Zest! of Sarasota

ABOUT Zest!
Zest! offers complete catering services for parties of all sorts, large and small. We specialize in designing unique menus specific to your event, and prepare all our food in our own kitchen in Gulf Gate. We also specialize in beautiful, original presentations that complement the food being presented. We will be happy to work with you on your rehearsal dinner, pre-wedding party, reception, or post-wedding brunch. Since we're a full service catering company, we can handle all the other details of your event, such as staffing and rental of tables, chairs, place settings and so on. Once we've discussed your needs with you, you can leave the details to us and enjoy the food and friends you've brought together.

Green Catering!
Zest! is Sarasota's Greenest catering company and a Sarasota County Green Business Partner. We separate, collect and recycle all glass and plastic from all of our jobs. We recycle all plastic bags and all foam containers such as egg cartons and the foam liners from meat and fish packaging. We recycle all our cardboard as well. We no longer buy spring water in the small bottles. We continue to offer pure spring water at all our events, but pour it from pitchers which we will fill from gallon jugs. We do not use food products from sources that are endangered or threatened, and buy locally whenever practical. We even grow some of the ingredients in our recipes. Our coffee is from Fair Trade sources (and is made with pure spring water). We have available a line of biodegradable disposables (plates, cups & flatware) for those occaisions when china, glass and silverware are not practical. We welcome any suggestions you may have as to how we can continue to be the most environmentally responsible catering company in the Nation!

ABOUT JOHN AND NINA
John and Nina have been working in the catering business in Sarasota for the past eight years, and have had their own catering business since the fall of 2006. Both grew up learning cooking skills at home; John's father worked part time as a sous chef, teaching him many basic skills. As a boy of 9, John would cook Sunday Breakfast for the family, and as a teenager in boarding school, he set up a Sunday Breakfast Service for his fellow dorm mates. Both Nina and John have worked, over the years, in all positions in the food and beverage business, from waiting table, to bartending, to managing various facilities. Both have also had their own food oriented businesses over the years, notably Nina's luncheon business for owners and employees of St. Thomas' waterfront shops, and John's providing original menus aboard the sail boat he captained for vacationers in the Caribbean. Other occupations: Nina, who has a degree in Television and Radio from Brooklyn College in NY, worked in video production and managed a major video studio in Manhatten. John made his living as a Coast Guard licensed captain, sailing chartered trips in the Caribbean and delivering sailboats of all sizes to and from various destinations on both sides of the Atlantic. Then, settling down with Nina in NY, he developed a successful contracting business doing both residential and commercial remodeling. Both dreamed of getting out of NY City to a cleaner ( and warmer) climate, and consider themselves fortunate to have landed in Sarasota, with it's friendly people, pleasant climate and cultural amenities. Since settling here, Nina has become a Master Gardner, while John enjoys getting out on the water again, where he indulges a passion for flyfishing for both salt and freshwater gamefish.