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He's planned something special this evening. She thinks they're just going out for a drive. She doesn't know a thing.

The young couple drives out into the middle of the Arizona desert. He asks her to get out and follow him. She's confused. Are those candles over there?

Imagine her surprise when she finds a romantic dinner table, complete with china and silver. There's even a waiter in a tux awaiting their arrival. He pours some champagne and the date is started.

An evening like this was easy to pull off for the young man who planned it. All he had to do was call on Mitchell Mock.

This may be an unusual order for Mock, but he's had his share of them. This one gave him a kick, though.

"It's a great feeling to make people happy," says Mock. "It's especially fun being part of occasions like that."

Since getting started in the restaurant business, Mock, who originally was studying for a career in civil engineering, has gone from being a dishwasher to partner in his own restaurant and catering outfit. He shares ownership with his wife, Donna DiFiore.

A lot of the work Mock does finds its way to the executive terminal at Tucson airport. He gets orders for people flying in private jets once in a while. Sometimes it allows for the odd brush with celebrity.

"My wife got this call where they wanted a really special order -- four or five entrees, I think -- and they stressed that there was to be no broccoli." While his wife thought nothing of it, Mock thought to himself: "Hmm, where have I heard that before?"

"Donna went out there to drop it off. There were a few tough-looking security types, but she didn't really catch on. About a day later, she got a call back from the same person wanting some more food -- they were coming through again -- and Donna asked who it was.

"Well, of course, it turned out to be ex-President Bush who had come through! The steward who was calling told my wife it was some of the best catered jet food that they'd ever had and they wanted to use us again."

Needless to say, Mock and DiFiore were quite proud of their little business! After all, the president of the United States is probably used to some pretty good eats.

It's not serving celebrities that Mock enjoys best, though. It's the events and the celebrations he gets to participate in that he likes the most.

"It's all a lot of fun. Another order we had was out in the middle of the desert. It was a convention of some sort, but they had hay rides, full china, tuxedo service, a live symphony and about 80 people under a giant tent. It was a great opportunity to enjoy an event you normally wouldn't be at if you weren't a caterer."

While Mock and DiFiore are serving up the right occasions in Tucson, Pat Rattray does catering of a different sort. She operates a business that specializes in corporate catering. That means she serves up lunches for boardroom meetings and company luncheons.

"I'm sure there's more satisfaction for caterers who do weddings or parties in that they get much more social interaction. For me, I walk into the office, the secretary tells me where to put it, I drop it off in the boardroom and I'm off to the next place."

OK, so it's not all hay rides and candlelight dinners. But Rattray enjoys the consistency and regular hours.

"There's no weekend work for me because offices are closed then. Since office hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., I end up working an average 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. workday. There are a lot of partner meetings, and accountants are very busy around February and March, so it's a very reliable clientele."

Another nice aspect of corporate catering is that the food doesn't usually have to be kept hot. "It's mostly cold food because, at a lot of these meetings, they want to hold a pen in one hand and a sandwich in the other and work right through lunch. We do a lot of fresh fruit, croissants, cheese, veggies, tarts and squares and canned pop. It's really quite simple."

While Rattray's work is fairly consistent and steady, she does get the occasional emergency order on short notice. That can be a panic.

"[One company] phoned in at 10 a.m. They needed lunch for 97 people by noon. We scrambled to get it together. Other times, we've had a big fire in the area in the middle of winter and the fire department phones to say, 'Our crews are working really hard. Can you get them lunch and hot coffee over there as fast as you can?'"

But Rattray says they're always racing against the clock to get orders out on time. This is because a late lunch can cost people a lot more than a few growling stomachs.

"When 10 lawyers are having a partners' meeting over lunch and every one of those guys bills their clients $150 an hour, you can't be late. They've set aside an hour and a half for their meeting and they can't afford to just stretch it out for another half an hour."

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OCAP believes that financial literacy and understanding the financial aid process are critical aspects of college planning and student success. OCAP staff who work with students, parents, educators and community partners in the areas of personal finance education, state and federal financial aid, and student loan management do not provide financial, investment, legal, and/or tax advice. This website and all information provided is for general educational purposes only, and is not intended to be construed as financial, investment, legal, and/or tax advice.