On Thursday, Chef John prepared a salad of napa cabbage with fresh cilantro, roasted almonds, deep-fried wonton strips, mandolined carrots and chicken with two Asian-inflected dressings, so the crew at Katherine's Catering could decide whether it paired well with a stir fry on its menu.

On Friday, Chef John, a.k.a John Weiszer, prepared ahi sushi rolls with rice noodles and an array of Thai sauces culled from his culinary education in that country. He topped it off with sticky black rice studded with mangos, drizzled with coconut milk syrup, and accompanied by a bunch of fresh mint.

Katherine's Catering owner Katherine Hilboldt Farrell with the company's new executive chef, Michigander John Weiszer.

Work and play mingled during Weiszer's first week as Katherine's new executive chef when he started in early March. He expects to feed a lot of staffers, whose feedback is what keeps him and them fresh.

Bringing in Weiszer, a Michigan native who's been learning and cooking around the globe for years, was about adding a new creative dimension to the menus at Katherine's. 

Owner Katherine Hilboldt Farrell will work alongside Weiszer while continuing to develop food products to retail.

"We've put out eight or nine proposals in the last few days with his food in it," she says. "I've had my ideas for a long time, but this is going to change the fabric of what we can offer, because we have the expertise in the kitchen. 

"It will work for 1,000 people, it will work for 500 people. Every business needs to be prepared when growth happens."

The company, which Hilboldt Farrell opened with the help of Tom Monaghan (of Domino's Pizza fame) in 1985, has been growing at a robust pace for the last five years. From 2009 to 2010, revenues climbed 30 percent. The company expects more than $2 million in revenue this year.

Competition is stiff, Hilboldt Farrell says, but when people see food, they want to eat it. 

"We're fortunate that everybody still loves to eat," she says. "People are continuing to entertain for their families and friends and to entertain to grow their businesses. We're in an ideal profession."

Katherine's employs 60 people, half of them full-timers, including eight chefs who will work under Weiszer, an executive chef for the past 25 years. The remaining 30 employees are students and others who serve as waitstaff.

Still, operating in an economic downturn means doing more volume, keeping pricing competitive, and thinking very carefully about what suits the client and not necessarily the kitchen staff, Hilboldt Farrell says. Taking a page out of retailers' book, Katherine's has created ready-made, event-driven menus.

"We've encouraged our clients to think about events. We're putting it together before they know what they want. I think retailers do that all the time. It brought in a lot of business for us. It takes the burden off the client to choose a menu," she says.

About half of the company's business is University of Michigan-related.

Hilboldt Farrell, 54, interviewed about a dozen chefs before she hired Weiszer, a Canton Township resident, to become the company's executive chef. He may be a familiar name to Ann Arbor foodies as founder of Melange Bistro on Main Street.

"One thing about Chef John: He's very friendly, very interested in talking to people. It was important to me to have someone who can interact with clients. People love chefs," says Hilboldt Farrell, who trained as a chef in France.

Weiszer, 52, launched his career at the age of 19, apprenticing at Amelio's in San Francisco under Chef Akio Furume. While the fare at the restaurant was European, Furume tucked in Asian ingredients. He was doing fusion before that word became associated with cooking, Weiszer says. That influenced his own cooking, which combines elements of West and East.

Most of his career has been in San Francisco, with stints in Chicago, Italy and Thailand. Weiszer has picked up culinary ideas everywhere, he says.

Returning to Michigan was about being closer to family and tapping into the state's rich agricultural vein. Weiszer says he'll look to local farmers and food artisans for ingredients and inspiration.

Joining Katherine's Catering was also about working with a new group of people who share his passion for food.

"The team is the most exciting aspect," he says. "We've done so much in one week in terms of personnel, administrative, procedures, tastings, food purveyors. But things were going very smoothly before my coming here. I'm here to enhance it."

Julie Edgar is a freelance writer for AnnArbor.com.