something new yet approachable,” Aulick says, noting that the properties even order bags of puffs to put in rooms with a “Sweet Dreams” message for VIPs and guests for homecoming weekends. Erica Gerkin, sales director for the two hotels, also takes Lemley’s marshmallows to trade shows and expos to promote to events business.

“Our most popular marshmallow creation is probably salted caramel with additional salt, ground pretzels, and chocolate. Vanilla is always popular. We make a beer marshmallow with a nice malty double bock beer. We’re always creating new flavors and making the experience more interesting.”

And while marshmallows are typically inexpensive to make, Lemley’s Catering offers a variety of premium toppings with three types of chocolate, nuts, coconut, and ground espresso beans. And their mallow boasts all-regional credentials with Michigan beet sugar, Ohio glucose, and Indiana corn starch.

“We don’t have to charge a lot,” explains Lemley. “We’ll even throw some in as an incentive for booking; our costs are low. It advertises the marshmallows, and the marshmallows advertise the catering. It all works together.” The company is booking an average of two S’more on a Stick stations a week now.

For Lemley, the marshmallow concept offers a distinctive identity in the local catering market. “It shows we’re able to take unexpected flavors and put them in unexpected places. We ground dehydrated strawberries with black pepper. We’re not afraid to experiment with texture and flavor.”

Between retail sales and s’more stations, marshmallows will make up about 50 percent of Lemley’s revenue in 2011. Now that’s a sweet ending.

Share: