Jon Charais took the long way to establishing his catering business, Blue Lid BBQ. He had tried careers in media and finance but returned to his love of cooking after receiving a gift from his wife Jaclyn and advice from a mentor.
The gift was a smoker that allowed him to prepare meals for family and friends and rekindled an earlier interest he had. The advice was to quit his job in finance and go learn the ropes in the restaurant business.
Charais started working at fine dining restaurants, including Field & Fire Kitchen in Greenville and Town Council Kitchen & Bar in Neenah. He describes the learning curve as drinking from a firehose.
He established a mobile catering business, Blue Lid, in 2020 and has steadily grown it since. Charais likes the simplicity of barbecue, saying, “It’s just brisket, salt, pepper and smoke.”
In spring 2023, Charais had an opportunity to begin working with David Bennett, the owner of Four One Food Group, which operates Valley Catering and Valley Market, from a kitchen on the west side of Appleton. Valley Market offers single-serving entrees customers can order every week for pickup or delivery the following week.
“Once I started operating Blue Lid here, I really tried spending as much time with David as I could,” Charais says. “David was probably the calmest, most put together kitchen person I have worked with … not to mention his work ethic.”
Then in July, Bennett died unexpectedly from a heart condition at age 31.
“David was a valued member of our local food scene and our community as a whole. He was one of the greatest servant leaders I have ever met or known,” Charais says. “His absence is deeply felt.”
The catering business paused while Valley Market tried to meet customer needs for prepared meals under the leadership of Aiden Dorsey, who was Bennett’s sous chef and right-hand man for more than four years.
After some conversations with Bennett’s father Mark, the Charaises put together a plan and purchased Four One Food Group. That plan includes hewing closely to Bennett’s vision for the business while recognizing a need to put their own stamp on it as well.
“David wanted to bring value to the community,” Charais says. “That’s probably the strongest thing that I took away from my time with David is how to be a steward to the community and bring value to the community rather than just focusing on growing the business or having success.”
They plan to continue offering the same food prep services under Dorsey’s leadership and will use their experience with catering to operate and build that business as well. Charais says there are probably opportunities for wholesale meal prep services they will explore once they get their feet back under them.
“We’re really grateful to be here and that David’s parents gave us the opportunity to do this,” Charais says. “It brings me joy.”
