Olive Chase, founder and president of The Casual Gourmet, at The Casual Gourmet Express in the lobby of Cape Cod Hospital

(Hyannis, July 25, 2011) Olive and Dave Chase of Marstons Mills know firsthand the importance of the Cape Cod Hospital Emergency Department. Not only was Olive’s father, Joseph M. DiRienzo, treated there frequently during the twenty years he lived on the Cape; their son Dave Jr. received excellent care when he was a young boy suffering from an extremely rare and baffling condition. “The Cape Cod Hospital Emergency Department has been very important to my family over many, many years,” Olive recently stated.

That is why Olive, the founder and owner of the Casual Gourmet, decided to celebrate the anniversary of their 25th year in business by giving back to the community with a fund raiser to benefit the hospital’s emergency department.

“Instead of throwing ourselves a party,” Olive said, “we decided to raise both money and awareness for the expansion of the Emergency Department – an important community asset – and the need to keep it vibrant and healthy. Dave and I have seen on many occasions how busy they are, how competent and compassionate the doctors and nurses and support staff are, and how vital they are to the community.”

To raise funds for the Emergency Department, raffle tickets are being offered by the Cape Cod Healthcare Foundation for one dollar each. The Casual Gourmet is matching all ticket sales and proceeds will be donated directly to the hospital.

Tickets will be available at The Casual Gourmet in Centerville, The Casual Gourmet Express at Cape Cod Mall, The Casual Gourmet Express in the lobby of Cape Cod Hospital, and at the Cape Cod Hospital Gift Shop. Anyone purchasing five or more raffle tickets will receive a free cup of coffee from The Casual Gourmet. Weekly drawings will be held for a $25 gift certificate to the Casual Gourmet and a grand prize drawing will be held on September 2nd for a $250 Casual Gourmet gift certificate. Raffle tickets will be on sale at all locations through September 2.

Olive founded the Casual Gourmet in the Centerville Shopping Center in 1986, the same year she and Dave were married. They moved into a larger store front there in 1991 and to the Bell Tower Mall in 1995, before buying their current location next door in 2006. “We move about 300 feet at a time,” Olive joked. The coffee shop in the hospital was opened in 1999 and moved a little less than that across the lobby during the renovations last year.

“We have been blessed to grow our business on Cape Cod and are grateful for the opportunity to serve the Cape community,” Olive said. “The Cape Cod Hospital Emergency Department has been there for us every step of the way. They did amazing things for my dad and my son and we will always be grateful to them. This is the perfect way for us to celebrate our silver anniversary.”

It was an amazing week spent at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.  We had a chance to see many old friends and to make a bunch of new ones.  We attended as many learning sessions as we could for four days, learning from and listening to leaders in our industry like Meryl & Andy Snow of Feastivities, Jen Delaye of The JDK Group, Joanne Purnell & Dan Smith of Good Gracious! and Jack Milan & Ken Barrett of Different Tastes.  We perused the massive tradeshow held at the Las Vegas Convention Center for new and exciting products we could bring home to Cape Cod.

The view from the Balcony of Olive's room at the Cosmopolitan

On the last day of the convention & tradeshow, both Olive and I attended the annual meeting of the International Caterers Association which was held on the tradeshow floor.  During the meeting, Olive, who has sat on the Board of Directors since 2010, was surprised by the outgoing President of the ICA with the President’s Volunteer Service Award.  Olive was also officially made treasurer of the ICA at the end of the meeting and will serve a two year term in that position.

It's official ~ Olive is treasurer of the ICA!

We can definitely say that what happened in Vegas over the last week will not stay in Vegas.  We are looking forward to incorporating what we learned into as many of our 2011 weddings as we possibly can!

We got to see some of the newest trends in catering, including this human champagne chandelier:

Guests lined up with glass in hand for the opportunity to have the hanging acrobat pour them a glass of bubbly.  Talk about unique!  There was a lot of talk this year about total guest experience and that we need to consider all event elements, not just the food, to make an event memorable.

As usual, the ICA was out in force at the conference.  Many of the conference presenters, including myself, were ICA members.  Providing education, mentoring and resources for professional caterers is one of the primary goals of the ICA.  The ICA hospitality room was a great place to find caterers from around the globe sharing ideas and concepts with their peers.  In the end, we all went home with new friends, new ideas, and renewed enthusiasm for what we do.

Then there was The International Caterers Association CATIE Awards Gala.  This event is the Oscars of catering.  It was held at the brand new Mandarin Oriental at CityCenter.  The food and décor were absolutely cutting edge!  It will be hard to beat next year.

Check out this picture of the Signature Best Event – the award went to Culinary Capers of Vancouver –

They catered a four-course luncheon on the Great Wall of China!!  Can you imagine the excitement of catering an event of this magnitude?!  It was amazing just listening to the challenges they had to overcome.  It reminded us that no challenge is too big.  Pushing the limits is what makes us better.

This year the Casual Gourmet helped with the technical aspects of putting the CATIEs (Catered Arts Through Innovative Excellence) entry process online for the first time.  We did not submit any entries this year, but I did get to go on stage and present two awards!

Congrats to our own Sarah Biggs and Dave Chase for being presented Star Service Awards from the ICA.  They have both put in countless hours of work for the organization and it was wonderful to see them recognized!

Catering is such a dynamic, engaging industry, and this time in Las Vegas is a great time to celebrate that – with fabulous food and amazing parties, of course!

Casual Gourmet Express brings creative touch to takeout

By Gwenn Friss

STAFF WRITER

October 15, 2009

Sometimes lunch hour involves doing errands and grabbing something to eat — either on the run or at your desk.

The Casual Gourmet Express recently opened by founder Olive Chase and her crew in the Cape Cod Mall’s food court is a reminder that you don’t have to sacrifice taste and freshness on those days.

The Casual Gourmet Express

Cape Cod Mall food court,

769 Iyannough Road (Route 132), Hyannis

508-775-4946

thecasualgourmet.com

Plus, it’s kind of intriguing to try the informal offerings of a popular catering company whose food is often found at corporate gatherings and weddings, such as a recent weekend when our friends Jane and Joseph got married at the family’s summer home in the Chapoquoit section of West Falmouth. The wedding food — passed hot hors d’oeuvres and a buffet of beef tenderloin, seafood kebabs, bowtie pasta and crisp green beans with baby carrots — was fancier, of course.

But the catering did share some of the touches you’ll find at the mall — namely, amazingly good bread, vegetables so crisp they spray juice when bitten, and the ginger slaw, which came on ahi tarts as a wedding appetizer and is also part of the Thai Chicken Wrap ($6.49) at the Express.

The Express doesn’t have a huge menu, but there’s enough choice to make it a regular stop. It offers four panini, three specialty sandwiches on hearty seven-grain or focaccia bread, six wraps, four salads, quahog chowder, a soup du jour and chicken pot pie. There is also breakfast panini, quiche, pastries and — and this is big — an “Express-o Bar” that makes espresso ($1.75) and related hot drinks.

Drawn by both the ingredients (tuna, feta cheese, Kalamata olives, green beans, yellow peppers and red onion with lemon Dijon) and the name (French Kiss), I chose one of the wraps. The first bite offered a burst of fresh lemon and set the tone for a sandwich that tasted farm-fresh and just a little unusual. Wraps at the Express are fine and come in different flavors, but I’m not a huge wrap fan. Next time, I think I’ll see if this sandwich ($6.49) can be put on seven-grain bread or atop a salad.

I added a bowl of the soup du jour ($3.25 for a cup, $3.95 for a bowl), which was beef minestrone. There were, maybe, three bites of tender steak and every vegetable under the sun — just the way I like it. The broth was light with a complex flavor that said the ingredients had been simmering together for a long time. I wasn’t surprised to find what appeared to be a small sprig of fresh rosemary in with the veggies.

My companion tried the chicken pot pie ($5.95). It was a generously sized pie shell, maybe six or seven inches, filled with chicken and vegetables and topped with mashed potatoes that were piped on and perfectly browned. My friend said it was good, but a little bland. She thought it could use a little more gravy with a bit more spice in it.

We didn’t have enough appetite for dessert (although those huge whoopie pies at $2.50 each looked worth sharing!), but having — as I mentioned earlier — encountered Casual Gourmet’s offerings at many functions, I feel confident that you won’t be disappointed with the homemade cookies (89 cents,) cupcakes ($1.79,) or bars and brownies ($2.25-$2.95.)

Next time I go to the Express, I’m having the Thai Chicken Wrap ($6.49) — grilled chicken breast, jasmine rice, ginger slaw, peanut sauce and scallions on a tomato tortilla — and the time after that, the Pesto Chicken With Peppers ($6.99).

This is not the Casual Gourmet’s first outing into takeout — it runs a cafe at Cape Cod Hospital and formerly operated the cafeteria at Heritage Museums & Gardens in Sandwich. Its decision to keep the menu small with unusual touches is a good one. The fresh ingredients in creative combinations will bring me back whenever I visit the mall.

On Wednesday, October 7^th, Olive, her husband Dave and eighteen of her employees celebrated at annual Chamber dinner which took place at Willowbend Country Club.

Casual Gourmet Employees

Sarah & Sarah

Mary & Ollie

Olive accepting her award

During her acceptance speech, which was a showstopper I might add, Olive thanked everyone who worked for her, asking employees to stand and be recognized as see did a roll call by department.  (We even had a pre-meeting to go over the game plan of how the speech was going to go!)  She also thanked her family, particularly her husband, who she happened to meet through the Chamber 25 years ago.

It is such an honor to be in the company of the incredible businesses that have been chosen for this award in the past. And from all of us at the Casual Gourmet we want to say thank you for all the support we have been receiving.

Although we have been serving up a variety of fresh salads, pastries and panini sandwiches over the past few weeks, we made it official at 11:00am this morning with a ribbon cutting.

Joined by her husband, Dave, State Representative Jeff Perry, State Senator Rob O’Leary,  Chairwomen of County Commision  Sheila Lyons, Mall Manager Leo Fein and long-time friend & WQRC radio personality Cheryl Parks, Olive spoke about how CG Express came to be at the Cape Cod Mall before cutting the ribbon.

Olive cutting the Ribbon

We also debuted our new travel coffee mug by handing them out, free of charge, to the first 50 people who stopped by to see us this morning.  You can now purchase the mugs at any Casual Gourmet location.  Once you have one, if you bring it with you and purchase a large coffee (at any of the locations) you will receive $.50 off your cup of coffee!

So, stop by and say hello to us the next time you are at the Mall!  And while you are there, try one of our amazing baked goods, fresh salads or delectable sandwiches or paninis!

Olive, who was a speaker at the convention, also received the prestigious Star Service award for her volunteer involvement on the ICA membership committee prior to her appointment to the board. Casual Gourmet’s Executive Chef Robert Smith, along with catering sales associates Sarah Biggs and Cheryl Stewart, were also in Vegas to root for Olive has she accepted her appointment. Olive and the Casual Gourmet have been affiliated with both Catersource and the ICA for more than 15 years.

“Membership in the International Caterers Association shows a company’s commitment to the highest levels of food, service and professional ethics,” Olive said. “It is an incredible honor to sit on a board with so many of the greatest caterers in the world.” The ICA is the preeminent organization of catering professionals, with more than 1,000 members worldwide. The ICA, founded in 1981, supports and promotes all aspects of the catering business through publications, educational seminars, workshops and demonstrations. Catering is the fastest growing segment of the food industry, with an estimated 10,000 caterers in North America.

During her tenure on the board of directors, Olive plans to work toward improving the association’s visibility and further increasing its membership. Olive also sits on the Caterers Committee of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association.

Olive opened Casual Gourmet in 1986. She is known throughout the catering industry as being an expert in producing legendary weddings. The Casual Gourmet has won the ICA’s prestigious CATIE award for 2007 Signature Caterer for Best Wedding, Cityvoter’s 2008 Cape Cod A-List Best Caterer, and the 2006, 2007 and 2008 Reader’s Choice Best Cape Cod Caterer.