About Us
The Casual Gourmet is a locally owned and operated diversified food service company specializing in Cape Cod weddings. Our professional staff possesses more than 70 years of combined event planning experience and will help our clients with everything from a continental breakfast for 10 to an exquisite wedding for 300. We are proud to be one of Cape Cod’s largest, oldest and most successful catering companies with a broad range of clientele that includes noted corporations and prestigious charitable organizations.
From Cookies to Catering
Olive Chase founded the Casual Gourmet in 1986 in a tiny Centerville storefront. The original shop, selling assorted gourmet delicacies, was an instant hit, but off-premise catering quickly became the mainstay of the business. By 1991, when the Casual Gourmet expanded into a larger facility, Olive had become known as “the” caterer to call for a memorable event with flawless service, signature style and creative and sumptuous food. In 2006 the Casual Gourmet purchased the former Hearth n’ Kettle Bakery building in Centerville, doubling the size of our commissary and adding a line of special occasion cakes and pastries to our repertoire.
Locally Owned and Operated
The Casual Gourmet and The Casual Gourmet Express are owned and operated by the Chase family who have been Cape Codders from the start. In fact, they have traced their ancestry to Thomas Rogers, who came to Cape Cod aboard the Mayflower.
Olive runs the show with more than 30 years of catering and event production experience and some 30 years of restaurant and food service experience prior to that. As the owner and president of The Casual Gourmet, Olive oversees three Express locations, two food service contracts, our main bakery and cafe and a catering operation that plans and hosts more than 100 weddings each year.
In addition to her active role in the Cape Cod community, Olive currently serves as the chair of the Board of Directors for the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce, and sits on the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association. In the past, Olive has served as a the president of the board of directors for both the Sturigs Charter Public School and Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School. She is a champion of the charter school movement both in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and nationally.
Olive’s husband Dave owns and operates a prospect research firm called Chase Solutions. Helping nonprofits and other organizations fund raise by profession, Dave has been an invaluable asset to the Barnstable community for decades. Most recently, he has served as the President of the Hyannis Youth & Community Center Foundation helping secure funds for the Town of Barnstable to build the Hyannis Youth & Community Center, a dual rink facility located in downtown Hyannis.
More than Just a Caterer
In addition to our Centerville location, the Casual Gourmet also operates retail locations at Cape Cod Hospital and Falmouth Hospital, a seasonal contract food operation at Heritage Museums and Gardens, and the Scudder Family Cafe at the Hyannis Youth and Community Center. The Casual Gourmet previously operated food service outlets at Cape Cod Community College, Infinium Software and Excel Technologies.
Industry Expert
Olive is known throughout the catering industry as expert in the field, especially in the area of destination weddings. Always looking to bring the very best in cutting-edge catering to Cape Cod, Olive has been a longtime participant in the annual Catersource conference and tradeshow. Olive is frequently invited to present seminars, both at Catersource and other industry events across the country. Olive currently sits on the Board of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association and has served on its board of directors in the past. She is also a past board member and treasurer of the International Caterers Association and has held several positions with the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce Executive Board. In 2016, Olive was inducted as its chairperson.
Photos by (top to bottom): The Casual Gourmet, Michelle Kay, Michelle Kay, Angelina Rose.
A Community Company
In addition to her work in the catering industry at large, Olive Chase and the Casual Gourmet are active members of the Cape Cod community, four Cape Cod chambers of commerce and proudly support a number of local non-profit organizations and causes including:
Cape Cod Commercial
Fishermen’s Alliance
CCCFA supports stewardship of coastal ecosystems through education, research, and policy programs. The CCCFA is helping protect one the Cape’s oldest businesses – fishing!
Hyannis Youth and
Community Center
Dave Chase is the president of the Hyannis Youth & Community Center Foundation and one of the driving forces behind the recently opened Hyannis Youth & Community Center.
Cape Cod
Health Care
We are fortunate to have one of the best health care systems in the country right here on Cape Cod. The Casual Gourmet is proud to support CCHC in all that they do.
Arts on the Cape
“If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him.” -President John F. Kennedy
The Casual Gourmet supports the following organizations who are dedicated to fostering a strong and vibrant arts community on Cape Cod:
