More Than Catering: The Story Behind Two Guys

Two Guys Catering has never felt like just a catering company to us.

It started with family.

It grew through food.

And over time, it became something much bigger than either of us probably understood in the beginning.

My brother Peter and I founded Two Guys in Naples with a simple belief: if we worked hard, served great food, treated people the right way, and took real pride in what we were building, we could create something meaningful.

What started small has grown into weddings, corporate events, private celebrations, fundraisers, large-scale events, private aviation catering, restaurants, and now the broader vision of Two Guys Hospitality Group.

But the part I care most about is this:

As we grow, we never lose the reason we started.

It Has Always Been a Family Business

Two Guys may have started with Peter and me, but the truth is we would not have been able to grow at the rate we did without the daily help of our parents.

For years, my dad and my mom were not simply “helping out.”

They were part of the engine that allowed the business to move.

My dad handled purchasing, deliveries, repairs, running around town, solving problems, picking things up, dropping things off, and stepping into whatever needed to get done that day.

My mom helped support the office, kept things organized, handled countless behind-the-scenes tasks, and gave us the kind of dependable support that most growing businesses simply do not have.

That daily help created leverage for Peter and me.

It gave us the ability to stay focused on building the company, taking on more events, improving the food, serving more clients, and saying yes to opportunities that we probably could not have handled otherwise.

When people look at a growing business, they usually see the owners.

They do not always see the people in the background who made that growth possible.

In our case, that was our parents.

Their time, effort, flexibility, and willingness to do whatever the business needed had a direct impact on how quickly Two Guys was able to grow.

That is a major part of our story, and I never want it minimized.

Two Guys is a family business because family did not just inspire it.

Family helped build it.

There were also a lot of years where the pace was ridiculous.

Very late nights followed by stupid-early mornings. Back-to-back events. Long prep days that rolled straight into service, cleanup, loading, and then starting all over again a few hours later.

There were countless nights where I slept in the office or in the car just to get an hour or two of rest before getting back up and doing it again.

It was not glamorous. It was not balanced. And I would not pretend that kind of pace is sustainable forever.

But for years, that was part of what it took.

We were building while operating. Learning while executing. Saying yes to opportunities before we always had the perfect infrastructure to support them, then figuring out how to make it work.

Those years taught us how to work, how to solve problems under pressure, how to depend on each other, and how much sacrifice it actually takes to build something from the ground up.

Looking back, I do not romanticize the lack of sleep.

But I respect what those years built in us.

What Hospitality Means to the Family Behind Two Guys Catering

People use the word hospitality a lot.

To me, hospitality is not just service.

It is not smiling at a guest.

It is not setting a nice table.

And it definitely does not start when the event begins.

Hospitality starts long before that.

It is answering the phone.

Listening carefully.

Remembering what matters to someone.

Preparing correctly.

Showing up on time.

Making sure the food is right.

Making sure the staff knows the plan.

Seeing a problem coming before the client ever has to know there was a problem.

And most importantly, understanding that the event may be another event on our calendar, but it is not just another event to the person hosting it.

It might be their wedding.

Their daughter’s birthday.

Their company celebration.

Their retirement.

Their fundraiser.

A celebration of someone’s life.

Or simply one of the rare nights where their entire family is together.

That matters.

When someone chooses Two Guys, they are trusting us with part of that memory.

I take that personally.

Food Is Personal to Me

Cooking has never just been production.

Food is one of the ways people connect.

Some of the strongest memories in a family happen around a table.

Recipes get passed down.

Certain smells remind you of certain people.

One meal can bring everyone together in a way almost nothing else can.

A lot of what we serve today still carries pieces of our own family.

Our gravy.

Our meatballs.

Recipes and techniques that came from home and evolved inside our kitchens.

Even as our food has become more polished and our events have become larger, I never want it to become soulless.

The challenge in catering is scale.

Making one great plate is one thing.

Making 200 great plates at the right temperature, at the right time, in an unfamiliar venue, while coordinating staff, equipment, transportation, and an event timeline is something completely different.

But the guest should never have to care about any of that.

They should just taste good food.

That is the job.

Good Enough Has Never Sat Well With Me

One thing my team knows about me is that I notice details.

Sometimes probably too many details.

A pan that does not look right.

A garnish that feels lazy.

A tray packed incorrectly.

Food sitting too long.

A description that does not match what the guest actually receives.

A timeline that could have been planned better.

Those things bother me because they add up.

And once you start accepting “good enough,” the standard moves.

That does not mean we are perfect.

We are not.

Any company doing real volume will make mistakes.

What matters is how seriously you take them.

We talk about mistakes.

We dissect them.

We change systems because of them.

We train around them.

And ideally, we do not make the same mistake twice.

That mindset has shaped a lot of how Two Guys operates today.

We are constantly building better systems so our team is not relying on memory, assumptions, or someone yelling across the kitchen.

The purpose is not to make the company more corporate.

It is the opposite.

Better systems give our people more room to focus on the guest.

Some of the Best Parts Have Nothing to Do With a Check

Some of the events I am proudest of are our community and fundraising events.

There is something different about being able to use the thing you are good at to help support something bigger than your business.

Over the years, Two Guys has been fortunate enough to participate in fundraising events throughout Southwest Florida, serve alongside talented chefs, and support organizations doing meaningful work in our community.

Winning awards at those events is exciting.

We are competitive.

Anybody who knows me knows I want our dish to be the one people remember.

But the award is not the whole story.

Being part of the community is.

Southwest Florida has supported our family and our businesses for years.

We should return that support.

That belief will continue to be part of what we build next.

Growing Without Losing What Made Two Guys Special

Growth is exciting.

It is also dangerous if you are not careful.

As businesses grow, they can become less personal.

The founder gets further away from the customer.

The chef gets further away from the food.

Policies replace judgment.

Volume starts becoming more important than quality.

I never want Two Guys to become that company.

We have grown because growth gives us the ability to create better opportunities for our team, invest in better equipment, build better systems, serve more people, and create things that were impossible when we started.

But growth only makes sense if the standard grows with it.

Today, Two Guys Catering can handle everything from a simple drop-off meal to full-service events with hundreds of guests.

The operation behind the scenes may become bigger.

The hospitality cannot become smaller.

The Team Matters

At some point, every founder has to realize something:

You cannot personally touch every plate forever.

That has probably been one of the biggest evolutions for me.

Two Guys today is not just Larry and Peter.

It is the chefs who show up early.

The people loading trucks.

The coordinator answering the client.

The server who notices that a guest needs something before being asked.

The bartender staying composed when 40 people arrive at once.

The manager fixing a problem quietly.

The dishwasher still pushing at the end of a long night.

That is the company.

My responsibility now is not just to cook good food.

It is to build a team and a system capable of delivering the Two Guys standard even when I am not standing next to them.

That is a much bigger responsibility.

And I take it seriously.

What We Want People to Feel

When someone works with Two Guys, I want them to feel taken care of.

Not processed.

Not sold.

Taken care of.

I want them to feel like our team understands what they are trying to create.

I want the host to actually enjoy the party instead of worrying about whether dinner is coming out.

I want guests talking about the food.

I want the client to wake up the next morning thinking:

That went exactly how it was supposed to go.

That is the standard.

What Comes Next

The part that excites me now is that Two Guys is still being built.

We are not finished.

The Hangout.

Skyline.

The Fresh Print.

FLOW.

Palms Manor.

There are a lot of things growing around the original catering company.

But in my mind, they all come from the same place.

Food.

Family.

Taking care of people.

Building something we can be proud to put our name on.

I am a husband.

A father.

A chef.

A business owner.

A brother.

And increasingly, I think about the decisions we make through the lens of what we are building long-term.

Not just next month.

Not just next year.

Legacy.

A big part of what I am trying to build now comes from watching how much my parents gave to help us build this in the first place.

I want to create something our family can be proud of.

Something our team can build careers inside of.

Something that matters to the community that supported us.

And something my kids can look at one day and understand how much work, sacrifice, and care went into it.

That is what Two Guys means to me.

It is more than catering.

It always has been.

— Chef Larry Falisi
Co-Founder & Executive Chef
Two Guys Catering / Two Guys Hospitality Group

Explore our catering services and menus, or see our team’s work at the 225-plus-guest Seaside Soirée Gala in Naples. For planning advice, read how to choose the right caterer in Southwest Florida.