Alice & Imogen Tod - Owners of Todsisters Private Catering

Tell us a little bit about your business, how it started out and where you're based. Why did you decide to set up business in Mallorca?

Our business began from a desire to work together, live in a beautiful place, be in the sun and cook delicious food. We’ve grown up in a large family where dinner parties, canapé parties and drink parties have been a regularity. From this, we developed a love for cooking and hosting – making sure everyone is having a great time whilst we enjoy ourselves too.

We chose Mallorca because we fell completely in love with the island and also saw a great potential in a successful business – it just seemed like the perfect place for us! A few summers ago we were chefs in a private villa in Porto Colom. We were lucky enough to explore the whole island and absolutely loved it. We saw that it was not only a place we wanted to live in but also that the island was full of holidaymakers looking for our services. As we were contracted to the one villa we were unable to network and gain clientele - we knew we had to return the following summer as freelance chefs with our own business!

What were you doing before?

Before we started Todsisters in Mallorca we were working in a few different locations as chefs – Perthshire (Scotland), Val d’Isère (French Alps), Morzine (French Alps) and the UK. Before this, we were doing totally different jobs. Alice was working for our family company, The British Hamper Company, and Imogen was working and living in London. Quite a change!

What is special about your business? What sets you apart from everyone else?

We are sisters, so we have an extremely close bond. It’s helped our business in so many ways – we work so well together (Imogen tends to take charge of anything sweet and Alice loves cooking the savoury food), we have the same reasons for starting and building the business and we both have the same ambitions. This means our catering service is very strong – we’re happy, friendly and completely love what we’re doing which ensures all of our clients have a lovely time.

We’re also very laid back with our work (in a good way!). We make sure our services are bespoke so we listen to exactly what the client is after, making our utmost effort to ensure the client gets what they want and gets their money’s worth. We also like to document our work in the form of blogging so that we can share recipes that we feel you might enjoy. Keep an eye on our social media and website!

Anything you prefer in particular from the range of recipes you prepare?

Too many to say, and it depends on the time of year! During the summer months in Mallorca we’re very much into what is mostly requested of us – Mediterranean/Spanish food, so we love preparing paellas and tapas. Imogen, in particular, loves baking anything sweet and we’re actually seeing an influx of requests for birthday cakes, which is so amazing. The rest of the year we enjoy developing different recipes – we’ve just come out of a phase of developing our favourite vegetarian curry recipes! Check them out on our social media.

What is in store for the future with your business, any exciting projects in the pipelines that you can share with us?

We’re very happy and content building our business right now. Seeing where it takes us is very exciting.

What makes Mallorca a special place to be for someone in catering?

Mallorca’s a brilliant place for someone in catering. Firstly the lifestyle – living in such a sunny, warm, relaxed place is just total happiness for us. The way of life is completely different to anywhere we’ve ever lived. Everyone is there to have a good time, the weather is almost consistently perfect and there is just so much to do!

The catering side is just so enjoyable, especially with the wonderful choice of fresh food available. There is such a wide variety of fresh fish, fresh vegetables, etc., and the markets are amazing. We often work outside in the Mediterranean sun, barbequing and hosting tapas parties in beautiful gardens, which is such a plus for a caterer. Alternatively, when we aren’t outside, the villas we cook in are simply stunning, inside is almost as beautiful as the scenery outside. It’s a privilege to work in such astonishing places. Most of our clients are after fresh, summery, Spanish, Mediterranean cuisine and BBQs and this is the type of food we love to make!

Then there’s the business side. Mallorca is absolutely buzzing with weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, parties – unsurprisingly it’s a very popular destination for events... who wouldn’t want Mallorca’s stunning scenery as the backdrop to their event? The island is awash with large villas, beautiful hotels, private yachts and charter yachts, usually with guests after fine dining and party catering - perfect for chefs/caterers!

Does Mallorcan produce influence what you prepare? How about local cuisine?

Our catering is totally bespoke, so we always work with our clients to develop their perfect event. Very often they choose tapas, paellas and BBQs and we, of course, make sure these carry an element of Mallorcan cuisine. Lots of fresh fish, deliciously plump olives, garlic, sobrassada, salt and almonds. It also massively influences what we eat ourselves – the amount of pa’amb oli we get through is ridiculous... We have an extensive tapas menu, but we end up constantly updating it when we’re in Mallorca because of all the delicious dishes we come across!

What is your favourite Spanish traditional dish?

Pa’amb oli. So simple yet so good! Fresh, garlic rubbed crusty bread, tomato, olive oil and salt. Top with some ham and there you go – what more could you want!? (Actually sometimes we sneak some crushed avocado in there – so good. Currently salivating…) Alice is also obsessed with paella, it’s her top choice at every restaurant on the island, we cook it at home a lot as well, though we mix it up and add loads of chilli, because we’re hot on spicy food! It’s particularly good at Illeta restaurant in Camp de Mar.

Do you remember your first time in Mallorca?

We’ve been to Mallorca a few times over the years with the family but, as we were so young, we have very vague memories of it. One memory that stuck in particular was a holiday to Pollença. We ate in the square almost every night because of its friendly, buzzing atmosphere (and also pretty good fun as kids – we could leave the table and go and order our own ice creams from the pop-up vendor and play with all the other kids in the square).

In our older years, we didn’t visit Mallorca, and we must admit we had a slight impression of Mallorca as a slightly dull, easy-choice destination, more suited to young families. It wasn’t until we started working in Porto Colom that we realised how incredibly beautiful the island is, with the most amazing sea, friendly people, great food and landscape. Don’t get us started… we could literally go on all day!

Any restaurant on the island you can recommend for a special occasion?

This is such an easy question for us to answer. We have two that we both fell in love with last summer. Sumailla restaurant, in Port d'Andratx is amazing. A fairly new sushi restaurant with a top chef and the most incredible sushi, it sits on the port edge overlooking the water, giving the best views of the port and sunset. What’s surprising is that it’s not particularly expensive! They have a 5-course set lunch menu for under 25 euros. It was also within twenty metres of where we lived, so it pretty much became a staple meal for us, it was too hard to walk past and not be tempted.

The other restaurant is Ca’s Patro March in Deià. Wherever you are on the island, this place is worth driving to – when our parents were visiting us, we were so keen for them to eat there that we drove over an hour to reach it. Set in the most picturesque location on the edge of a cliff, the water below is the most beautifully clear we have seen in Mallorca and the food is brilliant – local fresh fish served in an unpretentious, chilled out way.

And a great bar for a drink?

Tim's Bar in Port d'Andratx for the best espresso martinis and port views, and OD Port Portals Hotel's Sky Bar – amazing views over Puerto Portals and they serve the most delicious gin and tonics we’ve ever had!

If someone was coming here for the first time, what would you suggest they absolutely must do or see in Mallorca?

There’s so much to do we could go on forever... eat at Sumailla and Ca’s Patro March, go for drinks and tapas in Palma, visit Es Trenc beach, go to Pollença, Pirates Adventure Show in Magaluf is a surprisingly entertaining and boozy evening, Palma Cathedral is a must, Port d'Andratx is too beautiful. Oh! and, of course, you have to hire us!

Finally, can you give us a tip to escape the crowds in the summer?

Santuari de Sant Salvador, near Felanitx is an old monastery on top of a huge hill. It never seems too busy, which is surprising because it has the best views of eastern Mallorca. It’s stunning and great for hiking up, be sure to follow the paths though, not scaling the side of the rock face like we did!

Mallorca is known for its incredible walking routes. We rarely met any fellow hikers on our travels, so it’s a good activity to escape the crowds. There’s a wonderful walking spot in the north-east, in Artá, and a fabulous scenic walk from Port d'Andratx in the south-west to Sant Elm – it’s so good, we must have done it about 10 times last summer.

Todsisters Private Catering are the answer to all your culinary dreams in Mallorca, from hosting your special event to cooking at your villa or yacht, they'll tailor the experience to you and your guests.