| About
Us Nature Coast Catering is owned and operated by Dougles W. Edwards, a Florida native who has spent most of his years in the West Central Florida area. He has worked a multitude of jobs including fast food, customer service and sales. Responding to an ad in the newspaper, Doug became one of the first three volunteers to a wonderful organization, Wildlife on Easy Street, now called Big Cat Rescue. He became the Director of Volunteers and was on the Board of Directors for the organization. During his nearly 8 years of service with WOES, he swam with tigers, was bitten by Bintroungs, and loved by leopards! After 2000 hours of working directly with the cats he was able to become licensed as a Class A animal handler….at the time of licensing one of only 190 in the state of Florida. |
In addition to a love for animals, Doug has always had a passion for cooking and has found himself drawn to food shows on TV. While working with the rescue group, family & friends who knew of his culinary talents began asking him to cook for get-togethers at their homes. Before he knew it, he was spending several nights a week personally catering for both private citizens and small corporate groups alike. He finally realized that he just didn’t have the equipment he needed to do the job to his satisfaction and that some changes would need to be made. In 1998 Doug felt a need to get back to a small town way of life, and moved from Tampa to Brooksville. He continued to commute to Tampa for a time for his then position as a marketing analyst with New York Life Insurance. Ultimately he was drawn back to food when he heard that Jason Mason Catering was for sale. His passion got hold of him again, and he contacted the owner. An agreement was soon struck and Doug began integrating into the business. In the beginning he partnered with John in handling events. John himself had spent several years building his reputation in the community and wanted to be sure he was selling to someone who would continue to uphold the same quality standards that his customers were accustomed to. It didn’t take long for Doug to step in and take over the business full time, and the sale became final on his birthday, November 11, 2004. He had finally fulfilled his life-long dream of owning his own business! Since then, Doug has continued to thrive in the food industry and has expanded his company one step at a time. In March of 2006 he purchased Nature Coast Café (formerly Farmer John’s Pancake House) near downtown Brooksville. This hometown eatery is a very popular spot with locals and visitors alike. He has also enhanced his catering service with the acquisition of In The Spirit Beverage, a full service liquor catering company. Most recently, he has assumed operations of MAX Bar & Grill located in the Best Western at I-75 and Highway 50. We gladly invite you to join us at any of our locations! Who knows, you may even run in to Doug and can ask him to entertain you with some of his fascinating cat stories! Testimonials We’ve told you how wonderful we are, now our customers can tell you too! Read on for actual testimonials. “Dear Kelly & Staff, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for the outstanding job you did at my husbands 40th birthday this past Saturday. Your staff, service and professionalism are second to none!! You are truly Top Notch!! Thank you!! Sincerely, Lisa Harmon” “Doug, I just wanted to thank you for providing Staci and my family with a wonderful 1st time catering experience! Your staff was friendly and efficient – what a pleasure to walk into a clean kitchen at the end of the night! Thank you again! Ken & Linda Shell” “Dear John & Doug, Please forgive me for taking such a long time to thank you for taking such wonderful care of our 213 Delta Kappa Gamma sisters at the Delta Kappa Gamma District meeting at Pasco Hernando Community College on April 24th. The food was wonderful & you managed to serve all of the women so efficiently! How you managed such a challenge of making more than 200 women happy is beyond me! May you have continued health & success. Sincerely, Peg Petersen District III Director 2002-2004, Delta Kappa Gamma” “Dear Kellie, Ruby & Lula, I just want to fell you how much we appreciated your services last Saturday at Anne & Jeb’s wedding. The food was excellent & the presentation was beautiful, the floral centerpiece on the buffet table was outstanding – but most of all Ruby & Lula put it all together – with their smiles & their willingness to make everything go smoothly. They made the happy occasion extra special! Ruby & Lula – you worked very hard & we thank you so much! And, Ruby, special accolades to you for “insistin” that Jeb MUST cut the cake!! Thank you, again, for making my daughter’s wedding very extra special!! Sincerely, Betty Tainsley, Anne’s mother” “Dear Doug, Thank you and your staff for helping the Chamber with Jacqueline’s retirement party. You did a great job! I think you so much for all your involvement and support of the Chamber. Warmest regards! Pat Pat Crowley, Marketing Representative, Greater Hernando County Chamber of Commerce” “Doug, Sorry this is a little late, but I’m finally getting back into the swing of the real world! Thanks to you and all your staff for the wonderful job you did for Mom’s party. All I have heard are raves about the food, presentation, and friendliness of the whole Naturecoast group. Mom still marvels about the whole thing! Thanks for helping me get through my part of the party during one of the most difficult periods of my life. You are not only a great caterer, but also a very thoughtful and warm person. So, thanks, again, from me, Mom, and my entire family for helping us make Mom’s 90th birthday a truly memorable occasion. Sincerely, Kathy Peskar” “Doug & Nature Coast, Thank you so much for the wonderful service at our Sports Banquet. You did a wonderful job. We look forward to working with you again! HCA” “HI Doug, It WAS a wonderful occasion! And without the Lord in our lives, life would not be the celebration that it is! The love of Jesus is what produces such joy and love for our family! I could not be happier with the beautiful way this event played out! YOUR part was priceless! I cannot begin to imagine the pressure I and my sister and brothers and their wives would have been under if we had not chosen to hire you to take care of all of the food. Your presentation was fabulous! Your efficiency and ability to jump in and help solve “challenges” was life saving!!! Anyway, as you can tell, I’m happy to recommend you to anyone, anytime!! All the way home (we flew home this morning and I am now back in California) all I could do was “kick myself” over and over for not having gotten back to the fellowship hall prior to the event EARLY ENOUGH to snap some pictures of each of the different decorations around the room. I had NOT taken a single picture all night, having left my camera behind accidentally. Yes, I knew there would be tons of pictures people could offer me..but I WANTED TO SEE THE BEAUTY OF THE PLACE RIGHT BEFORE ALL THE GUESTS ARRIVED..AT IT’S FINEST!!!! You can imagine how delighted I was to open this email, read your kind words, and THEN see ALL the pictures I had hoped to have snapped!!! I can’t thank you enough for that courtesy!!!! I now can breathe a sigh of relief and “ah….it’s over, and it was PERFECT!!” ….. YOU HELPED MAKE IT PERFECT. I thank you from the bottom of my heart! If it isn’t too much trouble, I would certainly love the disk because I clicked on the pictures and wasn’t able to make them bigger. I’d love to see them up close… Maybe there is a way and I just haven’t figured it out yet. Let me know if you need me to give a recommendation to prospective clients! Sincerely, Tami” |
