By Christopher Holland • The Current Contributing Writer
There’s a new catering company in town, and its services are second to none. Ateira’s on First, located on First Street in Lehighton, provides catering services for corporate events, showers, parties and celebrations of life. Costs range from $15 up to $100 per person, depending on the service.
Owned by Christine and Darin McCaa and Richard and Melissa Arieta, the company provides the freshest ingredients and homemade baked goods.
The business is family-owned and operated.
“The name of our business is derived from my maiden name (Arieta), which we then spelled backward and being on first street, came up with Ateira’s on First,” said Christine McCaa.
McCaa says she’s always had the entrepreneur/be your own boss urge in her.
“With a reluctant husband, who wanted me to get into catering from day one (and I had no desire for catering,) he entertained my idea of owning our own food truck,” she said.
“After three years of running our food truck, Cruisin’ Cuisine by Christine, we realized the market wasn’t what we thought it was going to be.”
After three years of people inquiring about catering, Darin put an end to the food truck and that’s when it all began.
“With hesitance, but a willingness to try, our first catering event was a 200 person wedding, McCaa said.
“That wedding changed my whole perspective and that brings us to where we are today.”
“After searching for the perfect place for some time, we found 130 South First Street.
My brother, Rich, has seen the impact of catering and also fell in love with the charm of 130 South First Street, and being the entrepreneur that he is, we decided to start the catering business family owned.”
A retired occupational therapist, McCaa’s mother, Debbie Arieta, spends all of her days baking breads and other baked goods.
“She is at the store at 4:00 a.m. to late evenings assisting me in catering,” she said.
She says that her ability to not only look at something as a challenge but as an opportunity for continued growth is uncanny.
“She makes all of our hoagie rolls, shoo fly pies, bagels, muffins, cakes, soft pretzels to Tomato Pies. You give her a challenge tomorrow and she will take it head on and go above and beyond. She is an asset to our business,” she said.
McCaa said that 90 percent of the business’s renovations were completed as a result of the craftmanship of her brother Richard, her father, Richard, and her husband Darin.
“We have the pleasure to work with our father, Richard, who is retired as a Mechanic. His Jack of All Trade skills growing up has given us the opportunity to not only learn from the best, but also work with him throughout this project,” she said.
The building was once Downtown Grill, Wicked Good and Christalee’s amongst many other businesses beforehand.
“We have changed the whole interior dining and bar area to reflect Old World Charm with New Era Technology,” she said.
In just two short years, Ateira’s has provided catering services to many businesses in Lehighton, such as the Lehighton Outdoor Center and surrounding townships. They’ve had the pleasure of providing services to Lehigh Valley Health Network, St. Luke’s University Health Network, Ralph Lauren, Penske Racing, Barnwood Builders on the DIY Network, and many others.
McCaa says that all of the business’ sources are from Food Service Vendor, Restaurant Depot and US Foodservice.
Business hours range from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., depending on catered events.
“In the very near future we will be expanding our business to not only offer off-site catering but we will be able to host inside private parties/events as well,” she said.
She also noted that they are currently planning for the second story of the building and will soon be announcing what that space will be used for.
“All it takes is one person’s dream and a small army to make that dream become a reality,” she said. For more visit www.ateiras.com
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