In 1999, I founded Applewood Foods Catering to explore the business side of cooking. My oldest son had embarked on a career as a chef, and with his counseling, I felt the time was right to try my hand.

It is no surprise that I ended up in the food business. All of my life I have been surrounded by good cooks. My grandmother, mother, sister, mother-in-law, and wife have all had their influence. My wife, Cynthia, has been and still is especially helpful, not only with creative ideas for the business, but assists me in the kitchen and serves events as well.

My mother loved to cook and passed on to me a certain ability and comfort in the kitchen. In turn, Cynthia and our four children have provided me with a family that honors the important place of food in our lives and in particular, in our kitchen.

Perhaps it's the way in which we grew up as a family. Mealtime was our time together and good food has always been the nucleus of family fun and special events. Each member loves to eat and each has any number of specialty items they like to do. Their assistance and much needed encouragement have helped to make Applewood Foods Catering what it is today.

Our mission is to provide our customers with a combination of inspirational food and reasonable prices. Our accomplishments are many. Seven course gourmet dinners for a few, corporate picnics for a 1000, themed parties, wedding receptions, brown bag lunches, breakfasts and dessert buffets are included in our repertoire. We have found that cooking is our passion and the satisfaction we see from our customers is our reward.

Please use our menus as the starting point for any of the events you may be planning and know that we are creative and flexible. We can produce a function that will be remembered and enjoyed by your guests, employees, friends or family.

We are proud of our corporate events that have met with great success when used to honor anniversaries, recognitions, sales and safety goals and company holiday meals.

We look forward to working with you and sincerely appreciate your consideration.

Thomas J. Bookwalter