Our Story

Hi – I’m Loretta, the owner and founder of Cibo catering.    I am a mother to three, full on, sports mad, ravenous boys. I’m a gin drinking, self-confessed foodie with a real passion for entertaining. Any special event in our house is marked with an abundance of delicious food, beautiful decorations and obviously – good Italian wine!

​

I grew up in a home that vibrated with the sound of laughter, the clatter of pans and the smell of cooking.  Even now, the aroma of a slow cooked Bolognese sauce takes me home to my parents’ house, chopping herbs and making meatballs with my mum. My children are always equally overjoyed when they come home from school and can smell the sauce slow cooking. It is their favourite meal – as it was once (and still is) mine.  My parents were true proponents of the Italian adage “Mia casa e sua casa” – my house is your house – we always had a house full of people, Christmas was always a huge family affair.  Our dining room table extended – rhetorically speaking – to feed as many people as it needed to, there was always enough for whomever happened to have dropped in.

​

It is this feeling of celebration, of meeting around a table to share stories that we try to recreate with our events and indeed in our sandwich bar.  You will always be greeted by a friendly, smiling face, our staff will remember your name, your favourite foods and those you hate, our little shop is a hub for the business community – where people swop news and stories.  The events we create are planned with you, for you.  We listen to the ideas that you have, the food you want to eat and the mood you want to create and together with you we make it happen.  Food is so much more than simply a fuel for our bodies.

​

I started working in a 5-star hotel with an A La Carte restaurant aged 15, flambéing steak and fileting fish at the diners’ table, silver serving veg, crumbing down between courses – waitressing taught as a profession, rather than a stop-gap job. With the exception of a 4-year stint at St Andrew’s University where I gained an MA Hons (2.1) in Philosophy and Theology and a minor foray into retail management, I have worked in hospitality ever since. Running cocktail bars and restaurants, cooking on diving boats and in ski chalets, washing pots and cleaning floors.