Moveable Feast.(marketing of Silkstone)

Byline: EDITOR: ALEXANDRA KOTUR

WILLIAM NORWICH SAMPLES THE FRUITS OF AN ORGANIC CATERING COMPANY'S LABOR.

Given the bad rap consumerism is getting these days and media reports claiming social life is dead and buried, you wouldn't wish for your worst enemy to launch a business geared to the affluent, or what's left of them, this year.

Social life is going through a long-overdue redefining, but to judge by some of the parties during the Inauguration and the awards-show season, the instinct for celebration isn't extinct. Recently, The New York Times reported that small niche businesses may prove surprisingly resilient thanks to the loyalty of their supporters. On the radar, fashion favorite LMD Floral is moving into an expanded space for room to sell antiques. Cristina Masson, wife of La Grenouille owner Charles Masson, has begun her own floral business, La Cerise, and Daniel Boulud 's new restaurant in the Avalon Bowery will be a brasserie-meets-diner, with something on the menu at almost every price point.

To be successful in this climate requires moxie and motivation, even guerrilla marketing. Consider Mickey Sumner, Phil Winser, and Ben Towill, the 20-something principals in Silkstone, the six-month-old catering and special-events company rooted in the organic, sustainable, and slow-food movements. "We were shameless," recalled Ben, the master chef of the trio, over luncha market table sourced entirely from local ...