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Founded by Kilkenny-native Sarah McGree, The Wild Grazer is Ireland’s leading cheese wheel wedding cake specialist, offering a special and delicious cake option for couples who are looking for something more unique or who simply don’t have an especially large sweet tooth. With a background in catering and events, the majority of Sarah’s experience has centred around the wedding industry, which gives her added insight into her role on the day.
In her early 20s, she moved to Chicago for work and quickly built up an impressive list of clientele. “It was in Chicago that I developed my creative flair and love of bringing people together through food experiences. I worked with the elite caterers of The Midwest, Jewell Events Catering. While at Jewell, I planned and executed a wide range of events including luxury private home gatherings, weddings, Bat Mitzvahs and large-scale corporate events.
“I had the privilege of catering for clients like Hilary Clinton, Warren Buffet and J. B. Pritzker. My food styling abilities came to light at one of the first events that I worked at, and it became something that I continuously developed. My time in Chicago cracked open a whole new world for me and unleashed a passion for creating unique luxury food experiences.”
From there, Sarah moved to Toronto, Canada where she worked as a wedding and events consultant for one of the city’s most celebrated boutique art hotels. This is where her passion for food styling truly blossomed. “Our offices were in the middle of an art gallery which inherently inspired me on a daily basis to create one-of-a-kind experiences for my clients. I was elected as our resident food stylist for all of our big events, and my artistic flair for curating food displays developed significantly.”
In 2020, with her dream kindled, Sarah returned home to Kilkenny and founded The Wild Grazer. Not just known for their bespoke and tasty cheese cakes, the company is also recognised for its zero-waste philosophy. They give couples the option to serve any remaining cheese as part of a grazing table or individual grazing cups for day two of the wedding, saving catering costs and significantly reducing wastage.
With an extensive background in weddings, Sarah gives us the inside track on the exciting moves she’s making, along with her advice for choosing the best wedding cake for you.
I really try my best to run as sustainable a business as possible. I do lots of little things that, when combined, have a greater effect. My main way of reducing food waste is by only taking pre-orders; this allows me to order exactly what I need on a weekly basis so there is little to no food waste in my kitchen. Any food waste that is produced is composted and I use local producers, which has a number of benefits besides the obvious one of incredible taste.
A lot of the producers that I use are within a 30km radius of me, as food that does not have to travel long distances to reach your kitchen has a much smaller carbon footprint. Secondly, I personally pick up the produce from these suppliers which means I refuse any unnecessary packaging that would have been used for delivery. Regarding my own packaging, I use vegware which is BPI-Certified compostable, and I also use bamboo serving utensils and bowls for events. Along with this, I encourage my customers to think about reducing waste. A lot of my customers choose to only serve half of the cheese from the cake on the day of the wedding and then use the rest on their day two – this really helps eliminate any waste on the day and also means they can reduce their food costs for Day Two.
If you want a ‘wow factor’ cheese wedding cake, I always recommend: