Private Dinners with Purpose

We’ve been incubating this closely held concept for at least 6 months. This Korean-Italian-American fusion is such a deeply personal expression of our identity and stories as hyphenated Americans – growing up as children of Korean immigrants in the suburbs of America. So this idea has been rotating in our minds as a very special concept that we’ve been dying to try out for guests. After being contacted by Dana for her supper club, it seemed like it was the perfect opportunity for us to take our first real stab at bringing our story to life. To have an outlet like this, with gracious and open-minded hosts and guests, was the exact opening stage that [my husband and business partner Chef Caleb Jang and I] needed and wanted to continue refining our concept. We can’t wait to take what we’ve learned from this and apply it to future private events and pop-ups!

– Chef Roren Choi, Owner, Magpie and The Tiger

Doing the Supper Club dinner was a wonderful experience for us. It allowed [my wife and pastry chef] Marissa and I to branch out and shine as individuals. We were able to conceptualize how we would like to market ourselves and design an evening that showed 30 people who we are. From our dinner, we also were able to do two more dinners and also had other attendees visit the restaurants we currently work in. As people who would eventually like to establish our own restaurant, it gave us the opportunity to explore our concept and establish potential investors and guests.

– Chef Rachel Bindel, Executive Sous Chef, Michele’s

Supper Club helped me to develop new recipes and reach new clientele. After the first event, [I was booked by a guest to cater] a dinner for 30 people at their home and was asked to help cater smaller events. I started my own small business and was able to build a small traveling offsite catering company for private dinners. Supper Club has help me to widen my reach and practice more techniques outside of a professional kitchen. Guests at each event were very happy and I’m thrilled that I have been invited back for special occasions. I would like to continue private events until I am able to open my own bakery. Thank you, Supper Club!

– Chef Kené Izegbu, Private Chef; Executive Chef, wineLAIR DC

Working with Dana was a delight. We hosted a fairly large event with over 30 “power women” that included a reception followed by an in-depth wine tasting with food pairings. I founded At Your Service during the pandemic and this was only my second time facilitating the food for an event in addition to the wine and education. A key takeaway for me from the event was to consider any support staff that I might need in the future. I was also able to hear directly from our guests regarding the wines and food pairings; for me, feedback is the cornerstone of hospitality. My husband is a chef and prepared the food, which not only received positive feedback, but also led to a couple attendees encouraging me to make the food a core offering of my business. Since the event, I have been in contact with two attendees. One is a private chef that hopefully I can collaborate and work with in the future. Our event was a huge success.

– Nadine Brown, Sommelier; Owner, At Your Service

By putting on the dinner, my team and I gained confidence and refined our culinary skills for some of the dishes, ultimately making adjustments and solidifying some of our newer concepts and recipes. We were also able to get feedback allowing us to better understand guest perspectives, improve our offerings, and help us deliver a better experience for our next dinner.

 – Chef Rera Oluwafemi, Chops By Rera

Supper Club was a great partnership and Dana was incredibly easy to work with. I appreciated how simple Supper Club made the process for the chef by providing the entire platform and network of guests, meaning chefs feel no marketing pressure to fill seats. Private dinners are always an opportunity to solidify dishes – you’re not limited by the logistics of cooking for a massive group, but there are also enough parameters to provide feedback on how feasible dishes would be in a restaurant – most importantly, how potentially ‘crave-able’ they are to guests. Supper Club takes this experience to the next level by providing a unique context among guests who are supportive of and interested in the industry.

– Tae Strain, Chef and Owner, ggoma supper club