Dame Nancy Donier
Profile by Judith H. Dern
From skillful restaurant management to customized special events, Dame Nancy Donier is a rock star, if a modest one. Since arriving in Seattle in 1989 with her husband and stellar chef Kaspar Donier, opening Kaspar’s Restaurant, and then switching to a catering and events business model in 2005, Nancy is a proven master of gracious, personalized service for special events both intimate and grand.
Nancy’s path from events manager to co-restaurateur in a bricks-and-mortar setting with her husband to catering and special events manager for their independent business began in Vancouver, Canada. (She’s a genuine Canadian!) The duo met while Kaspar, originally from Switzerland where he began his formal culinary training at age 16, was serving as Executive Sous Chef of the Four Seasons Vancouver. She circled to Texas, where she earned her Certified Public Accountant (CPA) accreditation, and then returned to the Pacific Northwest.
When they first met, Nancy planned and budgeted banquets and events for The Hotel Vancouver. She next joined KPMG, a top Vancouver accounting firm, to work with catering businesses and upscale restaurants. When Kaspar was offered Executive Chef position with the Four Seasons in Houston, the newly-weds moved to Texas where Nancy earned her CPA credential. Laughing, Nancy says, “I am a CPA who married a chef and fell in love with the business, both restaurant and catering parts.”
Their shared dream of returning to the Pacific Northwest to open an independent restaurant came true in 1989 when they opened Kaspar’s Restaurant on lower Queen Anne. With an innovative menu highlighting local flavors in sophisticated, creative presentations — one of Seattle’s first restaurants to focus on farm-to-table menus — Kaspar’s was a hit. For more than a decade, the restaurant starred on “Seattle’s Best Restaurants” lists, celebrated for its innovative menu, gracious service and warm ambiance.
Evolving to Kaspar’s Catering & Events happened in 2005, a move “offering more personal interactions, endless opportunities for culinary presentations and unlimited venue creativity,” as Nancy tells the story. Closing the restaurant and moving operations to Seattle’s Magnolia neighborhood proved advantageous. “It’s offered the perfect opportunity to take care of our large client base, including many generations in the families we’ve served over 32 years,” she notes. There’s even a large box truck housing a traveling kitchen, ready-to-go on location for catering events.
Reflecting on past-to-present, Nancy recalls dining being “a lot more formal back in the early days; Our servers had ties or bowties, suspenders and tuxes in New Year’s Eve and on special occasions.”
The Covid-19 pandemic has also required changes. “Our customers started cancelling events in February 2020, and shortly after we moved to innovations such as three- to four-course boxed dinners, plus Happy Hour and cocktail kits for virtual events,” she says. “We’re now open for pick-up and delivered home dinners, along with cocktails and wine, a couple of days a week. Getting word out about our take-away options is the challenge, because we’re a catering business, not a restaurant. We hope catering will be back when it is safe for everyone.”
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