and Sam Parrish of
Inspired Thyme Catering.
Robert Errichetti and Sam Parrish, longtime friends with a shared passion for creating fine cuisine, have combined their interest to found Inspired Thyme Catering, an independent culinary undertaking with the goal of bringing the restaurant dining experience into your home.
“We strive to create fresh dishes that really allow the ingredients to shine on their own,” says Parish. “That’s why it’s so important to us that we use the best ingredients we can find, and that typically means using local and in-season ingredients in our dishes.” The pair met while attending Palmetto Senior High School. After graduating in 2009, both went off to college. Errichetti attended the University of Central Florida, where he majored in interdisciplinary studies with a focus on hospitality and agriculture, and minored in hospitality management. He also spent six months interning at Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink in the Design District.
“I began cooking because I knew girls love a guy who knows his way around a kitchen,” he says. “As I cooked more and more, I realized how much I enjoyed the whole process. I started reading constantly about food and cuisine, practicing and eventually coming up with my own dishes. Now it’s turned into this catering business that I can’t get enough of.”
Parish earned a bachelor’s degree in history with a minor in business administration at the University of Florida. She is currently working on a Master of Science in the Hospitality Management program at Florida International University.
“My love for cooking started as a love for baking, and it wasn’t until I got to college that I really began to enjoy cooking as well,” she says. “I had even toyed with the idea of becoming a pastry chef after high school. We are both constantly trying out new recipes and pushing ourselves in different directions.”
Clients can expect to meet with them in person or have a detailed phone conversation to establish a collaborative process in creating a menu. It is from such collaborations that their sirloin with grilled citrus butter, smoked paprika and green-onion-ash deviled eggs, peanut-butter-and-jelly ice cream sandwiches and other dishes have been created.
“We prefer our customers to be very involved, hence our motto, ‘Catered by us, inspired by you,’” says Errichetti. “Sam and I prefer to meet with clients to get a real sense of what direction they want their dinner or party to go in, whether they want the menus to have a flavor specific to a certain cuisine, if anyone has food allergies, things like that. All of this is taken into account so we can develop the perfect menu for them. We definitely want them to feel like they are as much a part of this as we are.”
Errichetti and Parish have worked dinner parties ranging from eight to 15 people, and even larger events with 80 or more attendees. And although they believe private functions allow them to best display their talents, they are up for any challenge.
“We never want to limit ourselves in the types of events we do, but there is no question that the more intimate events tend to allow us to be extremely creative and bring a private chef experience into the homes of our clients, which is something that not all catering companies can or will do,” says Parish. “At the same time, we strive to bring a personal touch to our large events as well, and so far we have received great — and much appreciated — feedback from our clients and their guests.”
For information, 305-807-7660, send email to <inspiredthymecatering@gmail.com> or go to <inspiredthyme.squarespace.com>.
