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INUVIK
Former tradesman Joey Watters has found the path to his heart's desire leads through people's stomachs.

Joey Watters of Inukshook Catering is cooking up a good reputation in town, with the able assistance of his fiancée Debbie Bernhardt and his son Landin. - T. Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo

By day, Watters is the food-slinging chef at the Aurora College campus kitchen. By night and weekends, he puts on his caterer's hat.

"That's what people want more than anything," Watters said March 6 as his day wound down at the college. "They want more choices in where they can go."

Watters comes by his trade honestly, if in quite a roundabout manner. His parents were in the restaurant trade in Ontario. Watters is originally from North Bay. He also spent some time working in kitchens and restaurants in British Columbia in the off-season from the masonry trade.

Perhaps seven or eight years ago, feeling a bit restless, he indulged his wanderer's spirit and headed north to Inuvik, where several family members had settled.

"I came here for a sabbatical," he said with a grin. "I wound up staying.

"I liked it here because you can wear a lot of different hats."

He started out as a labourer with public works in town, which he enjoyed because "it took me to about half the places I wanted to see anyway."

Then life intervened once again, and he was invited to help out a friend with a restaurant in Inuvik, and the cooking bug bit again.

Watters went back to school to learn more about the cooking and chef business. He had some certifications, he said, and thought he knew his way around a kitchen, but he was flat wrong.

"It was humbling to find out how much I didn't know," he said with a grin.

He described his cooking as "freestyle," rather than having a speciality.

"I can do pretty much anything," Watters said.

After that, he worked in "many of the restaurants around town" before deciding to open his own business.

"I'm having a blast, and I'd rather work my (rear) off for myself," Watters said.

It was about five years ago when he opened Inukshook Catering. A little more than a year ago, he said he won the contract for food services at Aurora College, which has quickly given him some good exposure.

"We're open to the public as well as students and staff," he said.

That's attracted a growing following, Watters said, but catering is where "people get to see what I can really do."

Single-handedly, he can do the food preparation for a group as large as 150 people, he said. However, he's now pondering expanding a little and adding staff.

"I still have a smile on my face and that's what's important," he said.

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