SPRUCE GROVE, Alta. – Everyone from dishwasher to head chef is important in the food business, says Elizabeth Marsh of Elizabethan Catering.
She and her husband-chef Steven Marsh employ 24 full-time and 235 part-time staff in a Spruce Grove company that has mushroomed from a tiny home kitchen in 1985 to today’s 10,000 sq. foot commercial kitchen. With $1.5 million in annual sales, it has catered to royalty, film sets and rock stars, serving as few as two at a sitting or as many as 25,000 in one week. Their biggest single event was preparing meals for 11,000.
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Elizabeth said caterers must be well organized and trust their staff to do their jobs. No one on her staff has the “lowest job on the totem pole.” All are integral to creating memories that will last a lifetime.
“They’re not just laying a table but creating atmosphere,” she said.
Active in mentoring youth and job shadowing programs, Elizabeth strives to make first-time work experiences positive for teens. “I saw it as an opportunity to make a difference,” she said, noting her role as leader and adviser. They will take what they learn here through their life.
Elizabeth regularly speaks at career days and coaches others on how to set up effective job internships, giving out business cards to youth and encouraging their questions, input and ideas.
“I take them everywhere with me,” she said, citing young peoples’ roles in giving presentations and sitting in on business meetings. She encouraged one youth to make a presentation on how to improve Edmonton’s annual bridal show.
Elizabeth knows first hand the challenges of food services. She has served as an impromptu master of ceremonies when the best man was too drunk, re-decorated a wedding scene trashed by an overnight storm and dealt with a goat that butted guests and ate entrees.
“I’ve juggled 20 brides on a weekend, 20 brides all having a snit fit with their mother and all wanting to take it out on us,” said Elizabeth, a British accent flavouring her words. “It’s not always the happiest place to be in the bridal world.
“It’s up to us to take care of it. You’ve got to get them through it.”
Elizabeth is comfortable as the public face of her business. It is named for the Elizabethan era of great feasts and for the restaurant that Steven first worked at as a chef in England, from where they both hail.
She believes in exuding a high degree of professionalism, this day dressed in a crisp lemon suit with a patterned scarf pinned at the shoulder.
Elizabeth also believes in seizing all opportunities, whether speaking to youth or promoting the business. Known for her bridal expertise, she seeks out opportunities for guest spots on radio or television.
She stressed the importance of taking chances, soaking up information and trying new roles: “Have a focus and run toward it; don’t fear failure.”
Holidays for the Marshes are few and far between. She often escapes into the world of community theatre and they host occasional dinner parties with friends at their home outside Stony Plain.
It’s their retreat into the natural world of northern lights and croaking frogs and away from the bustle of a profession always in the midst of dozens of people.
Both Marshes had other interests prior to taking up catering. Steven, 47, had plans to be a veterinarian and she, 38, wanted to study dentistry. Steven, smitten by the Canadian landscape, capitalized on a demand for chefs to get into the country. The longtime friends started courting years later and Elizabeth quickly realized she had to be involved also.
“I came to the conclusion that you would never see your partner if you were doing something else,” said Elizabeth, whose roles have grown from cleaning to bridal consulting to sales to public relations.
The key to their success is its humble beginnings, initially using their home as collateral for expanding the business and relying on friends to peel tons of potatoes and carrots.
“You must be very strong in your focus, you must see a future,” Elizabeth said, citing shifts of 72 hours straight for Steven and 30 hours for her.
“I spent my first 18 months in Canada without a day off.”
Even their wedding 10 years ago was put off multiple times due to scheduling conflicts with wedding jobs. They allowed themselves only one day for their wedding and one day for a honeymoon before returning to the kitchen.
Steven said it is a grueling lifestyle, but the burly man loves food – preparing it, eating it and making others happy with it.
Like Elizabeth, Steven has his causes in addition to managing the controlled chaos that is a commercial kitchen where hundreds of meals, linens and dishes go out the door every day.
A regular contributor to local food agencies, he would like to see a more co-ordinated approach in nearby Edmonton to collecting and feeding the disadvantaged. He recalled the nightmare of getting rid of leftovers from a turkey dinner they catered where only 200 of 500 guests attended.
Brewing under his tall white hat this day are more immediate concerns – restocking the fridge for the next job and launching a new line of take-out gourmet meals, perhaps this fall.
