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Herban Feast hits their ten-year mark in May and it’s clear that a lot of hard work has gone into the business. Yet it also sounds like the stars aligned when it came to opportunities and things just happened "right." Of course, when you’re in the catering business, it’s your job to ensure things always look smooth.

Owner BJ Duft started out in the Washington State University Hospitality Program, graduating in 1986. He interned with Marriott Resorts, working in California and then took a job overseeing their management recruiting program in Washington D.C. He stayed for a few years, then got into their catering and food services at Western Washington University. "It was good to learn the front desk management part of things and then learn the back side of the operations," says BJ. He stayed five years, leaving to join Cruise West where he worked as guest services manager on small cruise boats—food, guest services, even entertainment. After five years, he decided he wanted to get back into creating things, and took a job at the Herb Farm retail store and cooking school. He taught herb gardening classes and how to grow and cook with lavender. Living in Fall City, he could bike to work. Another five years passed. After leaving the Herb Farm, he helped open Circa in West Seattle. Once open, he worked as a server and ran the floor.

Photo: Owner BJ Duft (l) & Exec. Chef/Co-Owner Dalis Chea (r)

BJ and another Circa employee left to start Field to Feast in 1999, a brunch/lunch café, with a third business partner. BJ did the cooking and baking. People asked if they catered so they started to and then realized it was more lucrative than the café itself. BJ began working the front of the house and selling catering services. Approaching the two-year point in 2001, the partners found themselves going different directions. Two partners left; BJ closed the café and renamed the catering operation Herban Feast. He hired a West Seattle business planner to assist with strategy, structure and systems.

Catering has always been done at venues around town. BJ thought it would be good to have his own venue, but didn’t want to be too far out of town or in areas that work well only during good weather (we do live in Seattle). As a gardener, he loved to visit Herban Pottery in the SoDo district and joked with them about having events in their space. The joking turned serious when they approached him in 2007 and said they were considering closing the business. He signed the lease in December 2007 and by April of 2008, his Sodo Park venue was open. "Herban Feast did close to 900 catering events in 2008 and nearly 100 of them were at Sodo Park," says BJ. "It’s a great location because we’re close to downtown and freeways. It’s funky and we share the neighborhood with warehouses and retail stores. There aren’t many venues besides hotels that can hold events for over 150, so this gives people a different option." They can seat a maximum of 300 and have done a lot of corporate events, weddings, wine tastings, retreats and have hosted groups like Chefs Collaborative and the Pike Place Cheese Festival cheese makers meet-and-greet.

As a consistent participant in the West Seattle Farmers Market for the past ten years, they’ve formed great relationships with vendors. "We have two farms now that grow produce just for us," says BJ. As a boutique catering firm that customizes menus and makes their own food, using local and organic product as much as possible, that’s important. They don’t hot box food to events; they marinate and prep at their site and do a lot of cooking at the event. "It’s about fresh ingredients and quality food," explains BJ who grows their edible flowers, lemon verbena, apple mint and cinnamon basil.

In 2008, Harbor Properties approached them with the idea of opening a restaurant in the new Mural Apartments building across from Jefferson Square in West Seattle. "We weren’t looking to get back into the restaurant business," says BJ. "We crunched the numbers and figured we could do it. There are 144 apartments here, 188 across the street and 100+ at Whole Foods. Plus we still have our catering kitchen on California Avenue and it will become the commissary for catering and the restaurant, Fresh Bistro, which will seat 70. We see it as a way to continue to connect with the West Seattle community. Our executive chef Dalis Chea (right in photo) has become a partner in the business. He’s worked at both Canlis and Oceanaire. He is not a corner-cutter and always gives his best. Our chef de cuisine and GM is Jeff Taton (middle in photo) who spent 25 years at Canlis, working his way to chef de cuisine, and the past three also helping us with catering. The menu is going to rock!" The restaurant opening is planned for May 22. They’ll serve lunch and dinner at first with brunch to follow within three weeks. The restaurant will also allow potential catering customers to try out food and minimize the amount of private tastings done at Sodo Park.

The growth has moved BJ somewhat out of his comfort zone. "I like the intimacy of a small company. I’ve worked at Marriott and it’s very big and structured. Even a ten-person company seems big to me now and although I still sell and create, conceptualize menus and do private tastings, a lot of my time is on administrative things. I have to get my ideas out of my head and into a format we can all use to do our jobs. Without that communication, people head off in different directions. We have three sales people and we’ve just created an event services management team that handles the details once events are booked. This was a big transition for the company. It’s working because we have very talented people who enjoy what they do," says BJ.

Photo above: Green olive & pecorino-crusted halibut with creamy fumet, spring vegetables and roasted tomatoes

Herban Feast has grown over the past ten years from a small catering kitchen to a full-service catering firm able to offer a wide variety of foods (chefs come from Philippines, Mexico, Cambodia), event management and now a restaurant. They’ll make their own desserts for Fresh Bistro and catering events, along with breads and rolls including BJ’s grandmother’s herb buttermilk rolls. Growth can sometimes be difficult, but they’ve managed to stay true to the essence of who they are.

Connie Adams/May 2009

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