Caterers in Amsterdam: remarkable entrepreneurs shaping the city

Noa & Olivier: bak&fiets event caterer

What began during the corona period as a classic cargo bike full of funky hotdogs on the street in The Hague “everyone was walking around outside, there was nothing else to do during the lockdown”  grew into a full-service caterer that now travels throughout the Randstad. Olivier founded bak&fiets with his partner and business partner Noa; together they lead a team of thirty to forty people. What sets them apart is live cooking: at every event they build an outdoor kitchen or live-cooking setup, so guests can see and smell how the food is being cooked. No buffets, no delivery catering, but everything on location. With a team that stands proactively among the guests rather than in front of or behind them. Their biggest milestone is a corporate festival for 500 guests with a three days long set up for an event of just over seven hours. The old cargo bike, by the way, is still around. It’s “part of our story,” according to Olivier. Read the full interview with bak&fiets.

Eelco: SONAH Event Catering

The name SONAH is made up of the names of Eelco’s children, Mason and Leah. A personal beginning for a company that has since become known for spectacular, custom-made events. After years in hospitality and at Famous Flavours, Eelco’s passion for catering grew, and that passion grew into his very own company. Now he runs it together with his brother-in-law and operations man Julien and with his co-owner Wout. We don’t know a more creative caterer! The highlight of the past year was a fairytale event for 750 guests with four themed worlds, including a twelve-meter-long Charlie and the Chocolate Factory buffet with a chocolate M&M river. All built from scratch, by themselves, in their own workshop. “I prefer to come up with and make things that amaze guests,” says Eelco, as is reflected in his signature dish: a chocolate cigar filled with whiskey mousse, tonka bean chocolate, and caramel… Read more and take a look at his eye-catching photos!

Karlijn: Alberto Pozzetto food shop and caterer

On Van der Helststraat, near the Albert Cuyp, Karlijn Witteveen has run an Italian food shop since 2017 that grew into a full-fledged catering business. She made the decision after just one day of thinking it over “I knew I could do it, and I just stepped into the adventure.” The name Alberto Pozzetto is funny enough the Italian translation of “Albert Cuyp”, a language joke only few people catch. From homemade appetizer boards with her own imported cheeses to private dining for up to 50 guests: it all grows out of a shop full of regulars who by now know each other from their daily visits. Karlijn’s approach is characteristically simple “just do it”. Read more about Karlijn and Alberto Pozzetto here.

Darren Perera: Plated Amsterdam

After ten years in the Brussels EU world, Darren Perera decided in 2023 to turn his life around: “I wanted to feed people instead of systems.” Being raised in Malaysia with Sri Lankan and Japanese roots, and later shaped by years in Thailand and Belgium, Darren developed an intuitive feel for flavor balance in which sour, spicy, and aromatic are all effortlessly combined. “Recipes are, to me, just a guideline,” he says. At Plated Amsterdam he provides fine dining at home or at the office for groups of 8 to 16 guests. He cooks and presents everything himself, brings tableware, glassware, even music, and leaves the kitchen spotless afterward. His ambition is to become the reference for anyone who wants an intimate fine-dining experience at home, with the quality of your favorite restaurant. Read about Darren and his fusion style of cooking.

Harry Unk: private chef and caterer

When Harry Unk was only twelve years old, he already knew that he wanted to become a chef. He started in a technical school with a hotel job in Luxembourg, and worked his way up to head chef at Cobra Café on the Museumplein, where he received a 9 from the critic Johannes van Dam. After a period as a private chef employed by a wealthy family “cooking beautifully, with no limits” he consciously chose the freedom of entrepreneurship again. He calls his style urban fine dining: a high-end technique with the energy of street culture and comfort food at the highest level. Think Thai-marinated kale with varnished mackerel, or sea bass ceviche with avocado cream and kumquat. But what drives his work is simple. “I find joy in everything I do.” Are you looking for a private chef for an exclusive dinner at home in Amsterdam? Find out more about Harry Unk and read his full story here.

Paul Vincent: Chef and Caterer

Paul Vincent’s love for cooking has been passed down by his grandmother in Lebanon, where he helped her as a child to make, decorate and taste the desserts. He was raised in a family where Lebanese, French, and Italian influences came together, and still combines those three cuisines in his menus today. Once trained to become a jeweler, he discovered that his creativity felt more at home on a plate than in a piece of jewelry. And after a brief restaurant venture, he knew for sure that he belonged in catering. “Presentation is everything,” says Paul. “In Lebanon we say you eat with your eyes first.” His mother, who only truly learned to cook when she took over the kitchen after his grandmother’s death, supported him in building his business. This family passion didn’t forget his brother who became a beekeeper and producer of honey-based delicacies. Read more about Paul Vincent and his creativity.

We assume that in the first half hour, the average guest will have 2 drinks, and then 1 drink for each half hour that follows. For a party with 100 guests that lasts 2 hours, we would need 5 drinks x 100 guests, which would total 500 drinks.

Nicoletta Tavella: La Cucina del Sole

Nicoletta was only nineteen years old when she went on an interrail trip and ended up in Amsterdam. She never would’ve guessed that the city wouldn’t be the only one she’d fall in love with… So she decided to trade the beautiful beaches of southern Italy for her love in Amsterdam, and moved here permanently. But one of the things she couldn’t leave behind was her love for the Italian kitchen, and what began as a hobby cooking class at the Volksuniversiteit in Amstelveen grew in 2002 into La Cucina del Sole, a beloved Italian cooking school. At one point she combined this with catering on the side, as an interim solution to keep the cooking school running, but she consciously let that go. Her cuisine remains true to authentic Italian, without the Dutch habit of making everything heavier or more complicated. “Poco ma buono” (little but good) is her guiding principle, just like her life motto: “A tavola non si invecchia,” which translates to “at the table you don’t grow old”. Read more about the Italian sunshine in her kitchen.

Karin: Krachtvoer Crew Caterer

Karin’s first encounter with catering was during an internship on a film set, where she discovered that cast and crew were fully taken care of. That catering fascinated her more than what she’d come for. She started built Krachtvoer from scratch, with no experience or training, with her first big job cooking for 350 people at a farewell party and with as she calls it “pure bluff.” Twenty years later, Krachtvoer is a trusted name in crew catering for films, series, and commercials, with days that sometimes start at 4:45 a.m., and where flexibility is required to look after clients with diva-like behavior. Read the full interview with Karin here!