Chefs Catering for a Cause

BY MICHAEL THOMAS

Forty-five years ago, Mr. Peter Silks a Greek by nationality came to Canada, started working as a chef, built a reputation for great food and service and with help from his employer started a restaurant, which blossomed into a chain of food locations, and as the story goes the rest is history.

Siklis’ son Justin Silks continued that history when he took over the family business almost two decades ago and went from restaurant to cooperate catering offering office breakfasts, lunches, and events in five locations. As it turns out Siklis not only changed how the business ran, but he decided to include helping those in need alongside his love for catering and serving others. He is currently partnered with Red Door Family Shelter, a Leslieville organization offering shelter and assistance programs for homeless families and women fleeing domestic violence. For every meal ordered from the Red Door Family menu, one meal is given back to Red Door. With a goal of donating 50,000 meals in 2019, this represents a quarter of a million dollars that the charity will be able to relocate from paying for meals into other much-needed programs, allowing them to help even more families in need.

The Chef Catering President told Toronto Caribbean Newspaper, “We were looking to partner up with a charity and Red Door fit the bill just fine because it really gave the most back to the people who really need it, and I am a firm believer that nobody in this city should have to go without breakfast, lunch or dinner at any time.” Silks explained to Toronto Caribbean Newspaper that his corporate clients are indirectly giving back and helping a very worthy cause every time they order food, therefore it’s a win-win situation all around.

Speaking of clients, Chef Catering boasts a very high-end list of cooperating clients, which includes: Staples Canada, Apple Canada, CGI, and Coca Cola Canada just to name a few. The Chef Catering boss (who takes care of most of the catering needs for Staples Canada across the country) said, “Even though Staples Canada is going through branding they are one of the biggest most generous supporters of this cause.” Silklis says his catering business aims to please high and low. He explained to Toronto Caribbean Newspaper, “If someone wants to place an order and cannot afford certain things, we are always open to customizing to suit their pockets and taste too.”

Silklis told a story of how his company did some catering for a Caribbean cruise around the Caribana season, and some folks were not exactly thrilled with the jerk chicken, “We went back to the drawing board and the next time we served the jerk chicken, it was so spot on that they wanted to meet the Caribbean chef. But guess what? That’s when we introduced our little Polish chef, who was around 65 with a white beard.”

Some reports have shown that fewer Canadians are donating to charity these days, and the facts show that only 20.4% of Canadians donated to registered charities in 2016 (The Fraser Institute from December 2018). This is down considerably from a decade ago when 32.2% of the population made donations.  In 2006 initiatives such as Chef Catering became even more relevant in this “all-time low” funding scenario for registered charities. When asked what motivates him Silklis said, ”This is not a business thing; this is something that we believe in and want to promote. We hope that other people in the industry look at this program and say, “This is something we want to get involved in,” whether or not they start their own program or the come on board.”

As for future plans, he said things change rapidly every day, but even though this is an all year round program, he hopes to capitalize on times like the Christmas and Thanksgiving holidays when folks are in the spirit of giving. He openly invites other businesses to join in such a worthy and meaningful cause.