Mary Crafts Homer
Mary Crafts-Homer is a caterer, PBS host, and business owner. She is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Crafts is from Rowley, Iowa, and earned a degree in social work from Brigham Young University. She worked as a social worker for five years, but when she had her first child, she wanted to work where her children could join her. She taught piano and voice lessons and sold Avon door-to-door. With $150 in the bank and a love of food, she started Culinary Crafts in 1984. One of her first contracts was catering for a film crew. Her company grew to be the largest catering company in the state of Utah. Until her retirement, she was CEO and president of the Utah-based company that caters events held in the Sundance, Park City, and Salt Lake area. Her company catered the International Olympic Committee for the 2002 Winter Olympics. She has catered for Oprah, Mitt Romney, Princess Anne, the Mayor of Beijing, and celebrities who attend the Sundance Film Festival. She credits her father for her initiative and entrepreneurship.
She received the “A Woman of Excellence” award from the Barbara Barrington Jones Foundation, the “Excellence in Leadership” award from the Woodbury School of Business, and has been named one of Utah’s 30 Women to Watch. She has been named “Outstanding Business Woman of the Year.”
Her company has received national recognition. Her events and catering tips are often featured in Martha Stewart’s wedding website, “The Knot,” Colin Cowie’s television show “Get Married, and in the pages of Catering Magazine.
Crafts-Homer writes a monthly restaurant review for Utah Valley Magazine and has appeared on “Good Things Utah” and for thirteen years she hosted a public television cooking show called “Culinary Creations.” She serves on the Salt Lake Visitors and Convention Bureau board of trustees, the board of directors of the Utah Valley Chamber of Commerce, and as an honorary director of the International Caterers Association.
She gives her time to several non-profit service organizations. She was featured on the United Way’s national television and radio advertisements and volunteers for the Welcome Baby program. She contributed to the Thanksgiving Point Museum of Natural Curiosity.
Crafts’s two sons, Ryan and Kaleb, grew up in the business and continue to work with her.
