CATERING, RANKED BY 2015 GROSS REVENUE
RETAIL & LEISURE
Top 10 M CULINARY CONCEPTS 20645 N. 28th St., Phoenix, 85050 // 602-200-5757 // mculinary.com AZ EMPLOYEES 234 REVENUE $10.2 million PRINCIPAL Brandon Maxwell, president and CEO; Michael DeMaria, chief culinary officer HIGHESTRANKING WOMAN Kristine Ruzylo, director of finance and administration SANTA BARBARA CATERING 1090 W. Fifth St., Suite 1, Tempe, 85281 // 480-921-3150 // santabarbaracatering.com AZ EMPLOYEES 220 REVENUE $7.8 million PRINCIPAL AND HIGHESTRANKING WOMAN Patricia Christofolo, owner FABULOUS FOOD FINE CATERING AND EVENTS 120 S. 26th St., Phoenix, 85034 // 602-267-1818 // fabulousfood.net AZ EMPLOYEES 285 REVENUE $6.5 million PRINCIPAL Alan “Skip” Hause, president HIGHEST-RANKING WOMAN Chantal Hause, vice president ATLASTA CATERING AND EVENT CONCEPTS 428 E. Thunderbird Road, PMB 146, Phoenix, 85022 // 602-242-8185 // atlastacatering.com AZ EMPLOYEES 130 REVENUE $6.3 million PRINCIPAL Steve Short, president and CEO HIGHEST-RANKING WOMAN Kristine Short, vice president and chief financial officer NIBBLERS CATERING 225 N. 32nd Place, Phoenix, 85034 // 602-266-8100 // nibblerscatering.com AZ EMPLOYEES 32 REVENUE $3.9 million PRINCIPAL Brandon Maxwell, president and CEO; Michael DeMaria, chief culinary officer HIGHEST-RANKING WOMAN Cynthia Sharkey, general manager ARIZONA CATERING, INC. 1716 W. Main St., Mesa, 85201 // 480-898-8848 // Arizonacatering. com AZ EMPLOYEES 26 REVENUE $3.87 million PRINCIPAL Mitch Katz, president HIGHESTRANKING WOMAN Stephanie Sallie, vice president of operations JENNIFER’S CATERING AND THE MARKET RESTAURANT+BAR 3603 E. Indian School Road, Suite A, Phoenix, 85018 // 602-626-5050 // themarketphx.com AZ EMPLOYEES 25 REVENUE $2.5 million PRINCIPAL AND HIGHESTRANKING WOMAN Jennifer Russo, owner and chef COOKIES IN BLOOM/HANNAH’S CARAMEL APPLES 3931 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix, 85018 // 602-955-3030 // cookiesinbloom.com/ phoenix, hannahscaramelapples.com AZ EMPLOYEES 10 REVENUE $1.3 million PRINCIPAL AND HIGHEST-RANKING WOMAN Andrea Madden, president THE HERB BOX CATERING + EVENTS 7051 E. Fifth Ave., Suite W, Scottsdale, 85251 // 480-2896166 // theherbbox.com AZ EMPLOYEES 65 REVENUE $1.3 million PRINCIPAL Michael Mazzocco, president and co-owner; Susan Wilcox, CEO and co-owner HIGHEST-RANKING WOMAN Susan Wilcox, CEO and co-owner DAD’S CATERING SERVICE, INC. 739 E. Dunlap, Phoenix, 85020 // 602-861-1379 // dadscatering.com AZ EMPLOYEES 65 REVENUE $1.2 million PRINCIPAL Timothy Ferman, president HIGHEST-RANKING WOMAN Linda K. Ek, vice president, secretary and treasurer
A BIG-LEAGUE CATERER A brief stint working in a department store during the holidays confirmed what Chantal Hause did not want to be doing. On a friend’s advice, she applied for a food service job at John Gardiner’s Tennis Ranch (now Sanctuary on Camelback Mountain). “It was amazing,” Hause says. “I got food.” A few years later, she got her first taste of catering at Vincent on Camelback, where she eventually became catering director. By 1996, Hause and her husband Skip, an executive chef, took their expertise on the road. For two years, they managed a mobile concession and catering company licensed by McDonald’s Corporation, providing food and beverage service for large-scale events such as NBA All Star Week, The NFL Experience, and NASCAR races from Atlanta to Seattle. “It was quite an education!” Hause recalls. Overseeing hundreds of employees, tackling the logistics of bringing cooking equipment into a building like Javits Convention Center in Manhattan, and slicing through the associated red tape honed the couple’s event-planning chops. They returned to loyal clients in Phoenix, where they continue to specialize in producing one-ofa-kind events and artisan cuisine through Fabulous Food Fine Catering and Events. “If the client can dream it, we can make it,” Hause says. “We do a lot of research, a lot of testing. We’re not locked into one
style of food or even of service.” She thinks nothing of orchestrating events from Sedona to Montana or setting up a kitchen to serve dinner to a thousand people, insisting, “Managing the timing, organizing the service and kitchen staff it takes to pull that off is pretty daunting at times—but fun!” Fabulous Food Fine Catering and Events also operates Gertrude’s at Desert Botanical Garden, and The Lab Cafe at the Arizona Science Center. Hause admits she couldn’t do it all without an extraordinary staff, including 30 in the kitchen and five salespeople, who she insists, “really rock the socks in this town.” “I am not a micromanager,” Hause says. “My teams are better at doing this than I am—on purpose. Some of our employees have been with us for almost 20 years.” Hause and her husband rely on family time to balance the hectic pace of their business. Every summer and at Christmas, they travel with their sons, ages 5 and 7, to Kalispell, Montana, in their motor home. But, the alchemy created by changing expectations of new clients and the innovative ideas of her staff continue to fire her up. “We’re learning something new every day,” Hause says. “Every time somebody new comes in, they bring a fresh perspective and this business evolves. The things that we implement just amaze me.”
CHANTAL HAUSE OWNER BY JOYCE HADLEY COPELAND
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