Around Town: Thyme & Again does it again, with 25 years in business bash

[guest]

Award-winning businesswoman Sheila Whyte would have made a great publicist, given her skill at promoting others while staying behind the scenes running Thyme & Again Creative Catering and Take Home Food Shop.

So, it was nice to see her get a well-deserved moment in the spotlight as she hosted a 25th anniversary shindig for Thyme & Again on Friday for more than 400 of her closest friends at the Horticulture Building at Lansdowne.

Not that she loved being the centre of attention, mind you.

“It’s not my thing,” she told Around Town before steering the conversation over to the many individuals (like employee Josee DesRosiers) and local businesses (Bloomfields Flowers, Kichesippi Beer and Beau’s Brewery, Seed to Sausage, Chez Lili Party Rentals, Chic & Swell, Event Design, to name just a bunch) that helped to make her party such a smashing success.

This was no chips-and-dip night, for sure. There was smoked salmon and fresh Fogo Island cod, a salad bar with ingredients from local farms presented from a canoe, birch trees adorned with cookies and truffles, an elaborate chocolate fondue, and gin gimlet and Negroni cocktails. Parked outside on the patio was a shiny airstream mobile bar and lounge while bringing dance-worthy energy to the bash was the local pop band The PepTides.

CTV’s Leanne Cusack graced the stage to welcome Mayor Jim Watson. He’s known Whyte since they both began their respective careers, in 1991. As a self-proclaimed “lousy cook” bachelor, he’s a regular customer of Whyte’s store on Wellington Street West and credits it for helping to put four inches on his waistline.

Photos: Thyme & Again party


Sheila Whyte hosted a 25th anniversary party for Thyme & Again Creative Catering and Take Home Food Shop on Friday for more than 400 of her closest friends at the Horticulture Building at Lansdowne.

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  From left, Sheila Whyte with Catherine O'Grady, executive producer of the TD Ottawa International Jazz Festival, at a party Whyte threw at the Horticulture Building on Friday, September 9, 2016, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of her popular Ottawa business, Thyme & Again Creative Catering and Take Home Food Shop. Caroline Phillips / -
  
  
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  From left, Miran Markovic, special assistant to the mayor, with well-known lawyer Lawrence Greenspon and his good friend, Perry Mody, and Mayor Jim Waston, at a 25th anniversary party hosted by Thyme & Again Creative Catering and Take Home Food Shop at the Horticulture Building at Lansdowne on Friday, September 9, 2016. (Caroline Phillips / Ottawa Citizen) Caroline Phillips / -
  
  
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  Retired diplomat Larry Dickenson and his wife, cookbook author Margaret Dickenson, with Read Collacott and his wife, Pam Collacott, also a well-known cookbook author, at the 25th anniversary party for Thyme & Again Creative Catering and Take Home Food Shop, held Friday, September 9, 2016, at the Horticulture Building at Lansdowne. (Caroline Phillips / Ottawa Citizen) Caroline Phillips / -
  
  
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  Scott Warrick, culinary programs coordinator and professor with Algonquin College's School of Hospitality and Tourism, with Cathy Dewar, manager of the college's Restaurant International, at the 25th anniversary party for Thyme & Again Creative Catering and Take Home Food Shop, held at the Horticulture Building on Friday, September 9, 2016. (Caroline Phillips / Ottawa Citizen) Caroline Phillips / -
  
  
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  Sheila Whyte, owner of Thyme & Again Creative Catering and Take Home Food Shop, makes some gracious remarks while welcoming guests to the Horticulture Building at Lansdowne on Friday, September 9, 2016, for a 25th anniversary celebration of her business. (Caroline Phillips / Ottawa Citizen) Caroline Phillips / -
  
  
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  That's Don Monet, co-owner of Cube Gallery, hanging out in the Cellar 82 airstream mobile bar and lounge during the 25th anniversary party that took place at the Horticulture Building on Friday, September 9, 2016, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Sheila Whyte's successful business, Thyme & Again Creative Catering and Take Home Shop. (Caroline Phillips / Ottawa Citizen) Caroline Phillips / -
  
  
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  From left, Clayton Kennedy with guests Kathy Godding, Ian Engelberg and his husband Joseph Cull at a party that Kennedy's wife, well-known businesswoman Sheila Whyte hosted at the Horticulture Building on Friday, September 9, 2016, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Thyme & Again Creative Catering and Take Home Food Shop. (Caroline Phillips / Ottawa Citizen) Caroline Phillips / -
  
  
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  From left, Peter Honeywell, executive director of the Ottawa Council for the Arts, with Clayton Kennedy and his sons, Adam, 12, and Teagan, 17, during a party thrown by Kennedy's wife, prominent businesswoman Sheila Whyte, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Thyme & Again Creative Catering and Take Home Food Shop. (Caroline Phillips / Ottawa Citizen) Caroline Phillips / -
  
  
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  Thyme & Again Creative Catering's home-made birch bark dessert station, featuring cookies and chocolate truffles, as seen at the company's 25th anniversary party, held Friday, September 9, 2016, at the Horticulture Building at Lansdowne. (Caroline Phillips / Ottawa Citizen) Caroline Phillips / -
  
  
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  Warm evening temperatures allowed for guests to mingle on the patio outside the Horticulture Building at the 25th anniversary party hosted by Thyme & Again Creative Catering and Take Home Food Shop on Friday, September 9, 2016. (Caroline Phillips / Ottawa Citizen) Caroline Phillips / -
  
  
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  Thyme & Again Creative Catering's famous chocolate fondue was one the impressive food stations featured at its 25th anniversary party, held Friday, September 9, 2016, at the Horticulture Building at Lansdowne. (Caroline Phillips / Ottawa Citizen) Caroline Phillips / -
  
  
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  From left, Sheila Whyte with CTV Ottawa's Leanne Cusack at a party Whyte threw at the Horticulture Building on Friday, September 9, 2016, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of her popular Ottawa business, Thyme & Again Creative Catering and Take Home Food Shop. (Caroline Phillips / Ottawa Citizen) Caroline Phillips / -
  
  
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  Thyme & Again Creative Catering lived up to its name with this creative presentation of a summer harvest salad bar in a canoe, complemented by a live wall of greenery, at its 25th anniversary party, held Friday, September 9, 2016, at the Horticulture Building at Lansdowne. (Caroline Phillips / Ottawa Citizen) Caroline Phillips / -
  
  
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  That's Judy Cardinal serving chicken pot pie at a party hosted by Thyme & Again Creative Catering and Take Home Shop on Friday, September 9, 2016, at the Horticulture Building in celebration of its 25th anniversaray. (Caroline Phillips / Ottawa Citizen) Caroline Phillips / -
  
  
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  The PepTides band brought great energy to the 25th anniversary party hosted by Thyme & Again Creative Catering and Take Home Shop on Friday, September 9, 2016, at the Horticulture Building at Lansdowne. (Caroline Phillips / Ottawa Citizen) Caroline Phillips / -
  
  
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  Check out this suspended swing of charcuterie featured at the Thyme and Again Creative Catering and Take Home Food Shop's 25th anniversary party, held Friday, September 9, 2016, at the Horticulture Building at Lansdowne. (Caroline Phillips / Ottawa Citizen) Caroline Phillips / -
  
  
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  The PepTides band was a hit with the crowd at the 25th anniversary party hosted by Thyme & Again Creative Catering and Take Home Shop on Friday, September 9, 2016, at the Horticulture Building at Lansdowne. (Caroline Phillips / Ottawa Citizen) Caroline Phillips / -
  
  
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  Sheila Whyte, owner of Thyme & Again Creative Catering and Take Home Food Shop, was joined by her husband, Clayton Kennedy, and their sons, Adam Kennedy, 12, and Teagan Kennedy, 17, at a 25th anniversary party she threw at the Horticulture Building at Lansdowne on Friday, September 9, 2016. (Caroline Phillips / Ottawa Citizen) Caroline Phillips / -
  
  
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  From left, award-winning Ottawa chef Marc Lepine, owner of Atelier, with his sommelier, Steven Robinson, were among the hundreds to attend the 25th anniversary party of Thyme & Again Creative Catering and Take Home Food Shop, held at the Horticulture Building on Friday, September 9, 2016. (Caroline Phillips / Ottawa Citizen) Caroline Phillips / -
  
  
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  Ottawa Mission assistant kitchen manager Kristyn Berquist and its chef, Ric Watson, with its manager of media and community relations, Shirley Roy, and Jason Allan-Watson, helped celebrate the success of one of its supporters, Thyme & Again Creative Catering and Take Home Food Shop, at its 25th anniversary held at the Horticulture Building at Lansdowne on Friday, September 9, 2016. (Caroline Phillips / Ottawa Citizen) Caroline Phillips / -
  
  
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  Parkdale Food Centre board members Len Fardella (chair) and Lynda Hansen and volunteer Jo-Ann Laverty from its 13 Muesli Project, were out to support fellow board member, Sheila Whyte, owner of Thyme & Again Creative Catering and Take Home Food Shop, at a party she threw Friday, September 9, 2016, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of her business. (Caroline Phillips / Ottawa Citizen) Caroline Phillips / -
  
  
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  From left, Alison Fowler and Andrew King, both local artists, were among the hundreds to attend the 25th anniversary party of Thyme & Again Creative Catering and Take Home Food Shop, held at the Horticulture Building on Friday, September 9, 2016. (Caroline Phillips / Ottawa Citizen) Caroline Phillips / -
  
  
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  Ottawa organ donor activist and double-lung transplant recipient HÈlËne Campbell and Ottawa Citizen writer Bruce Deachman were among the hundreds to attend the 25th anniversary party of Thyme & Again Creative Catering and Take Home Food Shop, held at the Horticulture Building on Friday, September 9, 2016. (Caroline Phillips / Ottawa Citizen) Caroline Phillips / -
  
  
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  Community leaders Barbara McInnes and Glenn McInnes with GCTC managing director Hugh Neilson were among the hundreds to attend the 25th anniversary party of Thyme & Again Creative Catering and Take Home Food Shop, held at the Horticulture Building on Friday, September 9, 2016. (Caroline Phillips / Ottawa Citizen) Caroline Phillips / -
  

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Whyte’s success goes beyond just the quality and creativity of her food, said the mayor before presenting her with a framed certificate. “Sheila understands as a business leader that it’s not just about the bottom line,” said Watson. “Her contributions to the arts community, to charities, to philanthropy are legendary and set a gold standard for other businesses.”

The party brought together a cross-section of community members as well as such culinary luminaries as award-winning Gold Medal Plate chefs Patrick Garland, Marc Lepine and Michael Moffatt, along with iconic chef Robert Bourassa.

Whyte’s husband, retired paleontologist technician Clayton Kennedy, attended with their two sons, Teagan, 17, and Adam, 12, the latter of whom pulled off the large headphones-around-the-neck look quite nicely.

Also seen were folks from organizations that get a helping hand from Whyte, such as the Parkdale Food Centre and The Ottawa Mission homeless shelter. “She gives back, and that’s why she’s lasted 25 years,” The Mission’s Shirley Roy told Around Town.

Whyte, who has catered for The Queen’s visit and for clients’ first, second and third weddings, said it’s the creativity and collaboration that she most enjoys about her work.

“It’s about always being able to create something new and always meeting and interacting with new people,” she told Around Town. “That’s what keeps it fresh.

“I’m looking forward to the next 25 years.”

Carolyn001@sympatico.ca

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