Pieter Van Staden works for Creative Catering after working across the United States in various prestigious establishments.
The South African native always knew he would end up in the cooking industry because he was always around food. His mother and grandmother are Italian and he always helped them in the kitchen preparing the "weekend fease". Through high school, he worked at a Gerhard Moerdyk restaurant that was renowned for its classic upscale South African cuisine.
When he was 19, he attended L'Academie du Cuisine in Maryland, while working for his borther's Mediterranean restaurant Cafe Sole in Washington D.C. After his schooling, he did an externship with Todd Gray at Equinox, then after a couple of years moved to Marcel's. he then worked for Chef John-Louis Paladin at the Watergate Hotel.
He moved to Las Vegas and started working at Tsunami Asian Grill in the Venetian, working his way up to sous chef. The then became chef for Lutece, where he had the opportunity to change the menu and use his talent to create some of his own signature dishes.
Following the closure of Tsunami Asian Grill and Lutece due to the expansion of the Venetian Towers, he moved to the New York Banquet Kitchen and learned how a catering department works.
His brother, Jacques, introduced Pieter to chefs John-Philippe and D.D. Dufion who owned Cafe Soleil and Creative Catering. The chefs took Pieter under their wing and, Pieter says has been a wonderful experience. They have built a successful catering business, and they have created a huge line of canpes, petit fours and cakes, and provide wholesale items to most of the major hotels in Las Vegas.
"I strongly believe the difference between good and excellent lies in the detail and the drive to better yourself," Pieter said.
