Tired and hungry? Martha Domitrovich at the. Supper Club wants to serve you

Martha Domitrovich wants you to come over for dinner. It’s something she’s done for family, friends and near strangers over the years.

“If you showed up at 5 p.m., we’d eat,” she said.

Domitrovich was serving others out of her home so often she’d get requests for the night’s menu. Requests to make “the” chicken or make “the” chili.

So sprung the idea of “the.” – a period for emphasis – Supper Club, where Domitrovich has opened her doors to serve the public out of a Northwest Boulevard brick-and-mortar kitchen.

“Everything on the menu comes from stuff I serve at home,” she said, including recipes of her mother’s or grandmother’s.

Supper Club walls are lined with freezers stuffed to the brim with freshly frozen take-and-heat meals. While the menu changes from week to week, customers can expect family-style lasagna, chicken enchiladas, quiche, various soups, chili, cinnamon rolls and biscuits. There are usually 10 to 15 different items at a time.

Domitrovich calls it gourmet takeaway.

“You get the perks of ‘Mom made it’ – it took all day – but you just have to bake it,” she said. “The worst part is you have to take it out and put it in the oven.”

Finding family in food

A store wall reads “the. Supper Club: Building family, one meal at a time,” which could be taken quite literally: Two of the four employees are Domitrovich’s daughters. But in a more figurative sense, the. Supper Club has taken many customers under its wing.

“They treat their customers like family,” said Kallie Rose Kohl, in a video on the. Supper Club Facebook page.

Kohl speaks from experience. During the COVID pandemic in summer 2020, “I was kind of in the lowest point of my life.” Pregnant with her third child, she was in a harmful relationship “but I was in denial about it.”

With the couple’s combined seven children, Kohl had to be resourceful about where their food came from.

“Around that time, I don’t remember how, but I was on Facebook and I connected on a community group with a lady named Martha,” Kohl said. “… I don’t even remember how we started talking, but before long, Martha shows up on my front porch with food. It was homemade food.

“She didn’t ask for anything back. She acted like I was doing her a favor.”

And deliveries continued. Kohl’s children would get excited to open every box and see what was inside. By February 2021, Kohl chose to leave her partner.

“I took me and my kids to a crisis shelter,” she said. “… That was the hardest and best decision I ever made.”

Giving back

Kohl isn’t the only person Domitrovich has touched. The store recently started accepting EBT, and is host to meal trains. Those in need can start a meal train for themselves by filling out a form online, or customers can request a meal train for someone they know.

“It’s a way for families from out of town to send something that’s not fast food,” to parents of newborns, Domitrovich said, for example.

Years ago as a new mother herself, Domitrovich and her husband stayed at the Ronald McDonald House with their medically fragile children for extended stays. While the pantry there helped them get by – they often dined on microwaveable mac and cheese cups – she wanted to offer others in her situation healthier options.

“We wanted to do something to pay back,” she said.

Domitrovich and her crew often take meals to the Ronald McDonald House and fill its community freezer. Once a month, she cooks a fresh meal for families staying at the Fifth Avenue space near Deaconess and Shriners Children’s Hospital.

Giving back is a big part of Domitrovich’s business plan, and is also part of why she started a GoFundMe. Beyond needing a bigger kitchen to prepare food, a new oven and more fridge space, she is working to finalize the business’ nonprofit status and secure USDA contracts in hopes to expand the Bite2Go program that helps Spokane Public Schools students.

“We have some really big hopes and plans,” she said. “I want to be able to move into a bigger facility and have more employment options.”

Domitrovich aims to one day employ intellectually or developmentally delayed individuals.

Nearly one-tenth of the. Supper Club’s fundraising goal has been met. Those interested in donating to Domitrovich’s kitchen and mission can visit https://bit.ly/3FQEQ1R.

After leaving her partner and completing a recovery program, Kohl had lost touch with Domitrovich. Since reconnecting, Kohl has been able to assist Domitrovich by taking promotional shots through her photography business and posting a testimonial video to the. Supper Club’s social media page in an effort to raise funds for the GoFundMe.

Kohl found herself asking questions about the first day Domitrovich showed up to her house, food in tow: “Why did you come to my house? Why me?”

“She was like, ‘Honestly I just wanted to sit on your porch and pray for you,’ ” Kohl said in the testimonial upon recalling what Domitrovich told her. Kohl responded: “You’re one of the reasons I had enough strength to leave.”

“My higher power is God,” Kohl said, “and I feel like God sent her to me to help me leave.”

Dinner is served

Customers can visit the store from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday to see the. Supper Club’s offerings, or they can place orders by calling (509) 599-1868 or visiting letmarthamakeit.com. Options include pickup or delivery.

Supper Club introduced fresh meals this week, which feature a weekly rotation of individually portioned, fresh breakfasts or lunches, such as blueberry almond overnight oats or Caprese chicken salad. Orders are due by midnight Friday and can be picked up or delivered after noon on Sundays.

Pre-orders are suggested for large orders or to ensure a favorite menu item is available.

Beyond freezer meals, the. Supper Club hosts pop-up days. It recently served a Leaky Cauldron Weekend Menu, inspired by Harry Potter. The menu included Guinness stew and mash, pea soup, Hagrid’s Stuffed Wild Beast (all-beef) meatballs, Cauldron Cakes, pumpkin pastries and Troll Boogie Parfaits.

Supper Club has a full espresso bar that rotates through local coffee roasters. Thomas Hammer is now in-house, and Indaba is up next.

Frozen soups (24 ounces, serving 1 to 3) are $15. Egg bites (12-packs) are $20. Breakfast sandwiches (10-packs) range from $15-$40, depending on ingredients. Rustic chicken pot pies (serving 1 “Michael Scott” to 4 “adult office workers,” as she labels it) are $25. Baked spaghetti costs $15 for an individual, $25 for a couple and $30 for a family.

Those with dietary restrictions can make requests in-person or by phone, but there is always something vegan and gluten-free in the freezer.

Domitrovich also sells grazing trays ($10-$300) and can cater events with further notice (estimates are free).

“I haven’t seen other food services that treat people so well, with such humanity,” Kohl said. “There are no hungry bellies around her.”

If you’re planning an event, hungry or unsure of what’s on the menu, Domitrovich suggests just stopping in.

“Let me feed you,” she said.