The film industry has the Academy Awards, the music industry has the Grammys, the television industry has the Emmys, and the event catering industry has the CATIES. The Catered Arts Through Innovative Excellence Awards are held annually to "recognize achievement of exemplary food production at an event"--in other words, food presentation that's as pleasing to the palate as it is to your other four senses.

At this year's CATIE Awards, Utah-based Culinary Crafts cleaned up big time. And we mean BIG time. Culinary Crafts was awarded Caterer of the Year by the International Caterers Association. Yup, our very own Culinary Crafts snatched up top honors at the event, beating out catering companies from as far away as South Africa. And that's not all: Culinary Crafts also won the ACE award at this year's Catersource conference, one of only five awards given out each year (four in the U.S. and one internationally). No caterer has ever won both of these awards, let alone a caterer from Utah.

We caught up with Mary Crafts, CEO and president of Culinary Crafts, to get her reaction on the big win:

I was dumbfounded when we won the Caterer of the Year award! I had my shoes off at our banquet table because I was not expecting to win--when they announced our name I thought, "I have to get my shoes on!" I was so shocked, I could hardly speak. It was amazing to be there and to win these awards. My first thought (after thinking about my shoes) was, "Text the team!" Everything we do is a team effort. These awards are for the many people at Culinary Crafts who work every day to bring excellence to the company and make sure we're the best around.

We've always championed the incredible talents of stellar local vendors like Mary Crafts and the Culinary Crafts team, and we're thrilled to hear the international community is taking notice now, too!

Congratulations Mary, Ryan, Kaleb, and the entire Culinary Crafts family! Mary, we're popping a bottle of champagne can of Diet Coke in your honor!