When Ben Philo and Claudio Pollinger explain that it’s been an uphill struggle setting up the successful catering business they now run on Corfu, the Greek island that has been their family home now for five years, one certainly shouldn’t feel inclined to disbelieve them. If a couple ever had the right credentials for making a go of such an enterprise you’d be hard pushed to find a team more impressively qualified than Claudia and Ben. Both trained chefs and both highly travelled, Ben cut his teeth working at the some of the most exclusive hotel restaurants in the States, serving political giants such as Bill Clinton and Israeli president Benyamin Netanyahou, before returning to the UK to work for celebrity chef Andy Worrall-Thompson in his London restaurant WIZ. It was there that he met Claudia, who had returned from working in a restaurant in Hong Kong before moving on to Goa where she’d opened her own bistro.

With such shared passions it was almost inevitable that the pair would become an item, and once they had it wasn’t long before they realised it was time to exploit their combined expertise.

“We both always felt that ultimately we wanted to have our lives abroad somewhere, and as soon as our relationship was settled I think we kind of looked at London and said ‘right – where next?’” explains Claudia, as the couple relax, away from the midday heat in the cool modern kitchen of their newly refurbished island home.

“I’ve always been a big fan of Greece,” continues Ben, “and I had a friend who come out here to build his own home and was constantly singing Corfu’s praises, and when I found out that Claudia hadn’t ever been to Greece it seemed silly not to come out here for week’s holiday and a have quick reccy at least!”

“As soon as we got here,” says Claudia, “I felt instantly at home. Although the landscape is very different, the atmosphere here reminded me of Goa, very safe and friendly, and of course with the most gorgeous weather. When we came back to a grey UK my mind was racing with ways we could make a living and start a business out on Corfu.

“There’s a lot of money on the island, especially in the exclusive north-eastern corner in the hills around the harbour town of Kassiopi; there are hundreds of multi-million pound holiday villas all tucked away and owned by some of the wealthiest families in Europe. Then it struck me that one possible way to employ our culinary skills would be to offer a private villa catering service, so that holiday-makers could enjoy a meal cooked to the highest restaurant standards alfresco on their own terrace – and that’s how The Invisible Kitchen was born.”

Fired with enthusiasm, Claudia quickly contacted two exclusive villa rental companies on the island to sound out here idea – and received two immediate and very positive responses.

So a scant six-months later, in February 2002, the couple found themselves handing over the keys to the new owners of their London property and getting on a plane to start a fresh life on the largest of the Greek Ionian islands.

“I don’t think we deliberately threw ourselves in at the deep end,” says Ben, “but I don’t think on reflection that you can really start a new working life in another country any other way. The first premises we rented here was a rudimentary one-room area converted to a kitchen at the back of a village shop. It was fraught but kind of hilarious at the same time, mainly because the locals just hadn’t got a clue what we were up to when we first arrived. The word went around very quickly that there was an English couple out here who cooked food all day – but didn’t have a restaurant! They genuinely thought we were insane.

“We also discovered very quickly just what a tight-knit community the full-time expats and locals can become, even on a fairly large island like Corfu,” continues Ben, “especially when it comes to business.

“A lot of the contacts we’d initially used in the catering for privately hired villas became very controlling when we started our own publicity to form our own client base. There was an almost sinister attitude in some areas, with people saying ‘you won’t make it without us’ rather too emphatically.”

However, this merely served to strengthen Ben and Claudia’s resolve, and when in 2005 they found the perfect potential site for their own permanent commercial kitchen facilities, and a family home (Claudia having given birth to their first child, Max, 18 months earlier), things began to expand on every front.

“Quite literally,” agrees Claudia, “as soon afterwards I discovered I was pregnant again, this time with our daughter Molly. We’d found this set of buildings in a hill village near Kassiopi, one of which had been the village’s old communal olive press. They were just being used for storing junk but the stone walls were beautiful and the potential was huge. They were for sale at £30,000, and we realised we could make a great commercial kitchen here and a perfect family home next-door – so we went for it.”

“As soon as the kitchen was fitted and the business up and running we really began diversifying in the ways we’d always wanted to,” continues Ben, “as well as supply gourmet meals for guests of private villas we began taking on staffed events catering for weddings and private parties, opened up the courtyard at the side to the press as a restaurant venue open at weekends and also began running a cookery school offering gourmet vacations teaching enthusiasts of all standards about cooking the cuisine of this amazing island.”

With so many new strings to their bow, it’s a blessing that Ben and Claudia work so well as a team and seem even to thrive under the pressure of the agenda’s they set themselves.

“Its sound manic, and that’s because most of the time it probably is,” laughs Ben, “but you’ve also got to remember that in this environment we make most of our annual turnover during the summer. The rest of the year is a bit more sedate, but when the high season comes we really have to go for it.”

“Mind you, there have been moments that bordered on madness,” continues Claudia. “We catered the biggest wedding we’d ever done, €16,000 in fact, when I was due with Molly in a couple of weeks. The reception was on the top of a mountain up an unmade road that turned out to be too steep for our van to make once it was fully loaded. I’ll never forget carrying huge trays of canapés while waddling up a mountain dirt track and praying that my waters wouldn’t break.”

However, anyone who’s sampled the couple’s a la carte, Greek influenced cuisine would emphatically agree that its all been worthwhile, as Ben and Claudia conjure mouth-watering dishes from locally-sourced produce.

The secret ingredient, and the key to the couple’s success here, is undoubtedly passion, not just for food but for the people and the place they’ve made their new home. Ben sums it up; “it’s a beautiful island and one that we are always incredibly proud to welcome people to. As long as we feel like that we won’t be going anywhere.”

Owner’s details
Owners: Claudia Pollinger and Ben Philo, Molly, aged 3, and Max, aged 5
Location: Acharavi, north-east Corfu
Moved: February 2002
Property: An abandoned olive press and accompanying out-building, bought for £30,000. Conversion of Olive press into a four bedroom family home, £67,000
Business set-up costs: Conversion of out-building into catering premises, £20,000. Equipment purchase and initial set-up, approx. £27,000