Townsman, 1992-03, Page 13Buipin@m
Their business is catering to your taste
For many people the idea of cook-
ing for 10 people at a party is a little
daunting. For Jeff and Cathy Cardiff
10 is a breeze. Even 100 is an easy
day. The couple often feeds 1000 peo-
ple with their catering service
that has made its mark
throughout western Ontario
in recent years.
Jeff and Cathy who farm in
Morris Township, north of
Brussels, also operate a
catering service that feeds
more than 10,000 people
each year. It's a nice change
of pace from their regular
farm jobs, Jeff says. General-
ly when their pigs go off to
market or their white beans
are trucked away, they have
no idea where it goes. In the
catering business they see the
fruits of their labours right
there...and get the compli-
ments.
Jeff and Cathy have contin-
ued a family tradition in
catering business. Jeff's
father and mother Murray
and Betty along with friends
Ken and Joan Campbell of
Seaforth, first served a barbe-
cue at the Hanover Ski Club
in 1970 and soon were in
demand all over the area.
Back then the business was
pretty much just barbecuing
beef and roasting potatoes,
Jeff recalls but it was a big-
time operation. They might
serve 15,000 to 17,000 peo-
ple a season.
The business passed to a younger
generation of the two families in
1980. That year Murray was running
for Parliament and Ken was chairman
of a hospital building committee in
Seaforth so they turned over the cater-
ing business to Kevin Campbell and
Jeff. They worked together with their
families until 1986 when Jeff and
Cathy took over the business.
The business has changed over the
years. In the early days people were
mostly interested in someone to bar-
becue for them while they provided
the rest of the meal, Jeff says. Today,
people want to have someone look
after the whole meal including salads
and desserts. It's a lot more work, he
says.
Today the Cardiffs serve 10,000 to
Along the way they've done birthday
parties (for 260), buck and does, bar-
becues for curling clubs and agricul-
tural societies, Brussels FunFest and
the crops day at Centralia College, the
most challenging meal they
Jeff Cardiff: carving a niche in the market
11,000 people each year between May
and October (Jeff says barbecues at
other time of the year would be more
convenient because there'd be less
farm work to conflict but few people
think about barbecuing other than in
the summer.)
Beef still remains the most popular
meal but they regularly serve pork,
either whole pigs, roasts or pork
chops and have tried turkey and lamb.
Every barbecue is different, Jeff
says. Last year events they catered to
ranged from a wedding for 50 to the
Bruce County Cattlemen's Associa-
tion annual barbecue for 1200 people.
prepared. They had to set
up to feed 300 in a field at
the back of a farm, far from
electricity and had to use
generators to get power for
refrigeration needs. In all
they catered to nearly 30
events last year.
One of the biggest events
they've ever taken on has
been providing meals at
International Plowing
Matches in Grcy and Perth
Counties for thc Cattle-
men's Association in the
respective counties. In Grcy
they served 5100 people in
five days and in Perth, they
served 6000. At the Strat-
ford match they had extra
pressure when a storm
swept through and knocked
off the power one morning
at 11 a.m., just an hour
before they expected 1200
people for lunch. They had
to turn the spits by hand
until the power came back
on.
A favourite event is thc
Bruce County barbecue
which the Cardiff family
has been catering since
1973. Many of the people
are like old friends and
going there is like renewing a friend-
ship, Jeff says. Every year they feed
1050 pounds of beef to the 1200 peo-
ple who attend.
Busincss has grown by word of
mouth, "If you can do a good job of a
meal that's your best advertising," Jeff
says. It's a people business and people
are always coming away from the
meals to give compliments and ask for
recipes. People often think they have
some exotic recipe but everything is
done simply, but done well, Jeff says.
Depending on the size of the event,
there will be anywhere from four peo-
Continued on page 19
TOWNSMAN/MARCH-APRIL 1992 11