Cork firm Elite Cuisine celebrates 20 years in business

ONE of Cork’s best-known food catering companies will celebrate 20 years in business this month – having survived and thrived through a recession, global pandemic and energy crisis.

Ber O’Donovan and Ian Shannon are the owners of Elite Cuisine who have been providing food and dining options in the corporate sector and in people’s homes for the last 20 years.

Back in early 2004, Ber and Ian had been working together in a Cork city restaurant. Ian asked Ber to work with him on a couple of private dining events after which they knew it was something they wanted to pursue.

The next step was to establish their own catering business with a personal touch. They felt with their high standard of food and service that there was a massive gap in the private and corporate market in Cork.

Once they had established the idea and thrashed out a name for the fledging business, they began searching for industrial kitchens that might be under utilised and for six years they ran Elite Cuisine from Cork Constitution Rugby Club on Temple Hill and also catered for all the rugby club’s events.

As the business expanded, they grew out of their Cork Con base and decided to bite the bullet and build their dream kitchen and warehouse premises on Monahan Road.

They specialise in private and corporate dining, and now since covid had added an additional arm to the business selling their artisan food products to SuperValu and specialist delis around Cork city and county.

Elite Cuisine employ 11 staff and a have a large range of casuals for staffing large events.

“We can’t praise our staff enough, they are such wonderful people who work hard with us and are so loyal to us. Genuinely, we have a home family and a work family,” said Ms O’Donovan “We ask the client what they want and yes ,basically we can project manage the event, meeting all their needs.

“All our clients are lovely - from the first call to the day after the event when we check to see how they got on. I believe it comes down to our providing a great food and a service that makes people happy.

“We take work away from our clients making both them and their guests happy.

“We do it because we love it. It’s very rewarding work. We come to people’s houses and are part of their big day. We have families that we have worked with for years.” From mid-April to the end of May is Communion season and Elite Cuisine provide catering for an average of 20 Communion parties a Saturday, providing hot and cold meals for families from Timoleague to Fermoy.

Tomorrow, they’ll welcome the Minister of Finance Michael McGrath to celebrate their 20th anniversary party at Cork Con where it all began.

“I congratulate Elite Cuisine as they mark 20 years in business here in Cork. It is a name synonymous with quality and they have been integrally involved in helping many families, businesses, community groups and sporting organisations to celebrate and mark significant events. I wish them every success with their plans for the future,” said Mr McGrath.

“We want to thank all the people who have helped us along the way from our brilliantly loyal staff to the receptionists who ring us time and time again for corporate events and to our neighbours at Monahan Road. And of course our families that put up with us in the crazy busy periods,” concluded Ms O’Donovan.