Q-It-Up Catering

Q-It-Up Catering Santa Maria Style Open Pit BBQ The Santa Maria Style BBQ has evolved over the years to be one of the most tantalizing menus in California. Q IT UP!

When driving down the main streets of Santa Maria you can’t help but smell the appetizing aroma emitting from nearly every street corner in town.

‘Q IT UP! Catering is honored to bring this tradition to the Midwest by providing this unique attraction to your indoor and outdoor events. Traditionally, our signature main dishes are prepared on-site beginning with an aromatic hardwood fire. As the fi

re reaches its peak, fresh salsa vegetables are placed on the grill to initiate the fire-roasted salsa recipe. When the coals are ready, specially seasoned meats are positioned for a 2-3 hour cook time. Catering has achieved the exalted reputation as one of the finest and most unique custom caterers in the region specializing in on-site preparation of their signature salsa and meats using only a hardwood fire for fuel and handcrafted dry rubs for seasoning. Whether it’s a dinner party for 50 or a company picnic for 5000, ‘Q IT UP! Catering invites you to add this unforgettable culinary experience to your event.

Back in late April we were invited back to North Platte, NE to celebrate the 800+ Super Heroes of WM 7018!  This marks t...
05/16/2025

Back in late April we were invited back to North Platte, NE to celebrate the 800+ Super Heroes of WM 7018! This marks the 17th year of us working with this site. After arriving on Sunday we were greeted with several tornadoes that touched down just a few miles north but woke up to a clear sky and eventually plenty of sunshine so the 2 day event was perfect! Thank you Mother Nature and the entire staff and associates of WM 7018! See you soon!

Back in November 2017 we were invited to be a food vendor and asked to "step up the food options" for the 4th annual Kal...
03/17/2025

Back in November 2017 we were invited to be a food vendor and asked to "step up the food options" for the 4th annual Kalamazoo Craft Beer Festival at Wings Stadium. Chef Cam came up with a killer menu which featured Shrimp & Sausage Skewers with a Dijon Creme Drizzle and Q'orned Tri Tip Pastrami Sammies.
Prior to the festival, he trimmed the tri tips and started the 6 day corning process. Day of the festival, dusted them with pastrami seasoning and grilled on-site over the oak wood fire.
Yep, it was next level and Q It Up dominated the food court!
Again, these items are not on our current menu but by request we still do corned (Q'orned) Tri Tips for this time of year when so many are celebrating St Patty's Day like our friends at Active Mfg and Carter Bearing in Spring Lake and Grand Haven, MI and BDO in Kalamazoo.

If you remember the great festivals of Downtown Kalamazoo, then you definitely remember the Fire Thigh Sammie!  People o...
03/08/2025

If you remember the great festivals of Downtown Kalamazoo, then you definitely remember the Fire Thigh Sammie! People often asked, “How did you come up with those?”
Here’s the history as briefly as it can be explained:
1998:
We did our first “Taste of Kalamazoo” and offered Beef Tri-Tip or Chicken Breast wraps filled with our Fire-Roasted Salsa. That was back in the day when vendors were competing for HOTTEST WINGS where you had to sign a waiver to eat them.
1999:
Our second “Taste” … We mocked the hot wing folks by coming up with the “Fire Thigh” which was originally a bone-in chicken thigh dusted with a mega spiced up version of our now famous chicken seasoning coining the tag line “All the heat & twice the meat of a hot wing”. Needless to say, we could not cook enough of these!
2000:
Here we go! Our junior year at the “Taste” and Fire Thighs were an even bigger hit! After day 1 (of 3) we cooked approximately 500 thighs. Day 2 was so busy we were running out of thighs before the end of lunch so our meat guy said we would deliver more to the festival site to save us time. Once the cases were received, we opened and found they were all boneless…. So, we improvised and put them on a bun and the rest is history. We served thousands of them year over year until the last festival.

Although Fire Thighs are not on our current catering menu, we still do them at events upon request.

We're a little behind in our first post of 2025 but we have been ridiculously busy! No complaints, but our first job out...
02/27/2025

We're a little behind in our first post of 2025 but we have been ridiculously busy! No complaints, but our first job out of state in late January took us to Marcy, New York for WM DC 6038's 30 year celebration! How bad could New York in January be? LOL

Travel day was uneventful leading up to day 1 which was 30 degrees, sunny and beautiful. Day 2....not so nice. Woke up to what eventually would be 6 inches of horizontal snow before finally clearing up in the afternoon. But those of you who know us, know that no matter the weather, the show will go on! Many thanks to the folks at DC 6038 for having us out as a part of your celebration!

But wait...there's more! The Andrew's racing team (3 Generations, BTW) has made a definite mark this season with the fin...
11/09/2024

But wait...there's more! The Andrew's racing team (3 Generations, BTW) has made a definite mark this season with the final regulation race on 9/30/24 featuring checkered flags for both husband-and-wife driving team for a double win! Tyler and Kaylee Hufford scored huge in their street stock divisions making room for next season which promises to be exponentially exciting!

Hi all! We have been slow to recognize our teams that we sponsor! Please congratulate Team ODONIS fishing team for reeli...
11/09/2024

Hi all! We have been slow to recognize our teams that we sponsor! Please congratulate Team ODONIS fishing team for reeling in the lunkers that win! Pat, Hunter and the core team has been bringing in the big catch to take top prize yet again!

Finished up in North Platte, Nebraska a few weeks ago before heading to Grove City, Ohio, catering more of our big out o...
11/05/2024

Finished up in North Platte, Nebraska a few weeks ago before heading to Grove City, Ohio, catering more of our big out of state customers! Early morning starts, into late evenings, all shifts per day! But don't worry.... our local teams are still here taking care of Michigan's catering needs - any day, any shift while we are out making rest the nation happy!

Back in Late July, while cooking out for the Make-A-Wish Foundation’s annual bike tour, the smoke (or the smell) attract...
10/12/2024

Back in Late July, while cooking out for the Make-A-Wish Foundation’s annual bike tour, the smoke (or the smell) attracted the attention of the City of Wyoming’s finest. They had a little fun with Lance citing the grill marks on the chicken were in violation of the open pit grill code. Officer Lee detained Lance and took over to show him how it’s done! Not to worry, all 500 bikers were fed and Lance agreed to follow code for now on!
Thank you to the Make-A-Wish Foundation and the City of Wyoming for inviting us to be a part of the awesome event!

The "Q" team taking care of 600 hungry bikers at Capitol Harley-Davidson in Lansing, MI.  Thank you to the Moakley's, Do...
10/11/2024

The "Q" team taking care of 600 hungry bikers at Capitol Harley-Davidson in Lansing, MI. Thank you to the Moakley's, Doug Little and all of the staff at Capitol H-D and Battle Creek H-D for having us out year after year for your big events!

We want to thank Logan and Madeline Deluca for having cater their special day! Also, thank you to Dominque at the Kalama...
10/10/2024

We want to thank Logan and Madeline Deluca for having cater their special day! Also, thank you to Dominque at the Kalamazoo Loft which is a cool new venue in Kalamazoo on the Mall. Reach out to tour this great new venue! https://www.thekalamazooloft.com/

Grill Master Lars!
10/09/2024

Grill Master Lars!

Wrapping up here in Shelby, NC after taking car of all 4 shifts at WM DC  6070. Sending out a huge thank you to Tawnya H...
08/29/2024

Wrapping up here in Shelby, NC after taking car of all 4 shifts at WM DC 6070. Sending out a huge thank you to Tawnya Hampton, Marcelo Cerizza and the entire Shelby Wolfpack for having us back out for our 3rd visit. We were told that you have 1200 of the best well-fed associates in all of Cleveland County! We'll see ya'll soon!

Address

7661 Stadium Drive
Kalamazoo, MI
49009

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Q-It-Up Catering posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Q-It-Up Catering:

Share

Category