Executive Chef Andy Thomson hails from the small town of Wolfville, Nova Scotia where he met Alex Clavel who inspired Andy to take a culinary journey that has spanned more than 2 decades and continues today.

The journey started in Halifax where he apprenticed at the then Chateau Halifax under Chef Bruno Sieberath. After completing his three year apprenticeship, Andy moved onto the Algonquin Hotel and Resort where he discovered what resort life was really going to be like (really long hours!).

Upon completion of his contract with the Algonquin, Andy traveled west to the beautiful Banff Springs Resort in Alberta. Here Andy was exposed to the art of mass quantity cooking and was a member of a 200-strong kitchen brigade which supplied 5 restaurants, 3 bars and a catering division that serviced approximately 1500 people per day.

After completing two years in Banff, the next leg of Andy’s journey was an exploration in restaurants. He headed back east and landed in Toronto, where he spent the next 14 years working with some of Canada’s top chefs: Susur Lee, Mark McEwen, Mark Tuet, and Anthony Walsh, to name a few.

While in Toronto Andy had the pleasure of preparing meals for high profile guests, especially during the Toronto International Film Festival, Prince Andrew being the most memorable.

With a strong urge to be back on the east coast, Andy headed home to Nova Scotia. This is where he teamed up with Scanway Catering and its chef proprietors Unni and Geir Simensen.

Working with Scanway, Andy was introduced to the world of catering. It brought huge challenges. “It’s one thing to cook for a large wedding, it’s a whole different perspective to do it in a tent in a large field in the middle of no where,” says Andy. But it was in these challenges that Andy realized he had found his niche, and Horizons Catering was born.

Chef Andy enjoys bringing a high level of service and quality of food to AYC and serving AYC Members and their Guests.