Local foods startup Schwandt Catering Co., located at Stone Tree Fitness & Banquets, has been selected as the food services provider for Grey Roots Museum & Archives. The company has expanded its rapidly growing catering, prepared and frozen meals, and banquets business with a new line of fresh packaged foods with an emphasis on local ingredients, when available.

Grey Roots Museum & Archives welcomes local visitors and tourists to its location just south of Owen Sound on Grey Road 18 from 10am to 5pm seven days a week during summer hours (from Victoria Day to Thanksgiving weekend). Now, museum visitors can enjoy fresh packaged meals, locally sourced when possible, provided by Schwandt Catering Co. Options include packaged lunches like:

the Chicken Baguette Bistro Box, which contains roasted chicken, an Ace Bakery mini baguette, cucumber coins, baby carrots and celery sticks with dip; the Protein Pack with whole almonds, apple slices, housemade garlic hummus, a hardboiled egg, Pine River cheese and pita crisps; the Cheese & Crackers Bistro Box with cubed cheddar, red grapes, Owen Sound honey from Donald's Honey, dried cranberries and an assortment of whole grain crackers.

Schwandt Catering Co. will also offer a selection of sandwiches, wraps, and Mason jar salads including Grey County Garden Salad, the ingredients of which will change according to what's in season locally.

"We're excited to work with Grey Roots this summer in providing fresh, healthier food options than what you'd typically see with convenience foods," said Trevor Schwandt, chef and the namesake of Schwandt Catering Co. "It just seemed like such a great opportunity to showcase some local foods while people are at Grey Roots learning about our local history. Using in-season ingredients means we can change things up and keep it interesting, too."

Schwandt Catering Co. launched in mid-January 2016 in the Stone Tree Fitness and Banquets building. Schwandt lost his job as Chef when food and beverage operations ceased at Stone Tree at the end of 2015. He and partner Miranda Miller launched their catering business and leased the Stone Tree kitchen facilities weeks later. They have continued serving hundreds of meals monthly to groups holding events in Stone Tree's two banquet rooms, while building a new outside catering business that includes their popular "Grab & Go" dinners offered each Thursday and Friday night. These fully cooked and chilled meals are offered in singles to family size portions and are ordered online or by phone in advance, for customers to pick up and reheat at home. The duo also offer a wide variety of individually portioned frozen soups and meals, as well as special order family size frozen meals.

"There are a number of ways for local customers to enjoy Trevor's cooking -- more than ever, in fact," said Miranda Miller from Schwandt Catering Co. "Offering these fresh meals and snacks with as many local ingredients as possible made so much sense for us. As busy working parents ourselves, we know the struggle of trying to find balance between convenience, health and your social conscience."

Petal Furness, Grey Roots Museum & Archives Manager, is excited to offer a new type of food service to museum visitors. "We received a great deal of visitors last summer, a substantial increase over 2014. On-site food service is important and helps us offer a better experience to those visitors, who can stay longer exploring our exhibits and Moreston Heritage Village," Furness said. "Going with a packaged foods line allows us the efficiency of having guests help themselves in bringing their selections to our existing staff for payment, and creates a small additional revenue stream for our facility. The focus on fresh local items is just such a bonus, too."

Schwandt Catering Co.'s packaged foods are prepared in their Stone Tree kitchen facility and adhere to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's requirements for food labelling. Products are packaged with bilingual nutrition and ingredients information, identified allergens, and best before dates.

Schwandt Catering Co. will launch their new product line Friday, May 7th at Grey Roots Museum & Archives for the members-only premiere of Tutankhamun: Wonderful things from the Pharaoh's Tomb. The line will be available at Grey Roots until Labour Day.

source: media release, Schwandt Catering Co.