Altruistic Catering: Profile of Bow Catering and Multicultural Collective Kitchens Catering 

by Rhonda Lauret Parkinson

Mention the word catering and you immediately conjure up a scene from The Great Gatsby: black-and-white clad waiters serenely maneuvering champagne-laden trays through a throng composed strictly of society's upper crust. In fact, business is booming for caterers - and not just among the rich and famous either. Today's catering guru may find himself working a lavish wedding reception for an oil baron one week; a graduation bash for a group of debt-ridden students the next. Still, it is true that, for most of us, hiring a caterer is a way to impress friends, neighbours, or co-workers with our style and epicurean savoir faire. One thing for sure - we don't normally link our urge to host a festive, multi-course affair with participation in a social cause.

But for two of Calgary’s non-profit organizations, entering the food catering business was a way to ensure that a specific group of individuals gained valuable work experience. Operated by the Developmental Disabilities Resources Centre (DDRC), Bow Catering evolved from a home economics class for developmentally disabled adults at the Bow Valley Vocational Centre. Working side by side with the staff, class members began by serving lunch to other students, and were soon tackling staff luncheons and DDRC board dinners. A cookbook of favorite recipes followed, and two years later Bow Catering was officially launched. 

The rest, as they say, is history. Since 1994 the catering company has been headquartered in the southeast, where a professional chef supervises operations in a commercial kitchen complete with banquet facilities. Enter the building - with its soft lighting and gift baskets tastefully arranged in the foyer - and you're immediately struck by the distance Bow Catering has travelled since those early days of manning staff suppers. Today, their repertoire extends from ethnic cuisine to more traditional western fare. Recent challenges included composing an all-Mediterranean menu for a family Bar Mitzvah. For the opening night of Theatre Calgary's "Hank Williams: The Show he Never Gave," staff rustled up a Tex-Mex spread including cornbread muffins and stuffed jalapeno peppers. 

Besides food and liquor, staff are more than willing to handle other party essentials such as music and decorations. "We consider ourselves to be total party planners," says Sabine Kohrs, Bow Catering's Sales and Marketing Representative. It's true that clients often rely on the firm's expertise in non-food related areas. Kohrs is particularly proud of a wedding reception for personal friends (she did double duty as Master of Ceremonies) held in the banquet centre. The room was awash in black and gold, from table centrepieces to napkins. Guests feasted on grilled chicken breast with roasted tomato sauce, roast potatoes with rosemary, and seafood salad. Equally rewarding was a summer bash celebrating a child's first birthday. Not only did Bow Catering's staff wield their culinary magic - providing hot hors d'oevures and veggie and cheese platters for the adults, ice cream and cake for the kids - but they handled the decorations and entertainment. Kohrs donned a clown costume to entertain the kiddies, followed by a trip to Butterfield Acres' petting zoo. 

While developmentally disabled adults are still an important part of Bow Catering, the nature of their involvement has changed. A 1995 restructuring of vocational services separated the business component - including entrepreneurial initiatives such as Bow Catering - from the training programs. However, students enrolled in the PACE (Participation in Academics and Career Exploration) program - a joint venture between the DDRC and Alberta Vocational College - can carry out their practicum at the catering firm. In addition, one of the kitchen's four full-time staff has a developmental disability. "The way we look at it, that's 25 percent of our workforce with disabilities," says Kohrs. (All of Bow Catering's profits are poured back into initiatives such as providing environmental stimulation for children of disabled adults). 

For another non-profit organization, the Calgary Mennonite Centre for Newcomers (CMCN), catering evolved naturally from their Collective Kitchens Program. Originating in Latin America, collective kitchens are simply groups of women who pool their funds and cook meals together, stretching their food dollars in the process. As an agency serving the needs of immigrants, the CMCN felt this was a worthwhile initiative. 

Once the program was underway, Marichu Antonio, the Calgary Mennonite Centre's Community Development Coordinator, began seeking other ways to meet the needs of refugees and immigrants. Participants in the program were organized into five language groups, and "all of the groups felt lonely and isolated," she says, "both from each other and from other Canadians." Eventually, working with other Coordinators, she came up with the idea of a multicultural food and dance exchange, where women from the different cultures would meet and share potluck. At about this time, participants in the Collective Kitchens program were offered the opportunity to cater the CMCN's summer open house. Both ideas paid off: the women soon felt confident enough to invite guests, including agency representatives, to their potluck gatherings, and attendees at the open house raved over the unique mix of Asian, African and Indian cuisine. One thing led to another, and in early 1997 Multicultural Collective Kitchens Catering was born.

Almost two years later, the (approximately) thirty women involved in the catering program have displayed their epicurean talents at a variety of events, ranging from a Christmas party for 18 to an open house at the YMCA for over 400 people. No doubt the reason for their popularity lies in both the unusual cuisine and the personal touch they bring to every assignment. "We do business in a unique way," says Antonio. Depending upon the client's preferences (they are very flexible about the menu), guests are treated to a variety of African, Asian, East Indian and Arabic cuisine, each carefully labelled with its local name, Canadian equivalent, and the ingredients. In addition to preparing the dishes that they enjoyed growing up in their native homeland, the women are more than happy to impart the history of their food and culture. Customers can even request printed recipes. "We want to share the knowledge and skills we have," says Antonio. 

For the women (and occasionally, men) who participate in the Multicultural Collective Kitchens Project, the benefits have been enormous. Antonio's faith that the project would integrate immigrants into the community - boosting their self-confidence in the process - was rewarded with their first major assignment, when they catered the biannual meeting of "The Fun Club," a bunch of pleasure-loving Mount Royal professionals. Clad in ethnic costumes, the caterers mingled with the guests, sharing information about the food and the Collective Kitchens program. A Filipino woman preparing spring rolls in front of the guests told Antonio it felt good to be appreciated by people she didn't know. Another woman creating a special sauce for the simosas had a similar experience, struggling with her English at first but gaining confidence as the day wore on. 

From these auspicious beginnings, the group is now perfectly comfortable tackling events like a buffet lunch for Mobil Oil's 300-plus employees to kick off the fall United Way campaign. As for future projects, Antonio is hoping to introduce ethnic cooking classes, where women from the Collective kitchens will show Canadians how to prepare their favorite native dishes. 

This holiday season, when even the most retiring Calgarians are gearing up for a month-long entertainment blitz, why not choose a catering company that provides excellent food and supports a worthy cause at the same time? 

Originally published in Calgary City Palate.