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About Tom

With 40 years’ experience in the industry, Tom can deliver unforgettable culinary experiences in any venue in the world, from outdoor picnics to three-star Michelin experiences, for two to ‘too many’. As well as being a disruptor to the catering industry, he also designs furniture, hosts luxury gastronomy and cultural tours to destinations including Russia, Spain and the Napa Valley, is a writer, sailor and a mentor to many.

Tom began his career in 1980 at Le Gavroche in London – the flagship restaurant of French-British chef-restaurateurs Albert and Michel Roux, which was the first in the UK to gain three Michelin stars. He honed his craft as a restaurateur with six years of expert personal tutelage from Albert Roux himself. 

After returning to Australia, Tom created the Truffle Group Catering Company in 1987, producing innovative special events including a decade of the legendary Cointreau Balls, the Sydney Children’s Hospital’s gold and silver charity dinners, and launches for Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Hermes. He presented Australian cuisine for heads of state at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games and the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano and was the caterer at the Sydney 2000 sponsor hospitality centre, the Nike Athlete Centre and the Samsung Rendezvous Centre. 

In 2000, Tom was approached to create a restaurant for the superyacht marina at Rozelle Bay. The resulting Liquidity Waterfront Restaurant & Bar was a finalist in the 2001 Restaurant of the Year awards. Between 1999 and 2002. Tom worked on the Sydney Football Stadium and Sydney Cricket Ground contracts and later secured the jewel in the city’s venue crown – the Sydney Opera House. After 17 years, Tom passed on the Truffle Group’s mantle, and one of his great joys was buying the Beach Road Restaurant in Palm Beach in 2003 and revitalising it with a new look and menu. It was named best new restaurant in the Restaurant & Catering Awards in its first year of operation and best restaurant with entertainment the following year. 

Since 2008, Tom has been operating a boutique food and management agency, working with businesses, restaurants, clubs, hotels and event producers. His clients have included Foxtel, Panthers Group, Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority, the Langham, Sydney, Tourism Australia, to name just a few

The prominent Pratt family and its company Visy Industries have also been a loyal and regular client over many years. Tom has planned and helped execute some of its most prestigious events, including an evening with Nigella Lawson and an event at the Sydney Opera House with Dame Edna Everage. 

Tom also works internationally and has recently produced four dinners for hundreds of guests at three Michelin-star standards for HSBC’s 150th anniversary in Hong Kong. He has also begun hosting luxury culinary and cultural tours, with trips to Russia, the Napa Valley, Austria and Spain in 2020, adding Argentina to the mix in 2021.  

Tom curated a unique food and beverage experience for a 10 day trip to Russia for the Award-winning NAFDA incentive trip in 2019 for 150 guests and will be working with them again in the future in South America and Japan.

Toms most recent project is inventing a world first, the Halo Dining App. At the epicentre of Halo Dining is “dine at your favourite restaurant,…… at home”. The App is unique in that allows restaurants to easily connect with their customers in a very different way.

Halo Dining is sophisticated yet simple to use App which allows a diner, via a geotag of time, date, and location, to know which restaurants are available to come to their home and cook dinner. The host selects the menu, invites his/her guests, who in turn choose their menu. The check can also be shared across all diners if the host desires, just like the restaurant experience. The restaurant turns up an hour before, sets the table, serves drinks, and the menu selected. Washes up and goes home.

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