Business Spotlight: Fun with Food

Phil Colbert knew he had a catering concept that went beyond a typical menu.

The former restaurant chef launched the company in 2009 but struggled to decide on a name.

“I love what I do. Being a chef is hard and stressful, but I enjoy every aspect of it,” he says. “I love food and feeding people.”

Then it hit him: Happy Chef Catering Co.

Happy Chef Catering is a full-service catering company specializing in weddings and offering private cooking classes. On the class menu is a Tour of India, Spanish dishes, sushi rolling, a New England clambake and a low country French boil.

“These off-the-wall menus are all kinds of fun stuff that not everybody else can do,” Colbert says.

Trial by fire
Colbert has worked in restaurants since he was 15.

“I loved the locker room kind of atmosphere. It’s the fun aspect where it’s not a button-up, bank job and I loved that,” he says.

Colbert moved to Springfield from small-town Steelville, east of Rolla, in 1998 to attend Missouri State University.

After earning his degree in entertainment management, Colbert worked as a chef in such local restaurants as Bijan’s, Clary’s and Ocean Zen and found himself energized by getting out of the kitchen on various catering jobs.

“I loved getting out and traveling and just the challenge of setting up at a different location,” he says. “It’s a whole other set of challenges when you’re catering versus cooking the same meals over and over again in the kitchen.”

Colbert had the knowledge and vision to start his own catering company.

“I knew that’s what I wanted to do, and it was scary because I didn’t know how often in your life you would need a caterer. But we started being busy day one,” Colbert says.

Today, wedding catering makes up the vast majority of the company’s roughly $90,000 annual revenue.

“It’s the 95 rule. Out of all the different products and services we offer, 95 percent come for a very specific product, which is a very good-value wedding menu,” Colbert says.

The wedding party buffet, priced at $8.50 per head, comprises dinner salad and rolls, an entree of beef, chicken or pork and two sides, such as mushroom risotto, garlic parmesan mashed potatoes or green beans.

On the higher end, Happy Chef also caters to private dinners.

“We did a private dinner for four last Friday night. It was a five-course luxury menu at the client’s home,” Colbert said of the $80 per person menu of a caviar trio, pan-seared sea scallops, wild field green salad, filet mignon with a broiled lobster tail and chocolate souffles for dessert.

Venues, etc.
The wedding price point resonates with Sarah Rein and her clients through Branson Party Rentals LLC. Rein manages eight wedding venues in the Branson area.

“Out of all the caterers I work with, Phil offers the most affordable meal for the best quality,” Rein says. “This time of year is beyond busy. Out of the eight venues I manage, we are doing 10 to 15 weddings a weekend and Phil is involved in multiple weddings every weekend.”

With two sous chefs and eight contracted employees, Colbert says he has shrunk down Happy Chef in recent years.

“I’m happier now being pretty much a one-man operation with a lot of help from part-time employees,” he says, noting the temporary workers are arranged through Staffing Plus.

“It’s more important to me to provide a great service and actually be hands-on, continuing to keep my prices where they are, than it would be to spend all day in an office telling people what to do,” Colbert says.

The historic Pythian Castle in Springfield is a venue Happy Chef regularly works with, especially for its murder mystery dinners.

“We like him because we get him every time we work with Happy Chef,” owner Tamara Finocchiaro says. “He’s reliable, consistent and efficiently staffed.”

Monica Perryman, owner of A to Z Party Rental, works with Happy Chef regularly supplying transporters, plates, forks and napkins for catering events.

“His company name is really who he is. He’s happy,” Perryman says.