Hot caterer puts freeze on fine food

AFTER 25 years of catering some of the best events in Joburg, Karen Short now wants to bring the experience of gourmet meals into people’s homes.

Short, the owner of the multiaward-winning catering company By Word of Mouth, has launched the Frozen For You brand, which brings home-style frozen food to clients’ dinner tables.

Guests who attended the event where served the frozen food, which included cauliflower gratin, chicken prego and roasted butternut, and pancetta mac and cheese.

For desserts there was meringue roulade, chocolate yoghurt cake with double cream, and tarte au citron.

Short was unable to attend the launch of the brand at her home in Westcliff on Tuesday night because she was recovering in hospital after over-exerting herself during a road race over the weekend.

The food presentation was flawless, and despite being frozen, it didn’t taste like it had just been thawed, something the chief executive of the company, Adrian Short, said was painstakingly achieved.

Adrian, Karen’s husband, joined the company in 2003. He said the Frozen for You brand was underpinned by seeing the freezing of food as “nature’s pause button”.

“It’s much better to freeze food than to add preservatives. Freezing locks in quality.

“We are not competing with people who mass-produce frozen meals, and we don’t intend to do that. We want to bring artisanal care to the food,” he said.

Adrian said the brand was targeted at busy people who still want to eat good food.

“Our customers are people who are living busy lives and don’t have time to procure and manufacture their own food. They are turning increasingly to convenience,” he said.

The food is available for order online and at their store in Dainfern.

Unlike with most frozen garage or convenience store frozen food, Adrian said the company was aiming to attract customers who want to stock their fridges with the food.

“Unlike refrigerated readyto-heat meals, our dishes don’t require added preservatives, enabling them to stand in a fridge for days at a time.”

He said the company wanted to be part of the food revolution.

“Almost every sector of the country is evolving, and consumer behaviour towards food is no exception.

“The culinary space needs to adapt to suit the demands of increasing numbers of time-poor people who want quality homecooked meals conveniently available to them.

“Frozen For You meets this demand more conveniently than ever,” Adrian said.

Freezing is nature’s pause button