Going Out, Giving Back: Celebrated Chefs Mix Good Times and Good Vibes

When it’s time to pay the bill after a fine meal, diners at certain restaurants in Woodinville might feel even more satisfied knowing that a portion of what they fork over is helping a chosen charity. 

Celebrated Chefs is in its second year connecting diners and local nonprofits with a program that donates 5 percent of participants’ dining bills to a designated charity. This is the way it works; go to the website and register an American Express, Visa or MasterCard, choose the charity you want to receive the donation and when you use the card at one of the participating restaurants in Woodinville or the Puget Sound, the donation is automatically made.

 “We are now up to $170,000, with the majority of those funds having been raised for Seattle-area causes,” said Katherine Kehril, Celebrated Chefs’ vice-president of marketing and operations.  “The dining program is a vehicle by which nonprofits can raise money and restaurants can attract a desirable diner to their restaurant.” 

Hopelink—a Redmond-based nonprofit that serves homeless and low-income clients in north and east King County—has received almost $5,000 from the program, according to Kris Betker, the agency’s public-relations specialist.

“It has been a great success and people are very fond of the program,” Betker said.

Kehril and Bob Sarkie, the program’s chief executive, started Celebrated Chefs two years ago in Seattle. Sarkie, who for six years led Entertainment Publications, one of the largest nonprofit fundraising companies in the nation, always had an interest in philanthropic marketing, Kehril said. In 2006, he founded Bellevue-based Rubicon Interactive, a technology-based interactive marketing and fundraising company, now the parent company of Celebrated Chefs.

Three Woodinville restaurants are participating in the program; , , .