The experienced team at Pure Joy is what enables us to excel at planning and executing such fabulous off-premise events. Everyone’s unique background in hospitality and management, breadth of expertise, and passion for the long hard way is what makes Pure Joy one of a kind.
Lynette – owner, executive chef
Lynette has spent her entire life researching food, loving food, traveling for food, and bringing all that knowledge back to her clients at Pure Joy designing every recipe. From authentic Brazilian to the foods of Bordeaux and Indian cuisine, she wanders the globe taking cooking lessons from local chefs and bringing back the best of the best ideas, methods and ingredients. Whether you want a casual Santa Barbara menu, or something more adventurous, we can guarantee the flavors, ingredients, time and love put into planning and executing your event will make you proud and your guests ecstatic. Lynette also spends lots of time honing your menu and overall plan for the day-of, even making sure your family recipe made for 5 guests will work for 500. Not a single menu leaves our building without being reviewed by her experienced eye. Even after 18 years, Lynette still personally attends the farmer's market for every one of our events, hand selecting only the best fruits, vegetables, herbs and live décor.
Lynee – business manager
Lynee keeps the lights on, literally. She is the glue that allows every single part of Pure Joy to function and create magnificent events for our clients. She is the last set of eyes the week before the event to be sure our rental orders are correct and our On-Site Event Supervisors have all the resources they need on the day-of, including a stellar team. Lynee does an incredible job training and managing the schedules of the staff for our events; making sure they are prepared, professional and experienced in the art of off-premise catering. When your event goes “into production” 10 days out, Lynette, Lynee and Liz are working hand in hand to count, confirm, double check and organize each detail so everything runs smoothly and efficiently on the day-of.
Alizabeth – production manager
With an eye for detail developed over the last decade, our clients’ menus and event plans are meticulously honed and checked by Liz. She coordinates with all our partner rental companies to be sure at each revision stage, we are adding and editing the correct rental items, and at finals you’re never missing a thing on your big day. She also assists Mike, our in-house designer and warehouse manager, in determining what Pure Joy rental items and decor fit best into the design for your buffet, food stations or appetizer displays. Check out this really fun themed dessert station she put together! Did you hire Pure Joy to write you a chalkboard menu or bar sign? That’s Liz too. Multifaceted, she makes sure each Pure Joy event is a grand success.
Patrick – senior event planner, operations manager
Ellen – event planner
Megan – event planner
The Event Planning Team at Pure Joy are your go-to experts on everything from the flow and timeline of the event, to what sort of floral arrangements will work with your tables. They know the Pure Joy Menu inside and out, and can give you advice on what dining style best fits your event aesthetic. The voices you hear on the end of the line, they are in the office Monday – Friday, and some weekends depending on the event schedule, for all your needs. The Event Planners are constantly reaching out to vendors, securing partnerships and nurturing relationships to make sure you have the best! Working tirelessly behind the scenes to be sure your linens, rentals, and outside vendor orders are perfect, the Event Planners also coordinate with Liz and Mike to be sure all the items provided by Pure Joy match your vision. The revisions they make to menus, contracts, rental orders and outside contracted services never leave this building without being checked by Liz, Lynee and Lynette to ensure that the planned details, staffing and equipment are totally solid.
40 years of hospitality experience makes Patrick our in-house expert! He’s held every position this industry can offer, in every department, since he was 16. He’s been planning fabulous events at Pure Joy for almost 10 years, and is still learning new skills, and teaching the rest of the event planners reliable techniques he’s gained over the years. Ellen, a Santa Barbara Native, knows the ins and outs of the venues like no one else. She has been planning weddings and other events for two decades, and is a connected and well-respected member of the community. You cannot find a more qualified, helpful and caring team to help you through the planning process.
Jerry – head chef and kitchen production manager
Manny – chef & kitchen supervisor
Cenen, Julio, Lucia, Joel, Martha and Anna are just a few of our Rock Star Chefs
Our full-time core kitchen staff work in conjunction with Lynette to modify family recipes, hone the flavors of traditional dishes, and create new and fresh items for our ever-growing menu. They also attend farmers markets, and source other local vendors for our clients’ menus. Preparing every item from scratch, the long hard way, takes a lot of dedication and man hours, but we prefer it that way. Our chefs take so much pride in hand making every stock, pie crust, simmering the sauce for mac n cheese, braising our short ribs for days, that they wouldn’t have it any other way either. The endless reviews we get about our food alone makes the long hard way worth it every time. Yes, we could cut costs by purchasing everything out of a bag from a commercial company, but the way we do it makes such a significant difference, don’t you think? These three men have all been dedicated Pure Joy employees since the beginning in early 2002 and the reputation we have built as the leading caterer on the Central Coast is because of them.
Adam – warehouse manager, event designer and event supervisor
Adam began as a server in 2002 and was such a great fit for the Pure Joy family, we had to keep him! He has so much fun matching decor from our inventory to each clients’ different personality and feel, including colors, textures and live plants and herbs into the design. He even makes custom items with the help of Liz’s husband Jared. Adam hand packs each event’s items into our fleet of vehicles to be sure no team is left without serving items, décor, kitchen supplies, and backups of everything from garbage bags to sunscreen for those sunny Santa Barbara days. He works closely with our kitchen team to be sure any equipment special to each menu is also included. You might also spy Adam on site as one of our esteemed Event Supervisors. Early Monday mornings, Adam is back at work in the warehouse unpacking all those items, meticulously cleaning, restoring and organizing everything for the next weekend.