Country Creek Catering
 | Author:
Nancy Marks
Nancy Marks: MT43 News Secretary and News Editor |
Country Creek Catering Nancy Marks Get ready for some finger-lickin' good food Broadwater County food lovers! Country Creek Catering has come to town.
Kathy and Marvin Schaefer have opened their catering business for service during the holidays. Schaefers moved here from Issaquah, Washington where they ran a catering business for eleven years before ‘retiring’ to Townsend a year ago this past November.
Marvin has been in the construction business since he worked with his dad in Issaquah building houses. He opened his own business and has built forty houses since then. He and his wife of 47 years came to Townsend to visit friends. That was in April 2021. By November they had bought a lot and built a house with a commercial kitchen. They have close family ties here since now somIe of their children and grandchildren live here as well. “It all happened pretty fast,” Marvin exclaimed.
So how did Marvin and Kathy get into catering from pounding nails? Marvin explained, “I always loved cooking with my mom and had wanted to go to culinary school. When my mom died, my business partner approached me about taking a chance and going to culinary school. I took the chance and life hasn’t been the same since.”
Marvin graduated from the Cordon Bleu School in Seattle in 2010. After graduating with honors, he did his internship with a butcher shop and catering business. He continued in the construction business where he learned to build kitchens specifically for catering businesses. “As it turns out the construction business and catering sort of go hand in hand,” he said.
Marvin and Kathy work together to prepare food for several people or several hundred people. Kathy is a self-admitted organizer and they purchase the food together. Kathy had lived in several places growing up, but graduated from Issaquah High School. After she and Marvin were married she worked full-time raising their family and holding down jobs in the dental and the printing industry. They each worked all week, so they could ‘play’ at catering on the weekends.
In Washington they purchased much of their food supplies from the Costco Business Center which sells directly to caterers, Marv said. Since there are none of those in Montana yet, they plan to purchase their supplies from the soon-to-be-opened Chefs’ Store, near WinCo in Helena. The Chefs’ Store also will carry catering equipment and appliances.
The secret to their success Kathy explained is making excellent food from a pretty set menu. “We’ve found what kinds of food people really like and have planned our menus around that,” she said.
Country Creek Catering may be reached at marv.schaefer@chef.net for more information.
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PhotoCredit: Nancy Marks
Image 1 Caption: Country Creek Caterers Kathy and Marvin Schaefer shown at their home in Townsend.
Image 2 Caption: Kathy and Marvin Schaefer in their shop in Issaquah, Washington.
