Catering to Any Challenge
Since 1879, several generations of Devlins have owned and operated a general store in Mount Pleasant, Ontario.
With his family’s encouragement, young Chris Devlin earned a Chef’s Apprenticeship in 1985 and spent five years working in places like California, Vancouver and Florida. Along the way, he picked up many innovative dishes and food preparation techniques he wanted to put to use in his own restaurant. In 1990 Chris came home and opened his own 65-seat bistro – in the very same building his family had prospered in for over 125 years. With his son Ryan, he also runs a highly successful catering company.
After achieving his dream of opening a restaurant in his home town, Chris Devlin could have settled for perfecting the cuisine he refers to as ‘contemporary Italian with a California flair.’ Instead he looked for a way to combine his love of travel with his passion for cooking. The result was a compromise; small trips with a big grill. He started a catering business that is still flourishing over two decades later.
“I was attracted to catering partly because I saw there was a niche I could fill,” Devlin explains. “There was really nobody around other than a family caterer, who did a fantastic job, but people were looking for something a little bit more modern and innovative.”
Chris and his crew do everything from intimate weddings of 30 people to high-end corporate gatherings for 600. “We prefer to do tapas and hors d’oeurves style functions, featuring lots of different proteins, vegetables and sweets. Preferably an event where we have a couple of hours to work with our barbeques and cook trucks.
People look at catering as this glorious, fun-filled occupation and a lot of times it is. Some events are fun, like concerts, where you get a chance to meet some interesting people. But we’ve done plenty of strange events, too. Probably the craziest have been in gravel pits.
I have a lot of passion for catering that keeps me going, but I can’t tell you how many nights we’ve had the trucks stuck in the mud after a rain storm and I’m crawling underneath them with my white uniform, hooking them up to yank them out. That can be pretty challenging.”
“You have to think on your feet when you’re catering,” adds Chris’s son, Ryan. “One time, torrential rain came out of nowhere and all the tables started to sink. The only way out of it was to crush pop cans to put under the table legs, otherwise all the food would have been on the ground.”
“You certainly have lots of weather and location challenges,” comments Chris. “But Crown Verity grills give you so much versatility in adapting to any situation. They’re portable and easily moved. The whole design is fantastic.
There’s a removable pan that takes the drip and is easy to clean after the function. You can break the barbeque down easily, so it’s really not too heavy to move if you have to get it in and out of the van fast. They’re so reliable, nothing goes wrong with them. We’ve never had one issue in twenty years.
Crown Verity certainly gives me the edge; functionality is second to none. There’s lots of burners so it really gives you lots of versatility and helps in trying to get all your meals done all at the same time. It has the highest output out of any barbeque and a big cook surface that’s hot everywhere, not spotty.
HAVING THE PRECISION OF HOT TEMPERATURES OVER THE WHOLE GRILL MEANS WE CAN HAVE THIRTY TO FORTY STEAKS ON AT A TIME. IN FACT TRYING TO KEEP UP CAN BE A TRICK IN ITSELF.
“What I love is the thick grates and how they hold their heat,” says Ryan. “Doesn’t matter if we’re putting forty steaks on the grill or just two, the marks are consistent all the way across. That’s where the flavour comes from; it’s in the marks.”
“Crown Verity barbeques also look impressive,” says Chris. “It’s that commercial stainless look everyone respects. When we pull into a catering job, they can see we’re professionals, that we have the equipment and we’re going to put on an outstanding event for them.”
“Great equipment is so important,” Ryan adds. “Like having a good paintbrush or pencil is to an artist. A good grill to a chef is where the quality comes from.”
“My advice to any young aspiring chef would be, ‘You’re only as good as the products you have.’ Start with a good food product, but make sure you have equipment that’s going to really bring it together and get it to the table not only on time, but with excellence.”
Check out Devlin’s Country Bistro here.
