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Preston caterer offers daily specials of homemade meals, baked goods and more

'Preston people, they seem to love good, homemade food,' said the owner of Catering By Suzanne

The food industry has had to adapt, and no one knows this better than Suzanne Sinnicks, who has been cooking for over 40 years.

"You have to be versatile to make it right now," said Sinnicks, the owner of Catering By Suzanne, which has been catering for funerals for over 11 years.

This year, Sinnicks said she pivoted from catering to managing a storefront and providing daily specials, which she advertises on social media. Her assortment of meals and other baked goods can be found at 111 Westminster Dr. N. in Preston. 

“I opened the store in 2013, and it was open to the public in 2014, but I got so busy catering that the storefront sort of fell to the wayside,” Sinnicks said about her location. “With COVID, If we were going to survive, I just couldn’t really wait around for catering.”

"I had a choice, I either had to fight to survive or just close shop, and I'm at a point in my life where I'm in my 50s and this is what I do."

Coming from a long line of scratch cooks, Sinnicks said it’s within her nature to cook. As a child, the first thing she learned to make was bread.

After moving to Cambridge from Newfoundland in the later 80’s, Sinnicks has worked in various workplace settings. In 2010, she said she started catering after she could not find a caterer for her father’s funeral and decided to cook for the event herself. Since then, Sinnicks said she has catered for funerals up to 600 people and weddings across Waterloo Region.

“I’ve cooked everything from upscale to downscale, manufacturing and everything,” said Sinnicks.

“I work with of the churches and many, many of the funeral homes within the region, and it (COVID-19) was a double-whammy because look at the funeral homes, they were pretty much managed the same way as caterers and restaurants."

When it comes to her food, Sinnicks said the items available can vary, but are made fresh in house and without any preservatives. Her offerings include cabbage rolls, apple fritters, sandwiches with hand carved meat, homemade scones and more. Sinnicks mentions they also offer senior meal specials and will be offering a charcuterie board for two for Valentine's Day.

“I only make what I expect to sell and I do seem to sell everything I make,” said Sinnicks. “As a scratch cook, I make my own recipes, everything I make is from scratch.”

By going online to promote her food, Sinnicks adds people within the community have been responding well to her posts. Along with the food, the service at Catering By Suzanne's is also good.  Anyone who walks into the store is greeted by Suzanne, who takes orders and chats with customers, along with making the food.

“Preston has been wonderful, a lot of support.” she said about the community. “Preston people, they seem to love good, homemade food.”

She adds the platform has also made her increasingly visible to the public. While her catering business was known to many churches and funeral homes across the region, Sinnicks said some customers didn’t realize she had been cooking prior to the pandemic.

“It's been pretty positive for me and I'm really grateful to the people of Cambridge and especially Preston,” said Sinnicks.

Hoping the pandemic won't last much longer, Sinnicks adds she will be catering again for weddings that had been scheduled with her business in 2020.

Catering By Suzanne is open Tuesdays to Fridays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information, residents can go to cateringbysuzanne.ca.