When Carlos Mortera started his catering business last year, he was looking to wind down from the chaotic and arduous lifestyle that comes with being a restaurant owner. He closed his KCK restaurant, Poio Mexican BBQ, in 2023, hoping to spend more time with his family. Little did he know this pivot would provide him with one of the biggest opportunities of his career: catering for Apple TV’s hit show Ted Lasso.
The Ted Lasso production team originally planned on bringing in a caterer from Chicago while filming in KC for the last two weeks of July, Mortera says. However, producers were tipped off that Mortera’s local catering company, Golden Brown, had plenty of experience working on film sets.
“The initial idea of Golden Brown was to do productions,” Mortera says. “There’s a lot of commercials shot in Kansas City, and with the new tax credits that Missouri is giving to productions companies, I was like, ‘Hey, I can do this by catering to them and have a niche.’”
While Ted Lasso filmed in KC, clips of the show’s star, Jason Sudeikis, circulated on social media as he was seen shooting at landmarks throughout the city, like the Country Club Plaza. It’s been speculated that Ted Lasso, which is plotted around Sudeikis playing an American football coach who unexpectedly transitions to lead an English soccer team, was possibly filmed in KC due to the World Cup being hosted here next year. But Mortera can’t speak on that. When asked about any interactions with the cast, he gives the answer of someone who is under contract not to spill juicy details.
“We’re all there to do a job,” he says. “The cast has respect for everyone in the crew and they’re very professional.”
No phones are allowed on set, although Mortera says he was able to sneak a picture with Brendan Hunt, who doubles as the show’s co-creator and featured actor portraying Coach Beard, before filming wrapped up. (Mortera had already met Sudeikis while catering for Thunder Gong, an annual benefit concert based in KC.) Despite having worked on film sets before and regularly catering to large high-end parties and fundraisers, like the Charlotte Street Foundation, Mortera says the Ted Lasso gig was the most intense. Working 16-, sometimes 18-hour days while catering to the various diets of the cast during some of KC’s hottest weeks is something he describes as “grueling.”
A typical day catering on the Ted Lasso set consisted of Mortera waking up at 3 am and, with his team of five chefs, preparing a continental-style breakfast buffet. Mortera needed to prepare enough food to feed up to three different departments for each meal, so in addition to a large buffet, his crew also brought a food trailer to prepare specialty items and meals that catered to the cast’s various dietary needs.
Breakfast was usually ready by 5:30 am. By 11 am, Mortera and his team would break down the buffet and head back to their Midtown kitchen to begin preparing lunch. Lunch, served during the last half of the day, anywhere between 2 and 5 pm, was where Mortera was able to showcase his signature cooking style, a blend of Mexican and barbecue with Asian influences, prepared using French techniques.
“A lot of food that we made showcased Kansas City’s diverse culture that we have,” Mortera says. “We have a big Vietnamese community, so we did Vietnamese food one day. Of course, we had to have barbecue. We did Mexican food, street tacos, Korean food.”
One of Mortera’s favorite memories on set was introducing churros to an executive producer from England. According to Mortera, several English producers arrived during filming and were delighted to try his food because much of it was food they’d never had before. It became his goal to introduce them to a new food each day. They reveled in his Chipotle-style buffet, and he even taught them how to make a Frito pie—a Southwestern comfort meal that involves putting chili and cheese in a bag of Frito chips.
“I like to cook food that I like to eat,” Mortera says. “And a lot of the producers were really cool. They were really down to earth.”
As the producers prepared to fly home, Mortera prepared churros for them to take on their homebound flight.
Now that Mortera has had some time to reflect on the chaotic and fulfilling two weeks of catering for one of Apple TV’s most beloved series, he says that it was a lesson in “adaptability.”
“Things change all the time,” Mortera says. “There’s a saying in film: You have to have the urgency to stand around. Sometimes they need you right away, but they won’t give you direction, so you just have to stand there until they tell you what to do.”
Filming locations were also revealed on short notice, so Mortera would find himself suddenly needing to prepare food for 400 people to shoot at the KC Current stadium at the drop of a hat. Whether they were filming in the River Market or near Swope Park, inside or outside underneath a giant tent, he and his crew had to make it work.
“Sometimes in that food trailer, it could get up to 130 degrees,” Mortera says. “That’s why we decided to prepare everything offsite instead of in the truck, so we don’t get heat exhaustion.”
After such an intense catering event, you’d think Mortera would prioritize rest. Instead, he went right back to his usual local work.
“Because I’m a crazy person, the day after production wrapped up, I had a food styling gig for T-Mobile,” Mortera says. ”My wife said I need to book myself a hotel so I can just sleep all day. I did that, then I got a haircut. For those two weeks [of catering], I only had a week to prepare for it, so I’m trying to get myself back together.”
Carlos Mortera’s Perfect Day in KC
Breakfast
Breakfast is my favorite food. My family has been going to Dagwood’s almost every Sunday for six years. I was into their club sandwich for a while. It’s the most simple sandwich: white bread, turkey, ham, bacon, tomatoes, lettuce and mayo. It’s toasted. You get the three layers cut into a triangle. It’s what a club sandwich should be. My other go-to is the biscuits and gravy with three fried eggs, country fries and a side of bacon.
Thrifting
My wife and I will head to some local thrift and vintage shops, especially on First Friday weekend. I also like the City Thrift on Shawnee Mission Parkway because they have a little vintage area. Blessings Abound on Metcalf also has a lot of great furniture. We’re all about reduce, reuse, recycle. Lately, we’re looking for stuff for my wife’s studio. She makes custom women’s suits (amybayless.com).
Union Station
A perfect day for me is just hanging out with my kids. Sometimes we’ll head to Union Station. We love to see the trains, then we hit Science City. It’s chaos and a lot of noise, but they love it.
