​So many wonderful things to do and people to see in Michigan, and Fire & Rice of Lansing and Ann Arbor were right in the middle of it all, and so was Chef Paul! To see what Chef Paul and the Michigan Fire & Rice crew were up to over the past couple of weeks, check out the highlights below! 

Chef Paul, the founder of the Fire & Rice paella catering franchise, packed up his Naples’ food truck and trailer and headed to Michigan to help out Lansing and Ann Arbor owner, Nick Neveau, during his busy time of year. After the 20-plus hour road trip, Chef Paul jumped right into Lansing and Ann Arbor’s jam-packed paella schedule.  Here’s a rundown:   

​The Meijer Grand Taste event runs in conjunction with the Meijer PGA Classic at the beautiful Blythfield Country Club in Belmont, MI, where the best players in women’s golf come together to take part in a four-day, 72-hole stroke play competition. Known for having the best food experience on any tour, the Meijer Grand Taste was back by popular demand for the second year in a row.
 
The most sought-after local restaurants, breweries, and food vendors from around the region were invited to participate in the prestigious event, and Fire & Rice was right there front-and-center, cooking up batches of their award-winning paella. Watching the preparation, you could see the Fire & Rice chefs pouring passion into the process and interacting with the crowd, who raved about the delicious food and unique paella experience all week long. It was fun and exciting, something golf fans will remember for years to come. 

​Riverside Park
Friday, June 14
 
To add to the excitement on June 14, later in the day, we also were right in the middle of the food truck action at the weekly Grand Rapids Food Truck Fridays.  This year Food Truck Fridays will be running every Friday Night starting at 5 pm all summer long through October 4. Just come down to the event at Riverside Park, look for our paella food truck, and join in the fun!  

Fire & Rice of Lansing was excited to be part of the fun at the Summer Reading Kick-Off Party at the East Lansing Public Library. Kids of all ages as well as adults enjoyed our award-winning paella in an exciting atmosphere and interactive environment along with a DJ Dance Party and an appearance by MSU’s Sparty!  As you can see, Sparty loves our paella too!

​Ortonvile, MI
​Thursday, June 20 
 
After two days of food prep, we headed over to the Ortonville Food Truck Rally in none-other than Ortonville, MI. We were hard to miss as we prepared our paella in large shallow pans out in front for everyone to see and drew a crowd.  People took turns participating in the preparation process, delighted in the communal dining setting, and said that our paella was the best they’d ever tasted. Fun was had by all!

This year River Days, Detroit’s one-of-a-kind festival in West Riverfront Park, partnered with the World’s Largest Food Truck Rally, which showcased 130 of the best local and national food trucks, providing endless tasty selections for patrons as they enjoyed land and water activities, such as live music, jet-ski demos, and sand sculptures. Of course, Fire & Rice was right out there doing what they do best, preparing their award-winning paella out in front for everyone to see and entertaining the crowd with their enthusiasm. The paella and atmosphere got rave reviews!
 
At the rally, Chef Paul Schmidgall and Nick Neveau caught up with Chef Paul Wahlberg, the primary and driving force behind the Wahlburgers franchise, who was there with his brothers showcasing their Detroit food truck.  Wahlberg found the Fire & Rice concept interesting and thought the set up impressive and well thought out. Schmidgall and Neveau enjoyed the time Wahlberg spent at the Fire & Rice food truck and said Wahlberg was very nice and just a really great guy! 
 
If you’re looking for a unique catering alternative or food truck experience for your next party or event in Michigan, call the Lansing location at (517) 803-0015 or the Ann Arbor location at (734) 526-5111.  If you’re in Southwest Florida and looking for Naples’ paella catering, call (239) 269-8857 or book your party online. We look forward to sharing the ultimate paella experience with you! 

​If you’re a year-round resident of Naples, you know how difficult it is to go out and eat during the in-season. Now that the seasonal residents have headed elsewhere for summer months, you can finally enjoy everything that Naples has to offer without the crowds. At this time of year, you get your beach back, your bars back, and your paella back! 

It’s the perfect time to focus on our own people and come together with friends and family. And what better way to bring people together than to than share in a unique catering experience that’s fun and exciting for everyone?
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At Fire & Rice, we offer award-winning paella in an interactive, communal setting that’s different than anything you’ve encountered before. Whether it’s a crowd of twenty or two hundred or more, your guests will relish in the ultimate paella experience and remember the occasion for years to come. 

People love our paella! Made from only the finest ingredients dating back to 16th-Century Spain, we blend the flavors of chicken, sausage, and imported saffron together with Bomba rice for delicate flavors and textures that are simply divine. Meat ingredients can be swapped out or combined with seafood, and vegan options are also available, so there’s something for everyone to enjoy.

Whether it’s Mixta Paella, Paella Valencia, or Paella de Marisco, people rave about our paella, and the concept of Fire & Rice parties has spread like wildfire through Southwest Florida and beyond. Many of our clients have traveled all over the world and say our paella is the best they’ve ever tasted.  

What’s better than unique, award-winning food? Unique, award-winning food in a fun and exciting environment!

​At Fire & Rice, we not only bring the food, we also bring the fun!  We’re passionate about paella, and it shows, and from the moment your guests arrive, they’ll know they’re in for a treat.  Our chefs enthusiastically prepare our sensual paella in large shallow pans out in front for everyone to see, and people are drawn in by the paella’s beautiful palette of colors and gentle aromas.

As guests gather round, our chefs invite them to participate in the paella preparation. It’s fun and exciting, and people come together as part of the process in a warm and inviting atmosphere. And once they sit down to take their first bite, it exceeds all expectations.
While guests are enjoying the food, fun, and excitement, so can the host!  At Fire & Rice, we do everything possible to make hosting a Fire & Rice party as easy as possible. We arrive in our catering food truck with everything we need to prepare and serve your guests.  You just book your party, and we take care of the rest. That’s really all there is to it!

If you’re interested in a unique Naples paella catering experience that’s delicious, fun, exciting, and easy, call Fire & Rice at (239) 269-8857 or book your party online. We look forward to sharing the ultimate paella experience with you during the off-season!   

What’s the best thing about owning a Fire & Rice franchise? Chef Glen Michael, owner of the Fire & Rice in Fairfield, Connecticut, says, “It’s the people I get to meet and the stories I hear that make me happy. We get compliments all the time, and I love being a part of what Chef Paul [Schmidgall] has created.”

Chef Glen Michael’s father lives in the Naples area and tried Fire & Rice paella for the first time at an 18-holers golf crew party and instantly fell in love with the dish.  He took pictures of the preparation process and paella combinations and shared them with Chef Glen Michael, who was immediately drawn in by the beauty of the paella.
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A year later, his father attended the same event and learned that franchise opportunities were available, and he shared this with his son. With many years in the restaurant business under his belt, Chef Glen Michael wanted to learn more and hopped on a plane to Naples to take in the experience first-hand.  After experiencing the process and training extensively under Chef Paul, Fire & Rice Fairfield was born.

​Fire & Rice Fairfield is in its third year and is getting rave reviews for its unique and exciting paella catering services from Fairfield, CT to White Plains, NY and everywhere in between.  From fundraisers for Save the Children, Band Central, and the Catherine Violet Hubbard Foundation to private parties, realtor open houses, farmers’ markets, and food truck festivals, the word is out about Fire & Rice Fairfield’s paella catering, and it’s catching on like wildfire. 

Local celebrity Mar Jennings, the host of LIFE ON MARS, was so impressed with our paella catering that he wrote a blog about his experience, A Night with Fire & Rice. Jennings writes, “I gathered some of my favorite people all to experience the cuisine of Chef Glenn Michael, from Fairfield Fire & Rice.  Who does not love a Seafood Paella?  Especially when created right in front of your very eyes.  Chef Glenn brings everything to set up and cook the delicious meal, making it truly a night to remember.”

If you’re interested in trying our award-winning paella yourself, come down and visit our Fairfield paella food truck at:

La Chat Farmers’ Market in Weston, CT
June 28, July 26, August 30, September 27, and October 25, 5pm-8pm
Food Truck Fridays in Pound Ridge, NY
August 16, September 20, and May 22, 5pm-9pm

You’ll see our chefs preparing our magnificent paella with passion and enthusiasm in large, shallow pans out in front for everyone to see. As people are drawn to the beauty of the dish and its sensual aromas, we typically draw a crowd. We invite people to take part in the preparation process, and everyone wants to join in. It’s fun and exciting, something to remember for years to come. And when you taste our paella, it exceeds all expectations. Many of our clients have traveled all over the world and say our paella is the best they’ve ever tasted.

If you’re interested in our Fairfield paella catering services for your next party or event, call us at (203) 683-8135 or book your party online, and we’ll take care of the rest.  It’s really that easy!   

No matter how well your business is doing through word-of-mouth referrals, it’s critical to position your company so that it’s easily found online. The way word-of-mouth referrals work in this day and age is that someone refers your business to someone else, and while that person may remember the name of your company or what you do, they will eventually search Google for your contact information or to learn more.  

When a potential customer does a Google search for your business, you absolutely need to be listed right there on page one. Anything less and that wonderful word-of-mouth referral could very well go to another company, either mistakenly or simply because that company is there and you’re not.

When establishing your business and setting yourself up for leads, you need to be found on page one of a Google search, preferably near the top.  When searching online for a service or product, 33% of people click on the number one search result on Google. Another 62% of people click on one of the top three search results, and 95% of all clicks occur on page one. If you’re not there, you won’t get found online. It’s that simple. 

Before Chef Paul started optimizing his website for SEO, he saw a trend he didn’t like. An owner of another local catering company had done some SEO, and when prospects contacted him, he pretended to be Fire & Rice!  As outrageous as this is, customers booked their parties expecting Fire & Rice and were disappointed when someone else showed up.

At this time, Chef Paul decided that top SEO placement was a key part of growing, as well as protecting, his business. While Chef Paul is a fantastic chef and entrepreneur, SEO is not his area of expertise. With a full plate running the Naples paella location and overseeing other franchises, he decided to leave his online presence to the digital marketing experts. 

Chef Paul was referred by a friend, who is also a local business owner, to 33social, a digital marketing agency that excels in getting clients found online. As the industry experts, 33social analyzes clients’ existing online presence, as well as their competitors, and develops a plan to reach each client’s digital marketing goals.  Areas of expertise include SEO, online advertising, social media, video marketing, image marketing, and more.

While working with his 33social consultant, Chef Paul learned that to gain placement in the organic ranks for his Naples’ paella catering services, he needed to build out his website in a way that was meaningful and valuable to Google. Google likes quality content (and lots of it), and as a website’s content ages, it becomes more and more valuable, pushing its placement up higher in the ranks.  After working on SEO efforts with 33social, Fire & Rice – Naples Original Paella! is currently all over page one of Google – it’s hard to miss! 

Another piece of the digital marketing equation is getting good reviews. Fire & Rice clients rave about their Naples paella catering experiences, but unless there are reviews that say so, it doesn’t matter to Google. With every positive review, your business, just like Fire & Rice, will become more valuable to Google, and your position will rank higher in the search results over time.  ​

For more than a decade, Fire & Rice – Naples’ Original Paella! has been bringing award-winning paella in a unique communal dining setting to Southwest Florida and getting rave reviews! Today, Fire & Rice franchises are sharing the fun and excitement of the ultimate paella experience across the country, and it’s catching on like wildfire. 

If you’re interested in learning more about Fire & Rice franchise opportunities, call us at (239) 269-8857. We look forward to hearing from you!