SHAKER LIFE | FALL 2017 39
Personalized Dining Experiences
By Diana Simeon
Photography by Angelo Merendino
“I was taking classes at night and substitute teaching during the day and was newly
married and needed to earn a living,” he says. His first job: a bridal shower for a friend.
“I did the entire thing for the cost of the food,” he recalls. “But it was delightful and from
there, those guests and that hostess hired me to do actual events.”
Pope taught for several years while catering on the side — and then he got an offer he
just couldn’t refuse.
“I was holding a breast cancer fundraiser at my house,” says Pope, who lives in Shaker’s
Sussex neighborhood with his wife, Dr. Sarah Planchon Pope, and daughter, Meredith. “It
was come, eat, and donate what you want. We had 150 people show up and raised $7,000.”
On that day’s menu: barbeque featuring one of Pope’s homemade sauces.
Among the guests was Trevor Clatterbuck, the founder of Fresh Fork Market, one of
the first and biggest community-supported agriculture programs in Northeast Ohio. “He
said, ‘Hey this is really good. Make it with Ohio-grown tomatoes and I’ll buy 1,000 bottles,’”
says Pope.
That was Pope’s Original BBQ Sauce, which was the first product bottled under the
Pope’s Kitchen brand. Today, Pope’s Kitchen offers 25 products, from sauces, spreads, and
glazes to cocktail mixes, salts, and syrups. His products are now sold in six states (locally at
Juma and J. Pistone, The Wine Spot in Cleveland Heights, and the Merchants Market at
Legacy Village).
The success has enabled Pope to devote
himself full time to his business. He still
makes most everything for Pope’s Kitchen
himself, using only fresh, all-natural
ingredients. New products aren’t released
until they meet Pope’s strict standards (a
soon-to-be-released piña colada mix took
seven months of development).
“It’s how you would make it if you
had time,” explains Pope. “We do it for our
catering and we do it for our products. It’s
what people expect from us.”
Clark Pope Catering & Pope’s Kitchen
clark-pope-rumc.squarespace.com
popeskitchen.com
Facebook.com/PopesKitchen
Twitter @popeskitchen
Instagram @popeskitchen