Giving Thanks The Howie Way: Seastar Restaurant & Raw Bar Hosts 600 Guests On Thanksgiving Day

Chef/Proprietor John Howie has been in the restaurant industry for 35 years and during that time saw many types of giving in the establishments that he worked at. When he opened his first restaurant - Seastar in Bellevue - almost 9 years ago, he made up his mind that he wanted it to be a strong business with an incredible philanthropic culture. Always a man of his word, since opening Seastar Restaurant & Raw Bar, the business has contributed gift certificates, products, services, chef dinners and such to the tune of over $2,000,000 (two million dollars) in value to charitable organizations. Howie never turns down any registered organization that requests a donation. The only limitations have been on personal appearances as he often does up to 26 a year.

In keeping with this philosophy, Chef Howie and the team at Seastar Restaurant and Raw Bar in Bellevue, are opening their doors and their hearts for the eighth consecutive year to guests in need on Thanksgiving Day. They expect a record of almost 600 to attend the hosted, complete holiday dinner at the restaurant. The primarily Eastside families come to Seastar through Hopelink, Overlake Service League, Olive Crest and the Redmond YWCA.

Seastar crewmembers, families and friends will act as servers, cooks and dishwashers, as the guests are served from 11:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. Once everyone has finished and the last plates have been cleared away, the volunteers will sit down and share a Thanksgiving meal with John and his family at the restaurant.

So what does it take to feed 500 to 600 people? The staff at Seastar will order about 500 pounds of turkey, 90 pounds of dry crouton cubes for stuffing, 300 pounds of Yukon gold potatoes, 300 pounds of yams, 90 pounds of cranberry sauce, 100 dozen dinner rolls and a whole lot of pumpkin pies!

"We give because it is in my heart to do so...but there are some positive business results that we benefit from as well. Crew members want to be a part of an organization that is philanthropic; guests are loyal and want to help those who help others. Could we get these same results by doing a lot less...yes, but then it wouldn't be our culture," says John.

Seastar is partnering with several local vendors, all of which have made donations to help defer some of the costs of doing this holiday meal.