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Whether you are seeking catering services for 20 or 2,000, local dinner theatre, or even leprechauns, Tom McNeil's got you covered. As owner of The Golden Rose, the British Isles, Country House Catering, and a new restaurant to the west of Lansing, executive chef McNeil certainly has a corner on Greater Lansing's dining experience.
"I have been studying food for 20 years," he stated. "I've been in the food industry since I was a child. At 16, my father owned a grocery store, so we made our own homemade meats and salads. I've been fine tuning my culinary skills ever since."
In 1977, McNeil started out with a grocery store of his own. A year later, he opened Country Caterers. Over the next decade, he expanded his business by opening a catering hall and dinner theatre in Dimondale, and purchased both Country House Caterers and Farm House Catering. In 1992, as an offshoot of Country House Caterers, he opened his first restaurant.
"How I got into the restaurant business was, people would say to me, 'Your catering is very good. We love your food. We don't want to have to drive to Grand Rapids or Detroit to get a fine meal. Why don't you build a restaurant?" McNeil explained. "I wanted to have a fine dining establishment in our community, and now we are celebrating the fifth anniversary of The Golden Rose."
Since McNeil had so much success with his initial efforts as a restaurateur, he is now expanding his operations.
"Being the Irish lad that I am, I always wanted to do something on Ireland, England, Scotland, and Wales," he said. "With the British Isles, I've brought this into an area where there are a lot of Irish, English, Scotch, and Welsh people that love the theme and the different foods from these...