Local caterer Jane Thibodeau’s business still bustling after nearly 25 years

OLD TOWN, Maine — Local chef and caterer Jane Thibodeau enjoys cooking of all sorts, but whipping up treats unique to each customer is her specialty. 

Thibodeau has operated her catering business right out of her own home kitchen for the last 25 years and, going on 68 years old, the self-taught chef shows few signs of slowing down. 

Old Town chef and caterer Jane Thibodeau creates specialty Valentine’s Day boxes filled with homemade chocolate truffles. (Nina Mahaleris | The Penobscot Times)

To Thibodeau, cooking for people  — which she does mostly on her own, with occasional help from her closest friends — is a labor of love. Although she wasn’t always a good cook, she said, it took years of trial and error to master the craft. 

At 20 years old, a newly-married Thibodeau needed to learn to prepare meals for her husband and eventually six children, but it wasn’t as simple as following a recipe step-by-step. She wants her food to be authentic and special to the people who’ll taste it. 

Through lots of practice, Thibodeau mastered the art of cooking. She watched home cooking shows and borrowed cookbooks from the library, always looking for new ideas to work into her creations. 

“I specialize in making people’s dreams a reality,” she said. “They have their vision and I make it happen.” 

For the more than two decades she’s been in the catering game, Thibodeau has customized her cooking to reflect what is important to her clients. She primarily caters weddings, conferences and funerals, but also cooks for the University of Maine women’s hockey team and other special events like the annual homecoming. 

Old Town chef and caterer Jane Thibodeau’s creations include homemade cookies and cakes. (Courtesy of Jane Thibodeau)

About 14 years ago, an American soldier stationed in Iraq called her up asking Thibodeau to cater her upcoming wedding after learning the Old Town chef had catered her cousin’s wedding. The engaged couple asked Thibodeau if she could make some traditional Puerto Rican dishes to celebrate part of their family’s heritage. 

Although Thibodeau didn’t specialize in Puerto Rican cooking, she promised to learn. When the wedding was over, the guests declared her an honorary Puerto Rican.

For years, she never considered herself a real chef because she hadn’t gone to culinary school — but not anymore. To Thibodeau, being a chef is about designing new recipes, managing others and bringing people’s desires to life — qualities that she’s developed over years of dedicated work. 

Though Thibodeau is getting older, she has little interest in retiring — and she has enough orders to keep her busy. 

“Sometimes it’s just crazy all at once,” she said, but she loves the work. 

“It’s everything to me,” she said.