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Catering is a tough business, as is owning a restaurant. They seem like great fun, but they’re really hard work. So why did Lisa Dupar, the energizer bunny of Seattle catering (an average of 1,400 events per year), open the Pomegranate Bistro?

It all goes back, as it must, to a true love of cooking. At the age of eight and the only child of a deal-making mom, she did the cooking and her mom did the cleaning. "I thought it was great," laughs Lisa. "No matter how messy the kitchen was, she cleaned it up."

In high school, she decorated cakes as a hobby. As graduation neared, she made the decision to become a chef instead of going to college. "That was quite an unpopular decision," she recalls.

Photo: Lisa "at home"

At the time, there were few avenues to learn how to become a professional chef. Fortunately, the Westin opened the Peachtree Plaza and Dupar snagged a culinary apprenticeship; she was the first woman trained through the program.

The Peachtree chefs were all Swiss and she loved their stories. She spent two years in Zurich and Geneva, then returned to Peachtree Plaza. The only position open was butcher, so she took it. Six months later, in 1981, she was transferred to the Seattle Westin’s Palm Court as their first female sous chef. While there, she met her first husband and they decided to open their own restaurant.

Southern Accents in Redmond opened in 1984. "My husband was the accounting brain and I was the creative chef," says Dupar. In 1986, they changed the name to Lisa’s Restaurant and Catering. "It was popular because the food was good, our price point was low and we used nice linens and wrote the menu out each day."

"When we had our first child, it became too much. The restaurant was breaking even and the catering was making money, so we sold the restaurant and kept the catering business. We had more flexibility with the catering—I didn’t have to be on the line at the same time each day. We could pick and choose our events so we were available for things the kids were involved in."

In 1993, Jonathan Zimmer was brought on as a catering chef. He was later promoted to executive chef and named general manager in 2003. Zimmer started his culinary career in 1977 as a line cook at Rossellini’s 410 and the Crepe de Paris. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in New York, his background also includes chef/pastry chef positions at Saleh al Lago, Bravo Pagliacci and the Bellevue Club, as well as apprenticeships with numerous chefs in the Northwest, including renowned chef Dominique Place. Together for more than 11 years, longtime business partners Zimmer and Dupar married in 2001.

Photo: l-r Chef de Cuisine Rafael Medina, Jonathan, Lisa and Executive Chef Marc Van Mulken

The firm’s name was changed in 1997 from Lisa’s Catering to Lisa Dupar Catering. "It’s funny, because before the name change, people would ask if I catered out of my home. As soon as we put my last name in, the questions stopped. It somehow made it more professional."

Lisa Dupar Catering’s growth has been very consistent—10-20 percent each year. What accounts for this growth? Besides great food and attention to detail, "Lisa never says no," laughs Sara Clement, Marketing Director. In 1988, her catering staff was three people. It’s now 90 full-time employees and 250 part-time employees. They were working out of a 6,000 square foot kitchen. In 2004, they moved to their current Redmond location which has 14,000 square feet for the kitchen and catering.

In March 2004, they leased the Fairview Club in Seattle, renamed it Julep and began to use it as a private banquet facility. The same year, Experience Music Project asked them to be one of their two caterers. They were also planning to open Pomegranate Bistro at their catering location.

Pomegranate Bistro opened in May 2005. The interior is bright with graphics of pomegranates on the wall. A giant window allows guests to watch the catering staff prepare food for their many events. The wide-ranging menu has something for everyone, from firebread (used for pizzas, sandwiches and a side for soup and salad) to Venezuelan arepas to South Carolina frogmore stew (seafood and andouille sausage, made in-house). The menu, apron colors, glassware and cocktails all change seasonally.

The espresso bar opens at 7 a.m. daily and the Grab-n-Go area offers pastries, sandwiches, Lisa Dupaw doggie treats and desserts. Brunch is served on weekends.

"In 2006, with the continued success of Lisa Dupar Catering and now Pomegranate, we decided to end our operation and management of Julep," says Lisa. "On any given weekday, every seat in Pomegranate is filled, plus we’re so busy on the catering side that we decided this was the best move." They subleased Julep, but maintain a relationship with the owner and still cater there.

From April to December, catering handles approximately seven events per day; in December they do 10-15 per day. On Saturday, December 11, 2005, they produced 27 holiday events simultaneously, one at EMP for 1100 people.

Typically they have 25–30 on-call catering staff working each day. In December, it ranges from 75–100 each day. "Nightmare" is the word that comes to mind, but they’ve built up a large group of people to draw from. "We have some people who’ve been on staff for 24 years," explains Lisa. "They know it’s okay to say no. We have students and stay-at-home moms; we all want the same thing—flexibility."

What’s next? Hopefully a permit to build a bar in the restaurant. With office space available next door, they would move their offices and remodel the current office space to include a bar and private dining space. The City of Redmond will have a decision in January or February. If yes, it will take three-to-four months to complete the project.

Other than that, Lisa’s thinking about keeping things on an even keel for awhile. Yes, we’re buying that.

All photos courtesy of Lisa Dupar Catering

Connie Adams/November 2006

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