Cupid’s Catering’s tradition of serving love on a plate

Whether it’s American, Italian or Mexican food that people want, Cupid’s Catering is the one to call to deliver a good meal for a meeting, fundraiser or celebration.

Whether it’s American, Italian or Mexican food that people want, Cupid’s Catering is the one to call to deliver a good meal for a meeting, fundraiser or celebration.

Cupid’s Catering has a long history of business in East County. Andrew and Gloria Quartuccio started the business in 1964 in Lakeside. Their granddaughter Gloria Bautista, a La Mesa resident, took over the business in 2002. The business operates independently from a commercial kitchen in downtown El Cajon. As Bautista works, she keeps to her grandparents’ ways in doing business.

“They taught me to always listen to the customer and to always treat them as people, not just another customer,” she said.  

Five regular and several on-call staffers work alongside Bautista. Her sister Lacy Leon started working with her. 

“At Cupid’s, we get to know the customers as people, sometimes generations of them. We have been with them through weddings, good times and funerals,” Leon said.

Bautista still spends most of her time on the job in the kitchen making sure customers get the best food. 

“Then I try to make it to all of the jobs that we have that day to talk to customers,” she said.

“Several of our customers have turned into friends. I also love what I do so it is a blessing,” Bautista said.

Leon agreed.

“When we cook for people, it’s not just a business transaction between them and us. It’s like family,” she said.

Cooking is a joy-filled job for Bautista, but it can be stressful. 

“Sometimes if we have multiple jobs, it can be crazy, but seeing the smile on customers faces make all the stressful things go away,” she said.

The secret ingredient in Cupid’s Catering, in fact, is the genuine love that gets doled out to their customers. 

“The most delightful thing about my business is knowing that I am giving each customer our best,” Bautista said.  It doesn’t matter if it’s a wedding, birthday, anniversary, or funeral we do everything we can to make each event memorable,” she said.

What sets Bautista’s business apart from other caterers, she believes, is the variety of menus and ability to cater to several ethnic backgrounds. The menu is always expanding to include new items that please the palate. That, and being able to work with almost any budget, brings customers back all the time. 

Bautista and Leon grew up watching their grandparents cook from day one. Their family was a big, happy Italian bunch whose kitchen always smelled wonderful. They learned all about the secrets of authentic northern and southern Italian cooking from them. 

“We all would sit at a huge table in our dining room, no separating the kids from the adults,” Bautista said. “We learned that eating together was a way of keeping the family together.”

When the Quartuccio family first opened Cupid’s Catering, its first clients were the El Cajon and La Mesa Lions, Rotary and Kiwanis Clubs, the North Park Lions, and Holy Trinity Seniors. From 1980 to 1985, the catering business worked out of the El Cajon Elks Lodge, when the membership of the lodge grew from 1,100 to 4,100. 

The next venture was the Downtown Bank of America cafeteria, where they serviced a number of bank functions. Cupid’s Catering has also been involved in charitable causes for many years, including Make-a-Wish Foundation and Children’s Hospital.

When Bautista took over the business from her grandparents, her biggest hurdle was getting people to trust that she could cook up the same kind of magical results as her grandparents. But people quickly grew to regard her as family as she consistently produced tasty meals with caring hands.

“It has been exciting catering for a lot of the same customers that my grandparents worked with,” she said.

Cupid’s has also served such notables as Ed McMahon, singer Lou Rawls, movie star Tom Hanks, Danny Thomas, the Osmond Brothers, songwriter Paul Williams and the list goes on. 

The La Mesa Lions Club is Cupid’s longest-standing customer. Doug Battey, newly elected president of the club said, “The food is plentiful and good,” he said.

Battey is also a member of the senior group at Del Cerro Baptist Church. Cupid’s Catering cooks up the luncheon for their monthly gathering. 

“I particularly love her Cordon Bleu with the cream sauce. We all just eat that right up,” Battey said.

When Bautista and Leon have time off from the catering business, they often head to their own kitchen to whip up something for company coming.

“We rarely use recipes,” Leon said. “We cook the way our grandparents taught us, a pinch of that, a dash of this.” 

Bautista and Leon cook regularly at their home for friends and their big family of Italians and Mexicans.  

“Trying new recipes at home is always a plus for both my family and my business. I love having friends and family over for a good party. Especially Charger games,” she said. 

For more information about menu options and other information, go to www.cupidscatering.com or call 619-654-1111.