After 39 years in the catering industry, Jeff Thomas felt that it was time to sell his business to a trusted friend and former mentee.
Renee Schuler, the founder and CEO of Eat Well Celebrations and Feasts, first worked under Thomas in the early 2000s. Thomas offered her a job upon returning to the area from New York City after training to become a chef at the Institute of Culinary Education in Manhattan.
“I was trying to decide what to do with my life and Jeff really threw me a lifeline,” Schuler said.
Schuler took to it immediately, exceling as a pastry chef under Thomas’ mentorship.
Thomas told LINK nky he felt like Schuler would eventually venture off and start her own business. In 2005, she did. Nineteen years later, Thomas and Schuler are collaborating once again.
Newport-based Eat Well Celebrations and Feasts is acquiring Thomas’ namesake catering company. The transaction will be official on July 1, Thomas said. He will remain involved through the end of the year, personally overseeing Jeff Thomas Catering events scheduled through December. His last day of work is Jan. 1, 2025.
The newly combined company will operate under the Eat Well brand and focus on special events, weddings, galas and corporate events. Thomas’ employees have already began to integrate into Eat Well’s kitchen.
“To be able to have, you know, two stellar reputations joined at the hips is giving the city the best culinary experience that you can possibly imagine,” Thomas said. “Everything is going to carry on and I’m just so proud of her.”
Thomas said he started to consider winding down his business after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. He explained that catering was a “cyclical” business with weddings being a critical source of revenue. After couples cancelled weddings due to the virus, Thomas’ was left without a primary source of income. This experience led him to consider the possibility of selling.
Initially, Schuler had no plans to purchase a business, let alone in the catering industry.Â
“I think she was like a deer in the headlights,” Thomas joked.
However, after multiple meetings with Thomas, Schuler said it became clear the acquisition was not only a smart business decision, but also a way to continue Thomas’ legacy in the industry and community.
“The fact that we could come to an agreement where we would take it so that his legacy is continuing – it just made a lot of sense,” Schuler said.
Eat Well operates out of the Yorkshire Club/Bernhard’s Bakery building in Newport, which Schuler purchased in 2019. The 20,000 square foot building houses Eat Well’s commissary kitchen and offices. Eat Well caters corporate events in the the Greater Cincinnati area, as well as for many regional cultural organizations including The Cincinnati Opera, Playhouse in the Park, The Cincinnati Ballet, The CSO, The May Festival and Cincinnati Parks.
For Thomas, his impending retirement gives him more time to focus on writing his book — a collection of essays from his near four decades in the catering industry.
“It’s been kind of four years in the works figuring it out, and surreal it’s almost happening,” Thomas said. “It’s calming.”
