Farms to Tables 2025: Cardiff's Catering defines Huron County meals
BY SHAWN LOUGHLIN
This is the 55th year that Cardiff’s Catering, a staple of Huron County events, fairs, weddings and get-togethers, has been feeding the masses high-quality, seasonal home-cooked food, with barbecue at the core of what the company does. That longevity, and the whole operation in fact, began on a whim after a random request came in.
Later this month, for example, you’ll be able to find Cardiff’s Catering at the banquet meal for the Huron County Plowing Match near Seaforth. This comes after the group recently worked with the Bruce County Beef Producers for their annual barbecue (the group is one of Cardiff’s longest-tenured customers, dating back to the 1970s).
The family-run business takes on some of the most daunting catering tasks in the county and beyond with a seasonal approach of farmers. Jeff and Cathy grow some of their own vegetables and herbs, source produce from local Mennonite farms and get their meat from local producers through butchers like Green’s and keep it in the family, with even large events being staffed by Cardiff family members and tight group of friends, some of whom have been working for the family for decades.
In an interview with The Citizen, Jeff even says that some people who have worked for the group for so long, like former Brussels resident Jennie Schimanski who now lives in the London area, will return when Cardiff’s takes on a big job, always willing to pitch in. That group is part of the fun and the reason the Cardiffs have stayed in the business for so long. It’s a group that has worked together for a while, they have a certain shorthand with one another and, frankly, Jeff says, they have a lot of fun spending that time together.
Jeff and Cathy are the second generation to run the business. It began in 1970 when Murray and Betty Cardiff, Jeff’s parents, alongside their friends Ken and Joan Campbell, were asked to prepare a meal for the Hanover Ski Club - they were members at the time - for about 100 people, backyard barbecue style.
The business only grew from there.
Word of mouth spread about the good things that were being made by the Cardiffs and the Campbells and the calls started coming in. In fact, it was the next year - 1971 - that the Bruce County Beef Producers came knocking for their annual beef barbecue and Cardiff’s has been cooking Bruce County beef at that event for the masses ever since.
A young Jeff and his siblings would chip in those days. Jeff remembers days of wrapping plenty of potatoes, destined for the oven, in tin foil and husking a lot of corn. Back then, he said, the meals were pretty simple and straightforward. It would almost always be beef, a baked potato and then a seasonal vegetable, very often corn on the cob.
However, he and his wife Cathy would have to grow up quickly as, when the 1970s turned to the 1980s, Murray had other things on his mind.
Less than two months into the 1980s, Murray was elected as the next Member of Parliament for Huron-Bruce as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. He would be re-elected in 1984 and 1988, serving the riding until he was defeated by Paul Steckle of the Liberal Party in the 1993 federal election. Murray left politics after that defeat and would pass away in 2013.
(For those who don’t know the history, Murray was not the first member of the Cardiff family to dabble in politics. His grandfather, Elston, was Morris Township Reeve from 1932 to 1940, at which time he ran federally for the Conservatives - then known as the National Government Party; it would be renamed the Progressive Conservative Party in 1942 - winning what was the Huron North riding at the time. He would serve the riding - the Huron North riding was re-established as the Huron riding after boundary changes - from March of 1940 to December of 1965, when he opted not to seek another term.)
That small political sidebar meant that it was Jeff’s turn to step up and handle the catering business, all while farming full-time. However, after all of these years, with their team by their side, they have made it work, catering small weddings and big celebrations all over the county and beyond.
Jeff says that some of the biggest events they’ve catered have been homecoming meals for 1,000 people, 1,500 people, 1,800 people. The biggest event the group almost fed was 5,000 people for a local telecom company many, many years ago.
When that call came in, Jeff was honest and said there was no way that his relatively small operation could feed 5,000 people in one meal. The company wanted Cardiff’s Catering for the meal, however, and asked what Jeff and his team could accommodate. Shooting for the stars, Jeff said the group could handle a crowd of about 2,500 people. In the end, the group only ended up being about 1,500 people and the meal was managed well.
There was another factor to that meal, he said, in that it was hosted in north Toronto at a fair, so the crew had to haul all of its equipment and supplies to the GTA, get security clearance to enter the fairgrounds and set up during a busy, busy event, but, as Jeff says, they were able to make it all work.
And, while the world has changed so drastically over the last 55 years, Jeff says that Cardiff’s Catering really hasn’t. They are still working with the tried and true recipes passed down by his parents, not taking any shortcuts and providing meals that everyone they serve seems to enjoy.
The menus have gotten a bit more complicated, he says. Thinking back to the beef, baked potato and vegetable meals, he says there are plenty more options these days, from salads to desserts, different proteins and everything in between. However, the team has been able to evolve and change with the times, providing what’s being requested in today’s meals.
As far as meat is concerned, Cardiff’s is known for its roast beef, so Jeff says the vast majority of the dinners they cater come with requests for beef, although they do provide chicken and pork upon request, but, there’s a successful recipe in place and most customers aren’t daring to mess with it.
One thing that Jeff and Cathy have done extensively over the years is work with local youth groups for help whenever they’re hosting a big dinner. They’ll bring in 4-H Club members or other young volunteers to help clear tables or wash dishes, which is always a win/win scenario, when Cardiff’s will make a donation to their club after the fact.
One of the most memorable meals Jeff remembers cooking recently was the staff party for Cowbell Brewing Company in Blyth. It was in the winter and it was snowing and blowing that night, to the point that Jeff was waiting for the cancellation call. However, it never came and the group was expected to make dinner for the employees after a busy, labour-intensive holiday season in the service industry.
They had to cook the meat outside, over charcoal, of course, and had to physically dig out a space in the snow to put their equipment down. It took a bit and they got started, but they had major concerns about keeping the temperatures hot enough to cook the beef to their standard, so Jeff and his team used the discarded snow to build a bit of a wind wall for the grills. When it was all said and done, the weather didn’t affect the cooking process at all in one of the more Canadian problem-solving sessions that’s taken place in recent history.
Another memorable - and also uniquely Canadian - meal that Cardiff’s had the honour of serving was when Murray hosted the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Musical Ride when he was still in office and he welcomed the officers and other performers back to the family farm for dinner. That one, Jeff says, was special and will always stick out in his mind.
The Cardiffs have also found fame in publishing as one of their salad dressing recipes has been memorialized in The Ontario Harvest Cookbook: An Exploration of Feasts and Flavours by Julia Aitken and Anita Stewart. Stewart, who passed away in 2020 at the age of 73, has been remembered as the heart of Canada’s local food movement.
The recipe, of course, is one that has been handed down through the generations. This one originated with Cathy’s mother and the book includes a detailed write-up about Jeff and Cathy, their farming operation at the time and their work catering throughout the county.