Luke Simpkins (Cowan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish to congratulate Creative Catering, a small business in Cowan, for their victory in the Small Catering category at the National Restaurant and Catering Awards for Excellence. Creative Catering exist because of the determination and dedication to quality and service of Jake and Natalie Ferreo, who together dreamed of and built a wonderful business and a true example of entrepreneurship. They are two distinguished chefs who met in a kitchen and then, when looking to start a family, started a catering business to enable that to happen. Financed by Jake going to the mines for a year, theirs is a story of sacrificing and dreaming. On his week off, he would work in the kitchen of the business, all whilst they were raising their first child. After that year, Jake was able to work on the business full time as it grew and kept growing. Jake now does more of the business development, including creating the website himself, while Natalie runs the kitchen, all in a small premises they now own in Wangara.

Creative Catering is not just the business name; it is the business philosophy, which they describe as 'being given the freedom to be creative'. Always fresh and never created elsewhere and resold, the food is of the highest quality, and that is why they are so popular with their clients. They employ 35 wait staff and six people in the kitchen and as many as eight events a night are catered by them. Creative Catering is a successful business, but it has been built on hard work. This has not been a free ride. It has come about entirely through hard work and commitment. I congratulate Jake and Natalie Ferreo for their efforts and their success.