02/15/22 | Week 3 | 5 Black Caterers Who Were Influential in the Catering and Events Industry

Robert Bogle (1774-1848)
Philadelphia, PA

Robert Bogle, born a slave in 1774, worked as a waiter and, after obtaining his freedom, became a successful cook. In the early 19th century, it is claimed that he essentially invented catering. His entrepreneurial skills led him to become the first of many African American caterers who served nineteenth-century Philadelphia’s white elite.  Born in 1774, Bogle and five members of his family lived in Philadelphia’s South Ward, where the majority of the city’s African American resided.  In the mid-nineteenth century, the growing African American population of Philadelphia was facing competition from Irish immigrants for service sector jobs.  Philadelphia was rocked by race riots in the 1820s, 1830s, and 1840s.  Catering and other food trades offered African Americans an opening to own their own businesses with little competition from whites.  African American catering companies played a prominent role in Philadelphia’s social life for more than 150 years.

In addition to catering, Robert Bogle ran a funeral business for the social elite.

The “Ode to Bogle,” was a light poem written in 1829 by prominent Philadelphia banker Nicholas Biddle. It describes Bogle as an important contributor to any social event.  “Thy reign,” the verse explains, “begins before our earliest breath, nor ceases with the hour of death.”  The poem describes the caterer as a calm, unruffled administrator of sweet treats and funeral processions, a “Colourless coloured man, whose brow; Unmoved, the joys of life surveys; Untouched the gloom of death displays.”

Robert Bogle died in Philadelphia in 1848. In 1991 the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission erected a sign in the city, honouring his contribution to catering and Philadelphia as a whole.

​Rod Westmaas, CPCE Emeritus chose these 5 Black Caterers because he decided to look first at the influences of 18/19th century Black Caterers in segments. These 5 caterers are located on the east coast of the U.S. These were simply the five that stood out in his research that made a significant difference to there city/state within the fledging catering world. He is currently looking into other parts of the US also where Black caterers have also shone.