| FRESH FACE 06.04.08 10:00 AM |
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| Caterers With a Conscience |
| From local ingredients to biodegradable flatware, Vert takes an all-encompassing approach to eco-friendly catering. |
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New Kids on the Block: A love of locally sourced ingredients and a commitment to the environment led three young entrepreneurs on a green mission: to create a zero-impact approach to catering. Co-owner Marilyn Simms brought marketing skills from a stint running Steem Event Management, chef Pedro Dos Santos developed his culinary style at restaurants Latitude and the Fifth, and catering manager Conor Pollock was drawn to the vision of social enterprise fresh out of university. In June 2007, the three combined their backgrounds to launch Vert Catering.
Good Eats: Whether it’s a 700-person canapé fund-raiser for the Niagara Escarpment or a sit-down lunch for engineering firm Halcrow Yolles, Dos Santos creates custom menus for each occasion. His vegan spin on poutine pairs fingerling potato fries, miso-mushroom gravy, and grated soy cheese. For a more high-end dinner, he serves smoked Black Russian tea- and lavender-encrusted Ontario lamb with couscous and roasted vegetables. “They provide catering in keeping with our own values, and their passion comes across in the food they create,” says Erin MacKeen of Urban Space Property Group, which rents to arts organizations and nongovernmental organizations. At a recent meet-and-greet breakfast event for tenants, MacKeen hired Vert to set up stations with yogurt and fruit parfaits, and Dos Santos prepared French-style scrambled eggs. |
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PHOTO GALLERY |
 | Catering manager Conor Pollock, co-owner Marilyn Simms, and chef Pedro Dos Santos at the Vert Catering kitchen in Toronto.
Photo: May Truong for BizBash |
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 | Confit duck with concasse avocado, topped with a bernaise sauce served in a pastry cup.
Photo: Courtesy of Vert Catering
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Feeding the World: “People know our values, know it’s about something bigger than a meal,” says Simms, laying out the packaging and cutlery at their storefront kitchen, where hot, inexpensive meals to go are a new sideline to their catering trade. Potatoes, sugar, and corn are not only ingredients in their “classy comfort food,” as Simms describes it—they’re also components of the biodegradable tableware Vert uses. They take composting bins to their events, make deliveries in AutoShare vehicles, donate to food banks, and support charities by donating five percent of the proceeds from purchased meals through their Food that Gives program.
Looking Forward: As the company grows, so does its commitment to the environment. “We ask ourselves with every step, ‘What kind of environmental impact can we make?’” Dos Santos says. He is eagerly awaiting the conversion of his Mercedes station wagon to run on recycled kitchen vegetable oil and is exploring ways to take the business off the power grid by adding solar panels. On the culinary side of things, the company is working on a line of frozen entrées including torchon meat pies flavoured with garam masala, cinnamon, and orange.
—Paul French
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