Sublime Caterers

“When you grow up in a Lebanese family, you grow up to know that food is everything.”

With over twenty years in the food and catering industry, Charlie Salloum purchased Sublime Caterers five years ago as he was looking for a food business with different offerings - eat-in, takeaway and catering.

While Sublime’s central kitchen is located in Richmond, Charlie has a special affinity for North Melbourne, having lived in and built businesses in the area for over twenty years.

“I used to have another business called Fast Food Gourmet - our production kitchen was where Mork Chocolate is now, on Errol Street. But as my kids were young, I decided to focus on my family until they got a bit older,” explains Charlie.

“I was itching to get back into business, and that’s when I decided to purchase Sublime Caterers. We were lucky because when catering orders stopped during the lockdowns, our take-home meals kept us going. We didn’t need to pivot because we were already doing it.”

What sets Sublime apart is their menu of wholesome food made well, their fresh salads and the convenience of their take-home meals.

“We rotate four different salads every week, five in summer,” explains Charlie. “We’ve always got the broccoli and chicken slaw, and we have the Cypriot grain salad most of the time. Then in winter, we put on hot meals and soups, and our filled breads are a big seller.”

With Lebanese, Italian, and Korean influences throughout his family, Charlie simply loves food and flavour.

His favourite menu items are the cauliflower and cheese fritters or the tofu and peanut fritters, developed to cater to the vegan market. His wife’s recipe for Spanish chorizo chicken and cauliflower dahl are popular items from the take-home meal freezers.

“We can cater for people’s dietary requirements with a lot of gluten-free food and vegan selections, as well as garlic and onion-free dishes. This is something we’ve always done and we are conscious of our customers’ needs when we are creating our menus and food offerings.”

Words by Joyce Watts & Photography by Anna Encio