Published April 2003

Clipper Cove caters
to events big and small

Snohomish County Business Journal/ JOHN WOLCOTT Clipper Cove Catering’s marketing director, Sherri Bolt, arranges catered meals for groups from Bellingham to Tacoma, as well as planning events here, at the River City Grill in Marysville’s Best Western Tulalip Inn.

By John Wolcott
SCBJ Editor

For Sherri Bolt, life is just one meal after another, after another, after another. Not that she’s obsessed with eating. As a professional chef-turned-caterer, she’s obsessed with other people’s meals.

As the marketing director for Marysville’s Clipper Cove Catering, Bolt travels from Bellingham to Tacoma arranging customized meals for a variety of groups, events and locations in facilities ranging from the Claremont Hotel in Seattle to Edmonds Floral Hall, Everett Station, Inn at Port Gardner Bay and The Manor in Lynnwood.

“Everyone needs catering at some time, for conferences, meetings, weddings, new office openings or company parties,” Bolt said. “Because we customize our services, we can work with any size budget.”

There’s a lot of competition in the catering business, she said, a hospitality industry that ranges from small enterprises operated by part-time caterers who buy food and supplies from Costco to large companies that prepare all meals in their own kitchens, as Clipper Cove Catering does.

To help Clipper Cove carve out its own niche, Bolt works the I-5 corridor, spends hundreds of hours each week on her cell phone and keeps clients happy by offering a versa-tile menu that serves a variety of needs.

“We provide full meals, such as a buffet breakfast for the Marysville Tulalip Chamber of Commerce that meets at the River City Grill or lunch for the Marysville Rotary Club, plus tables of food and refreshments for a business grand opening or a traditional barbecue with hamburgers, hotdogs, potato salad and lemonade for a summer reception,” she said.

Clients have included Community Transit, Kimberly Clark, the University of Washington, Tulalip Boys & Girls Club, Tulalip Casino, Klein Honda, Safeco, Elderhostel and a variety of others.

Helping Clipper Cover Catering to set itself apart from the rest of the catering industry is the fact that the business has two bases of operation, kitchens at the Claremont Hotel and River City Grill, giving the business a variety of options for serving the wide range of territory it covers.

“We provide great food, in a variety of forms for many tastes, including fresh-baked cookies and brownies. Also, our service is first-rate, which brings us a lot of word-of-mouth business. Most of those who have hired us once keep coming back for more, especially because we also keep our prices reasonable,” Bolt said.

In Snohomish County, the River City Grill is a showcase for the kind of food, decorations and events Clipper Cove can provide. Particularly popular is the restaurant’s Sunday brunch, from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. each week.

“Sometimes we even have guests, such as J.P. Patches. Many regulars sit in the same spot every Sunday,” she said.

Marketing the catering business also means attending events such as The Wedding Show and Bravo exhibits in Seattle, gatherings that always provide Bolt with a fresh list of potential clients.

“We also watch what’s happening in the economy. Often, businesses will change owners or caterers or a new business will open. That makes new opportunities for signing more clients,” she said.

Clipper Cove is one of the few caterers in the area that has “mobile” liquor licenses that make it easy to set up an event without the client having to get their own license for alcoholic beverages, she said.

The business has some full-time staff, but many part-time employees are used for the various events. Because kitchens are available and there is a wide variety of food preparation and presentation for clients, culinary arts students are often employed, Bolt said, so the business continues to build up the hospitality industry by employing and training young people.

Owners of the catering business are Bill and Cheryl Caudle, who started their first business, CBC Hospitality Group Inc., 14 years ago on the Everett waterfront, moving their headquarters to Marysville when they bought the River City Grill seven years ago.

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