Two Ontario chefs find fresh inspiration beyond the restaurant kitchen, creating immersive outdoor dining experiences centred on fire, food, and connection.
By Matthew Ross
Paul Laforet, Co-Owner & Executive Chef of Orillia-based Laforet Catering, was forced to make drastic changes to deal with the shutdown of the food and hospitality industry.
A professional chef with twenty years’ experience in top kitchens suddenly found himself laid off and behind the wheel of a delivery truck, figuring out what came next. Amazon by day. Catering by night.
Glen Oro Farm, just outside Orillia in Hawkstone, became the starting point for that next phase. In December 2020, Paul catered his first over-the-fire experience there.
Glen Oro was “an amazing springboard,” he says. “You have this captive audience because of COVID, who were just so excited to go to Glen Oro, plus have a private chef cooking over the fire.”
“It worked out so well, it was like lightning in a bottle. I’ve done a lot of events there over the last five years, and it’s led me to meet a whole pile of different people and clients.”
For Chef Travis Barron of Bluebird Catering Co., it was the aftermath of COVID. A veteran of Collingwood’s vibrant food scene, Travis found himself rethinking things as well. The restaurant business was no longer what it once was. It had become harder to navigate and no longer as inspiring.
“I went back to what I enjoyed most: on-site catering. Those odd jobs where we’d cook in a field, at a house, at an event. I loved it. I needed to see if I could do it on my own—and it turned out to be the best decision of my career.”
“Restaurants are static—you know, repetitive. Go, go, go all day,” Travis says. “Now, you actually have a bit of time to step back and plan.”
While their paths were different, the outcome was strikingly similar. The pandemic released them from the confines of the kitchen. It sparked renewed interest in a less formal, more primal way of connecting with the ingredients of the food and with the people eating.
That said, creating events and cooking outdoors has also come with its challenges.
Chef Paul keeps his gear to the bare minimum—a grill to go over the fire pit, a folding table for preparing food, a cart, and whatever is on the menu. Intentionally light comes in handy when you have to haul your gear in, but it also leaves you exposed to the elements.
“I’ve cooked in blizzards and ice, storms and thunderstorms, and all sorts of strange weather,” says Paul. Most notably? In early spring 2025, Ontario experienced one of its most severe weather events ever. This historic ice storm caused widespread damage, with Simcoe County among the hardest hit.
And Paul was in the thick of it—hosting an event at Glen Oro Farm.
“No matter what the weather is, you’re going to be out there, and you’re going to be cooking; that’s the deal. There are trees falling down every few minutes, like gunshots going off everywhere. It was pretty wild.”
For Travis, it is all about creating the event. The menu might call for multiple food stations, barbeques, or on-site smokers, but it is these challenges that make this kind of gig all the more interesting.
“To do on-site events well is challenging because there are thousands of things you have to be in control of when you do it. It brings a different level of intensity to cooking and the entertainment of feeding people at the same time.”
For both chefs, it is about the experience that they deliver to the diners.
“Cooking over the fire, there’s just something so magical about it,” says Paul. “Not to be cliché, but the flavour of the wood and the smoke. There’s something really special about being outdoors and eating by the fire, and for clients to see how the food is prepared.”
“I’ve been cooking my whole life, and ever since I started cooking outdoors, it feels like it’s reignited a passion in me because it’s so new, fun, and exciting. There is something about the wood and the setting that really affects the food.”
For Travis, it’s the interactive approach to each event. “I love talking with customers and showing them what we’re doing. My approach
to food is more of a simplistic approach instead of being too pretentious with it, so it gives you a little more time to have fun and talk with guests.”
Laforet Catering continues to flourish, from private chef experiences and small gatherings to large-scale events. The goal is simple: to bring people together through exceptional food, warm hospitality, and meaningful moments.
And this year, Bluebird Catering has added a full commercial kitchen to the mix, giving Travis more flexibility in delivering unforgettable culinary experiences to his growing roster of clients.
A rare kind of COVID story—one that ends not in loss, but in reinvention. And for both chefs, it’s just the beginning.
Photography courtesy of Laforet Catering & JY Photography – Jamie Churchward for Travis Barron