Our partnerships with carefully selected organizations have generated many new clients and in return have been a huge marketing strategy for us.

Nicholas Waters

Chef/Owner

Location: Victoria, BC Canada

Toque Catering is the perfect choice for large and small scale events. Our Chefs ensure each menu is perfectly tailored to accommodate each events unique style and culinary needs.

All of our catering menus are seasonally inspired, delicious and beautifully presented.

* I’m a Red Seal Chef
* Toque has been nominated this year by the International Catering Association for “Best Catered Wedding” (International Award)
* Toque has won “Best Catered Event” the last 3 years in a row by the Canadian Special Events Awards (National Award)
* 2019 Featured on the Cover of Catersource Magazine
* 2019 Featured on the Cover of Catering Magazine

If you had unlimited resources, what would your dream client and event look like?

We are doing a 3-day long Wedding in August on a private island that has unlimited resources, so I’m about to find out. Stay tuned….

How important are your relationships with vendors and what are some ways that you successfully cultivate and ensure good rapport?

This is by far the most important aspect in the Catering World. Establishing and maintaining solid vendor relationships is crucial to our industry. We all have to work together to pull off an event so the better the working relationship is the better and smoother the event is. Our partnerships with carefully selected organizations have generated many new clients and in return have been a huge marketing strategy for us.

How do you handle the diverse dietary needs and requests of your clients and what is one of the most challenging requests you’ve been presented with?

We basically have one Chef in the kitchen that is dedicated to dietary only, he does nothing else. This Chef has the hardest, most important job in our kitchen. On an average week, we are doing about 125 events and each of these events has approximately 5-10 allergies per event – it’s a lot to take care of.

We recently just did a Wedding for 120 people and there were over 25 allergies to take care of. One of the most difficult allergies we get is the no onion/garlic. It’s almost impossible to take care of this one as these items are a Chef’s staple and we put them in everything!

What sets you apart from other caterers?

I think the thing that sets us apart from other Caterers is we have 9 Chefs in our kitchen that have all been Executive Chefs at one point or another in their Culinary Career. You don’t see this type of diverse talent pool in Catering, it’s pretty special.

What kind of food are you known for and what is your favorite food?

We are known for our Canapes! We love coming up with new creative ideas and turning them into smaller versions. These 1-2 bites are not only full of flavour, but they are also visually appealing as well.

Right now, I’m really into Korean Cuisine and it’s turning up all over our 2020-2021 Wedding and Corporate Menus!

Anything else you’d like to comment on while we have you?

That’s about it, thank you for having me!

Susan Null
Author: Susan Null

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