Elevated Palate by Gargiulo Caterers LLC | Catering, Event Staff & Private Chef — NJ

Based in Toms River · Serving NJ & the Tri-State

The restaurant,
brought to you.

Executive Chef Michael Gargiulo brings exceptional food and professional service directly to your home, venue, or event. From intimate dinners to large celebrations, we provide full-service catering, vetted event staff, and private chef experiences throughout New Jersey and the Tri-State area.

Choose one service or let us handle the entire experience.

Book your event Request staffing pricing

Fed beautifully

Catering

Trays delivered ready to serve, or chefs cooking on-site at action stations.

Run smoothly

Event staff

Servers, chefs, and grill masters by the hour or as a five-hour crew.

Cooked for you

Private chef

Multi-course experiences, prepared and served live at your table.

A carved watermelon tower layered with dragon fruit, kiwi, orange slices, strawberries and blackberries.

Made for your moment

A carved fruit centerpiece, made to be remembered.

Fresh fruit, hand-carved and styled to bring something special to birthdays, showers, weddings, and celebrations of every kind. Tell us what you're celebrating, and we'll create a custom centerpiece for your table.

Tell us what you're celebrating

Thanksgiving 2026 · Hosting bundles

Thanksgiving, handled.

Choose your bundle, pick your meats and trays, and send it over. We'll call to confirm your delivery date and send your invoice.

Bundle 1 $350 Feeds 10–12 · 1 meat + 3 half trays
Bundle 2 $580 Feeds 20 · 2 meats + 1 full + 2 half trays

Pre-order by November 5th and get a complimentary mystery pie.

Catering & event service

Effortless events, beautifully fed.

Fresh, chef-prepared food built around your headcount — dropped off ready to serve, or cooked live in the room by our crew. Hand-carved fruit centerpieces made to order.

The Gargiulo Caterers crew behind a live sauté station, pans heating and plates ready to serve.
A live station set up and running.

Serve-ready

Tray catering

Chef-prepared half and full trays delivered ready to serve. Offices, parties, and gatherings — built around your headcount.

  • Half tray feeds 10–12 · full tray feeds 20–25
  • Drop-off & pickup
  • Office & corporate catering

On-site & interactive

Live catering

Our chefs cook on-site at action stations your guests gather around. Fresh, hot, and made to order throughout the event.

  • Grill & carving stations
  • Pasta & sauté
  • Chef-attended service
Rows of plated rigatoni on gold-rimmed plates, lined up on a service rack ready to go out.

Plated service

Restaurant-grade, from your kitchen.

Course by course, plated and sent out the way a restaurant would — for seated dinners, weddings, and anything where the plate matters as much as the food.

Event staff for hire

Event staff, on demand.

Vetted, uniformed, and ready. Build the exact crew your event needs and send it straight to us.

Executive Chef Michael Gargiulo plating a line of salads in the kitchen before service.
Executive Chef Michael Gargiulo on the line.

Server

$30/hour

5-hour minimum per server

Grill master

$50/hour

5-hour minimum

Chef

$60/hour

5-hour minimum

Check your date

When's your event?

Pick your date and we'll show you staffing prices and book your crew.

Booking policy

Minimums & extended hours

Five-hour minimum
Every staff member is booked for a minimum of five hours. Shorter events are billed at the five-hour minimum.
Extended hours
Time beyond five hours is billed at 1.5× the standard hourly rate for each staff member still on-site — servers $45/hr, grill masters $75/hr, chefs $90/hr — charged in 30-minute increments.
Approving overtime
Our lead checks in with the host before the five-hour mark. Extra time only begins once you approve it, and it's added to the final invoice.
Adding staff on-site
Staff added once the event is underway bill hourly at their standard rate, with the same five-hour minimum.
Holidays
Holiday pricing may increase for July 4th, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Eve, and other major holidays.
Holding your date
A deposit holds your date and your crew. Final headcount, menu, and expected end time are confirmed one week out.

Private chef & curated dining

Dinner, cooked in front of you.

Chef Michael builds the menu around your occasion, then prepares and serves each course live. Priced per person, plus a one-time $250 chef service fee per booking.

Intimate Dinner

$65–$110 / person

Three courses, plated at your table. Three menus to choose from.

Three-Course Prix Fixe

$75 / person

Classic Italian, Elevated Bistro, or Garden Fresh — set and ready to book.

Signature Experience

$95–$150 / person

Four-course chef's-table tasting, served course by course.

A seared pork chop over purée with demi-glace, microgreens and an edible pansy.
Four croquettes on slate over avocado purée, topped with microgreens.

Full menus on request

Send your date, headcount, and the occasion — we'll send the course lists and a firm per-person price. Fully custom menus welcome.

Request more information

Wellness partners & GLP-1 meal prep

Meal prep for wellness programs.

Chef Michael has worked with a number of wellness centers producing meal prep for clients on GLP-1 programs — portioned, protein-forward meals cooked fresh in our kitchen and delivered on a weekly schedule. Tell us what your week looks like and we'll call to set up a consultation.

Build your week

Start an inquiry.

No pricing or commitment here — this just tells us what to prepare for on the consultation call.

Meals per weekPer person
10

Which meals?

Choose one or more.

Your request

We'll call you to schedule a consultation and go over portions, delivery days, and pricing.

Working with a wellness center or clinic? Mention it on the call — we handle referral and group programs. We cook to the plan you and your provider set; we don't give medical or nutrition advice.

Signature event experience

The Gastronomic Gala

An immersive culinary display — a dramatic hanging protein swing, two sharing platters, four curated small bites, and a decadent dessert selection, plus our signature dry-ice beverage presentation on arrival.

10+ guests · From

$2,500

  • All groceries and ingredients for the display included
  • Additional guests priced accordingly
Ask about the Gala
A Gastronomic Gala display: the hanging protein swing over sharing platters, fruit skewers, empanadas and dry-ice beverages.
Dry-ice beverages served on arrival, smoke spilling over the rim of each glass.

Book your event

Tell us about
the night.

Send the date, the headcount, and roughly what you're picturing. We reply within one business day with a menu direction and a quote.

Email Gargiulocaterers@gmail.com
Phone 646-361-4262
Serving Toms River, NJ · NJ & the Tri-State
Instagram @chefmikegargiulo

We reply within one business day.