The catering company behind Palm Beach's most iconic events

South Florida’s most discerning hosts are no longer settling for standard catering—and Island Kitchen is the reason why. From Palm Beach estates to waterfront galas and private aviation events, the Palm Beach–based company has quietly become one of the region’s most trusted names in high-end hospitality, delivering restaurant-level cuisine in settings where perfection is the baseline.

Founded by chef Patrick Ridge, whose career includes years as a private chef and a formative stage in France, Island Kitchen began as a Nantucket restaurant in 2012 before expanding into full-service catering in 2017. The brand’s South Florida presence accelerated in 2020, when a wave of loyal Nantucket clients relocated south and brought their celebrations with them. Demand grew so quickly that co-owner and managing partner Zach Cohen permanently moved his family to the region—cementing Palm Beach as the company’s primary hub.

Today, Island Kitchen operates what it calls a “coasts” model: Palm Beach anchors the business, while strategically located kitchens in Miami and Naples allow the team to serve three of Florida’s most active event markets with seamless consistency. The result is a catering company that can scale from intimate private dinners to multi-course evenings for hundreds, without ever compromising precision.

At the heart of Island Kitchen’s approach is collaboration. Clients work directly with a team of classically trained chefs to design bespoke menus tailored to their vision, palate, and guest experience—whether that means an elegant plated dinner, a cocktail-forward reception, or a fully immersive culinary program.

What truly sets the company apart, however, is its infrastructure. Island Kitchen operates a fleet of seven state-of-the-art vehicles—mobile kitchens engineered to replicate brick-and-mortar restaurants. This allows the team to prepare and serve cuisine without ever stepping into a client’s home or business, preserving privacy while ensuring every dish arrives fresh, controlled, and exact. It’s a logistical model that has quietly rewritten the rules of high-end catering in South Florida.

That standard has earned Island Kitchen a coveted accreditation from Leading Caterers of America and a client list that reads like a who’s who of the region’s most prominent institutions. The company has catered events for NetJets, Ferrari, NextEra Energy, Jupiter Medical Center, The Royal Poinciana Plaza, the Henry Morrison Flagler Museum, and countless private hosts. In 2025, Island Kitchen was selected to cater amfAR’s annual Palm Beach Gala—one of the most high-profile social events of the season—and has been invited back for this spring’s event in March.

Beyond the events themselves, Island Kitchen has built something rare in hospitality: continuity. Every member of its senior leadership team has been with the company for more than seven years. In the kitchen, ten of the original employees remain more than a decade later. That stability shows up in the experience—quiet confidence, operational fluency, and a culture that treats every event, large or small, with the same rigor.

As South Florida’s social scene continues to evolve, Island Kitchen is positioning itself not just as a caterer, but as a long-term partner in how the region entertains. By investing in people, infrastructure, and culinary craft, the company is building a model that feels less like event service and more like hospitality in motion.