In some ways, it was just a chicken. Nick Ivers was cooking at Le Pichet, a little French bistro in Seattle's Pike Place, when someone ordered the poulet. Each chicken was roasted to order, which took at least an hour. Ivers settled into the long process, filling the extra time by prepping turnips and poached grapes on the side.
After service ended, he cleaned up his station and headed out for a break. He noticed the woman who had ordered the chicken. It's rare that cooks get to interact with guests, so Ivers took the opportunity to ask her how she liked her meal. He wondered why she'd wait so long when there were plenty of faster options.
"She confided in me that she was from Poland, and that this was the first dinner she'd had with her estranged father in over 10 years," Ivers says. "For me, that was just such a neat moment — I was somehow connected in this event. It illustrated the sanctity of food to me, the unifying power of food."
Fast forward a few years later, Ivers is back in his hometown Spokane starting Compassion Catering with his life partner and business partner Nazeerah "Nazzy" Pearson-Muhammad. The two self-taught chefs had plenty of other career options — Ivers has a political science degree, and Pearson-Muhammad is trained in world religion and theology — but they've dedicated themselves to food for its unique ability to make the people around them feel loved.
When they started in May 2023, Compassion Catering decided to offer a variety of services — wedding and event catering, private dinners, and personalized meal planning services. They fully embrace dietary considerations, especially vegan, gluten-free and dairy-free. Everyone deserves a beautiful, intentional meal, the partners say, regardless of what guests are or aren't eating. Compassion Catering creates countless personalized menus, from brunch catering and boxed office lunches to private dinners featuring Thai and Filipino flavors.
To Ivers and Pearson-Muhammad, cooking is a creative, ambitious, rewarding career that they choose every day. That intention spills into everything from ingredient lists and plating to deep relationships with the people they serve.
"There's a perspective on food and the food industry as a whole that's shifting," Ivers says. "In some older generations, you didn't cook professionally if you had other options. There have always been really incredible passionate chefs, but now there's even a broader community of young people that are passionate food creators really trying to give some legitimacy to this career. Simultaneously, I think the discussion of health has become a national topic. In that way, we consider ourselves artisans."
Pearson-Muhammad grew up in Redondo Beach, California, sometimes helping her single mother by cooking vegetarian food for herself and her little siblings. She eventually started working in restaurants, both back and front of house. Long hours and late nights started eating away at her mental health.
She moved to Browne's Addition and befriended her neighbor, Ivers. Through the turmoil of good and not so good food jobs, sales jobs and insurance jobs, they were drawn to each other's unwavering commitment to people. They opened their home for appetizers or dinners. Their happiest moments were cooking yummy food for people they loved, especially gluten-free and vegan snacks for friends usually excluded from eating at these kinds of casual gatherings.
Pearson-Muhammad and Ivers scrimped, saved and started planning for a life together. With the little extra money they had, they wondered if they should fly to Italy to stage in a few high-end restaurants, with the hopes that it would qualify them for new opportunities. (A stage, pronounced "stahj," is a common industry practice especially in Europe, where chefs work in a new restaurant a few nights for free in order to network and get experience.)
But instead of waiting for opportunities to be in a happier work environment, they decided to create their own. After helping a local promoter fill some performers' rider requests for vegan food, they realized that catering might be exactly what they were looking for — more flexible daytime hours, one-on-one client interaction and endless opportunities to be creative. They took the money saved for a trip to Europe and put it into building a business in Spokane instead.
By learning about and filling different needs, Ivers can experiment with everything from pan-seared duck and peppercorn steak salad to a Mediterranean frittata and spaghetti squash Pad Thai. While Pearson-Muhammad also cooks, her eye for detail and design helps her set beautiful tables, plus capture photos and video for marketing.
The couple is running Compassion without any loans. Both partners worked other full-time jobs as they started Compassion just to keep a roof over their heads. While Pearson-Muhammad just moved to working full-time at Compassion in February, Ivers still cooks for the bistro at Huckleberry's, teaches classes at The Kitchen Engine and donates his extra time to Compassion.
"Our mental health will get better once we can fully be in our business full time," Pearson-Muhammad says.
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She and Ivers are confident that Compassion will eventually be a fulfilling role for them and a life-giving service to their clients, too. They've already seen how thoughtful meal planning can help families dealing with medical challenges or new dietary restrictions. Plus, as they grow, they also want to offer a healthy, happy workplace for new employees.
Pearson-Muhammad loves restaurants, but says substance abuse can be an issue. "You are who you hang out with. [For me,] it brought a lot of depression."
"Our industry really suffers from some mental health issues," Ivers adds. "[We want to be] able to create relationships with people that are going through a hard time."
Compassion Catering is all about walking the walk. Even though they don't have allergies themselves, Ivers and Pearson-Muhammad decided to go vegan for a month just to experience what a guest might typically experience in day-to-day life. Ivers and Pearson-Muhammad want to make food that makes someone feel understood and cared for, and they will make personal sacrifices to feel your experience.
"Being intentional is scary," Pearson-Muhammad says.
But that's what makes a good meal, and good art. That's compassion.
