Meet the Team: Abbie Crowther
Chef, Forager, Dog Lover, Fire Starter: Our Head Chef Abbie Crowther
At Jimmy Garcia Catering, we love celebrating the people who make our events so special, and today, we’re delighted to shine the spotlight on our Head Chef, Abbie Crowther.
Abbie’s career has taken her across the globe, cooking everywhere from luxury yachts to alpine ski chalets. “Those years really taught me how to think on my feet,” Abbie explains. “When you’re at sea or in the mountains, you don’t have the luxury of popping to the shops if you run out of something. You have to be resourceful, creative, and make the most of what’s around you.”
That spirit of creativity has only grown since she joined JGC. “What makes catering here different from other companies is the exciting briefs that we get, and the clients themselves,” she says. “They come up with incredible ideas, and we get to develop them. It means we can be really creative, no day is the same. All of our menus are different and exciting, and that keeps everything fresh.”
Abbie is also known for her adventurous approach to cooking, whether it’s experimenting with wild foraged ingredients (“one of the most unusual things I’ve worked with was pine cones, which we turned into a syrup for cocktails”) or embracing fire cooking at events.
“I especially love working on the OFYR. There’s something so special about cooking over flames, and guests really connect with it.”
When asked about her proudest moment at JGC, one memory stands out. “There have been so many, but one that’s really personal to me was when I was Sous Chef and we went to Scotland for a three day wedding in the mountains. It was the biggest wedding we’d ever done. One of the dinners was a seven course vegan tasting menu, something we’d never attempted before. It was all new, it went really well, and I came away from it just feeling so proud.”
Of course, there’s more to Abbie than the kitchen. When we asked what she’d be doing if she wasn’t a chef, her answer came instantly:
“This is a really easy one. I would be running a dog rescue or some sort of doggy daycare.
Anywhere, anything that I could spend my entire day playing with dogs, that would be my job.”
Abbie first joined JGC as a freelancer, quickly proving herself as a calm, capable, and exceptionally skilled member of the team. From there, she steadily rose through the ranks, showing not only her talent in the kitchen but also her natural gift for leadership.
Now, Abbie is stepping into her biggest role yet, running the kitchen team while Executive Chef, Alex Lees, is on maternity leave. “It’s such an exciting challenge,” she says.
“Alex has been an incredible mentor, and I’m so proud to be carrying the torch while she’s away. I want to keep pushing the team creatively while delivering the consistency and quality that JGC is known for.”
We couldn’t be more thrilled to see Abbie thrive in this new chapter. With her adventurous spirit, creativity, and passion for people, we know she’ll lead the kitchen with the same energy that first made her stand out when she walked through our doors.
17th September 2025