Christopher Hiller is renowned for his great food offering at his Subiaco cafe, Food by Christopher Hiller.
Christopher Hiller is renowned for his great food offering at his Subiaco cafe, Food by Christopher Hiller.
Now he’s building up a formidable reputation as a quality caterer who does things a little differently.
Mr Hiller decided to ramp up the catering business just nine months ago, almost three and half years after opening his Subiaco store.
“We were getting asked to do lunches so we did a few platters,” he says.
“We probably did one or two a week three years ago. Now we do about 20 lunches a week plus 20 or 30 morning teas and about six cocktail parties.”
Mr Hiller is also winning accolades from clients who are happy that he can take on the small jobs rather than just the big ones.
“This week I did an event for one corporate client for four people and we’ll do that because the same client then has an event for 15 people next week and the week after 150 people,” he says.
“You can’t expect they’ll give you 50 and over each time and we like to look after our clients.”
Mr Hiller also enjoys chatting with guests at functions, often learning as much from them as they might from him.
At a recent Australian Kailis Pearls event Mr Hiller was experimenting with pearl meat and, working with the crowd, sent out a new dish.
“There were a couple of guys hanging around the barbecue that were fanatical about their pearl meat saying that the raw pieces were fantastic so we decided to send out some platters that were barbecued and some raw,” he says.
“People really enjoyed tasting the difference.”
Mr Hiller is also hands on when it comes to catering.
He’ll often be seen taking trays of food out himself.
“I like to get involved,” Mr Hiller says.
“I love to have fun and get them involved too.”
Mr Hiller says there are three basic ingredients he uses for every function.
“My philosophy with catering is that each piece of food has to look good, it has to be practical and it has to taste great. People have to go away thinking the food looked great and there was plenty of it.”
Mr Hiller’s Food by Christopher Hiller Subiaco cafe, which also acts as a base for the catering business, will celebrate its fifth birthday on November 13.
