Award Winning Family Events & Catering Business in York
An introduction to the Family…Purple Chilli Wedding and Events Catering
Mark, Nova, Lewis and Ellie
We would like to share our family experiences and where the passion for food started in our family run business including catering events from around the United Kingdom, and of course, catering for the spectacular wedding venue “Thicket Priory”.
Where it all began… Grandma’s Kitchen
Growing up as a child I was always hanging around in the kitchen waiting for the freshly baked offerings from Gran! Learning quickly that with the simple ingredients you could create mouth watering dishes with taste and touch.
For Nova it was pretty much a similar story, however much more involved and learnt from a very traditional Belgian gran, and then taking her career further working with Brookes catering and moving on to Disraeli York, then before working as husband and wife team at Purple Chilli & Events Catering, Nova ran a very successful fine dining restaurant in York as Head Chef before leaving to start a family.
Mark’s career began working as commis chef at the Viking Hotel and was quickly promoted through the ranks to Senior Chef De Party in the 5 star rosette standard restaurant, which included classic training in French, Asian influences.
Then progressing to outside catering for 17 years, working with all aspects of cooking, butchery also having the experience to work along side classic Michelin star chefs covering all aspects of cooking from baking, fish mongering, catering for many cuisines throughout all events…
The Family
Working together, we both share a passion for great food and high standards… We have often been asked the question “do you not want to throttle each other in the kitchen”, in truth we have both experienced high volume events and delivered catering for high profile events such as Royal Ascot, Wimbledon, The BBC Sports Personality of the Year, The Dubai Air Show and The Chelsea Flower Show.
So both of us are absolutely relaxed when working together, a few pictures below showing the team working together;
Working with the offspring
Lewis is a great help at the drop of a hat he helps us with event set up and delivery, and is also a crucial part of the team.
When Ellie is back from university she supports us in any way she can front of house or food preparation, a great pair of hands to have available.
We really do enjoy weddings and events as its being a part of someone’s story, right from the start from the initial meet to the food on the plate, the great thing about food is that people have completely different tastes so we get to offer many cuisines, a sample menu here for you to look at, we offer bespoke menus for those who are looking for something different…
Proud Moments – We are very proud of the work we achieve and love to hear what customers think of us, in 2019 we were nominated for the English Wedding Awards and won for the North.
Keeping Calm In The Kitchen
We believe that a run is part of the recipe for keeping calm in the kitchen, we enjoy fitness and as a family we all have different focuses, most of us run however Lewis gets a little more active with some white collar boxing, we are also huge fans of York City Knights and have really missed the games whilst the lockdown has been on.
We have worked on many events together as a family including events of up to 3000 guests “never a cross word said! We all stay focused and on task, have a look at some of our starters ready to serve.
Our own personal favourite places to dine in York include the Ivy and Roots or a traditional Italian at Mama Mia’s on Gillygate.
As chefs and going to friends for dinner we always asked what our favourite dish is and to be fair we just loved to be cooked for and would never complain and just be grateful for a change.
Meeting Bruce, we were delighted to meet and be invited to look at Thicket Priory, and provide catering for the Priory’s guests for future wedding and events
Anyone who has the pleasure to visit this stunning wedding and events venue will be wowed as soon as you pull up the sweeping drive.
The building is breath taking, and as you enter Thicket Priory, the décor is unbelievable with classic and modern twists and spacious enough to hold small intimate weddings to large weddings.
We have been fortunate to cater for weddings and events since the open of Thicket Priory to one event in particular the Friends & Family of Thicket Priory”
A few pictures from the event below…
Working with Anna and the team at Thicket Priory, is like clockwork, the teams dedication to ensure the weddings and events go to plan is faultless!
We love being part of everyone’s special day, if you have any questions regarding our menus please don’t hesitate to call or email us.
We hope you have enjoyed a small insight to the team at Purple Chilli Events Catering.
Best wishes
Mark & Nova.
A few more pictures from weddings and events;
