Custom Menu Planning
How We Build a Custom Menu From Scratch for Your Event
By Chef Ashley Sapir | Uproot Culinary
A lot of people assume a custom menu means picking from a list of options. Maybe swapping salmon for chicken, or choosing between two salads. At Uproot Culinary, that's not how it works, and honestly, it's not even close.
Building a custom menu from scratch is one of the most personal things we do. It starts long before anyone steps foot in a kitchen.
It Starts With a Conversation
Every menu begins with listening. Before we think about a single dish, we want to understand you, your retreat, your gathering, your guests. What's the intention behind this experience? Is this a weekend of deep rest and restoration? A high-energy leadership retreat? An intimate dinner party celebrating someone you love?
The food should reflect that. A menu for a yoga and meditation retreat feels very different from one designed for a corporate offsite or a celebration dinner. The flavors, the pacing of meals, the textures, the portion sizes, all of it shifts depending on what people are there to experience.
Then Come the Details
Once we understand the vision, we get into the specifics. Dietary needs, allergies, and food preferences aren't afterthoughts, they're built into the menu from the very beginning. We don't create a "standard" menu and then make accommodations. We design around the full picture of who's eating.
This is where the real creativity lives. Designing a menu that is simultaneously gluten-free, vegan-friendly, and satisfying for people who "don't usually eat this way" is a challenge we genuinely love solving. (We hear it all the time: "We don't usually eat vegan, and we were blown away.")
Then We Look at What's in Season
No two menus are alike, partly because of you and partly because of the time of year. We build around what's available from local California farmers and purveyors, which means the menu you get in June looks nothing like the one we'd design in November.
This isn't just a philosophy. Seasonal ingredients taste better, support local growers, and connect your guests to the place they're in. There's something grounding about eating what the land is actually offering right now.
The Menu Takes Shape
With all of this in hand ;the intention, the guests, the season, we start composing. We think about the arc of each day. How should breakfast feel? Energizing and light, or warm and grounding? What does the body need mid-afternoon? How do we close out an evening in a way that feels nourishing but not heavy?
Every dish earns its place. We ask: does this serve the people eating it? Does it fit the season? Does it support what this experience is trying to do?
What You End Up With
A menu that feels like it was made for you, because it was.
Not a template. Not a rotation. A thoughtful, cohesive culinary experience designed around your people, your moment, and what California's land is offering right now.
That's what we mean when we say custom.
Interested in having Uproot Culinary design a menu for your next retreat, dinner party, or private chef experience? Get in touch — we'd love to hear about what you're planning.
