Catering by Bellinis
Photo by Madoline Markham.
Catering by Bellinis 2014
Catering by Bellinis founder Doug Hovanec and Chef Sean Butler hold one of Butler’s individual healthy meals in the kitchen off U.S. 280 where they are crafted.
Doug Hovanec lost weight without changing his normal workout routine, and it was delicious.
The culprit was Sean Butler, and Hovanec quickly knew he wanted to go into business with the chef.
“Anything he makes tastes so good,” Hovanec said of Butler. “I didn’t feel overly full, just satisfied.”
After a month on Butler’s healthy meal plan, Doug and Niki Hovanec, founders of Bellinis Ristorante on Cahaba Valley Road, took steps to acquire Butler’s Food Studio B and make him head of the existing Catering by Bellinis division. The deal was finalized in July.
Now the new Catering by Bellinis is carrying out Butler’s longtime meal plan model. Dishes such as Alabama Beef Meatballs, Grilled Hoison Chicken and Thai-Style Coconut Chicken Ginger Soup can be ordered and picked up or delivered to your home twice a week. Each is all-natural and portioned out by calories. Breakfasts are $8.50 each, lunch $10.50 and dinner $12.50.
Menus for each weekday are posted online a week at a time. Select meals follow a paleo diet and are gluten free, and they plan to soon offer these special diet items for every meal in addition to another selection.
The Bellinis catering division started with serving Italian dishes and the popular White Chocolate Bread Pudding. It later expanded to dishes like Jambalaya and Southwest Chicken under rebranding as Catering by Bellinis, now also under the direction of Butler.
Hovanec had been looking for space to grow Bellinis’ catering division, and combining it with Butler’s operation seemed to be a perfect fit for expanding the business.
Starting July 14, Bellinis’ baker and pastry chef moved their work to the former Food Studio B kitchen just up the mountain and across U.S. 280 from the Village at Lee Branch, which provides space to develop more intricate recipes.
At the same time, moving the catering out of the restaurant allows Bellinis’ longtime chef Matthew Lagace to be freed up to focus on taking the restaurant food to the next level with more frequently changing seasonal menu items. He still works in collaboration with Butler and Hovanec, and the three of them hold weekly meetings to bounce ideas off each other.
Hovanec envisions the Catering by Bellinis space becoming more than just a kitchen. A cooler at the front of the space is ready to hold not just prepared meals but also chicken salad, wraps, salads, pastries and other ready-to-eat lunch items, hopefully by September. He plans to add a few high-top tables to encourage people to sit and eat. Eventually he hopes it will transform into more of a full café, the realization of a long-term vision for a more casual sister restaurant to Bellinis.
In the future, they plan to offer options for a tailgate party or holiday meals for pickup — all in a location convenient for 280 residents like themselves.
Butler lives in Chelsea, and Hovanec in Greystone. Like many of their neighbors, they don’t want to drive downtown or even to The Summit at the end of the day for a good meal. In fact, the location was a major inspiration for Hovanec to start, and expand, Bellinis.
“You can’t put at risk anything that’s in place just to grow, but it’s the right time and the area needs it,” he said.
Catering by Bellinis meals can be picked up Tuesday 8 a.m.-5p.m. for Tuesday-Thursday meals or Friday 8 a.m.-3 p.m. for Monday and Friday meals. Home delivery is also available on Monday and Thursday evenings.
