The owner of Café Catering is Mark Du Bois, whose first job was in the kitchen of a summer camp, three summers in a row…  He then went on to work in a four-star restaurant called the Vernon Stiles Inn, in Thompson Connecticut,  where he remained for four years, starting as a dishwasher, and progressing to Sous-Chef…After moving to California, Mark waited tables at a fine Italian restaurant, learning more about food and wines,  to put himself  through school at Cal State San Marcos.   Mark graduated in 1996, Magna Cum Laude.  Soon after graduating, Mark began plans to open a small coffee shop across from the still-growing University, and in 1997 opened the Power Surge Café.  The Café quickly grew to be a favorite place for students, faculty, local musicians, and diverse members from the community.

Although the initial plan for the café  was to simply  provide coffee and pastries,  we soon added sandwiches and salads, and it wasn’t long before lunchtimes had a line out the door.  One thing led to another, and soon we were catering to nearby Cal State San Marcos for a wide variety of events, and then requests started pouring in to cater events of several hundred people!  Being that we literally had no kitchen, in April of 2002, the Café closed its doors to focus on catering, and we purchased the prestigious  Catering Concepts from its owner who was retiring after a successful twenty year career. Since then, we have stayed extremely busy, handling a large variety of events.  We have done hundreds of weddings, barbecues, parties, showers, and meetings.  In fact, we have over two-thousand successful caterings under our belt.  It seems that the best testimonial to our services is that most people use us again and again… In fact, there are some annual events that we have catered for eight years in a row!

So thankfully, the majority of our business is repeat and by word of mouth. Luckily for us, that means that we have to spend very little on advertising… What that means for you, is that we don’t need to inflate our prices like many other caterers who are only busy at certain times of the year…Because we do a lot of business with local schools and especially Cal State San Marcos, we stay busy year round, not just during wedding season, and the Holidays.  The downside of this for our customers is that occasionally we are booked on the date of their event, especially if it comes up at the  last minute…  Although we always try to accommodate our customers whenever possible,  we can not sacrifice our quality by stretching ourselves too thin.  In the past year we have expanded our commercial kitchen, purchased another full sized delivery van, and added three new employees, including a graduate of the French Culinary School in New York., so we are working to keep up with demand.

We believe that a catering company should be easy and straightforward to deal with, with no hidden fees.  Many caterers don’t publish their prices so that they can charge more for the same meal if it happens to be eaten by guests at a wedding reception.  Then they tell you a price per person and then add a 15-20% “Service Charge” . What is that for?  Imagine buying a car and having to add an 18% service charge!     We believe that prices should be easy to understand with no hidden fees.  We believe that you should decide how much gratuity you will provide, based on what YOU feel is appropriate.     It is called a gratuity, which is supposed to mean that it is not mandatory….

There are several reasons why a business is successful, and we believe that Café Catering is no exception. We work hard to ensure not only the quality and freshness of our food, but also strive for elegant presentation, punctuality of delivery, cleanliness and professionalism of our staff, fair pricing, and most importantly, customer service that takes into account that this is your event, not ours. Unlike a restaurant, we have the flexibility to create a menu that is prepared exclusively for you, and doesn’t rely on what happens to be on hand.   From ultra casual to ultra formal, we cater to your needs.  That’s why it’s called catering!!!  If you want to order deviled eggs and brownies for 800 people served on pink plates with eggnog, who are we to say no?   Please see the “Frequently-Asked-Questions” page for even more information on how we can custom tailor a catering for you!  And as always, feel free to contact us with any questions or comments you may have. Thanks for taking the time to read about us!  Remember to visit our testimonials page to share your experience or read about others!!