We built the catering company we wished existed.
Two founders. Thirty combined years of hospitality and food-service experience across Ukraine, Russia, and San Francisco. One shared belief: genuine care is the most powerful thing a hospitality company can offer.
How High Touch began — and why it exists.
We both came to San Francisco from countries that were at war with each other. We both arrived with almost nothing and rebuilt our lives and careers in this city. Along the way, we found each other — and recognized in each other the same belief: that genuine care is rare, that most hospitality systems treat people as transactions, and that there was room in this city for something completely different.
High Touch exists because we chose to build what we wished existed. We started with almost nothing but thirty combined years of experience and an unshakeable belief that people always feel when something is made for them with love. We still face enormous challenges every day. But we have each other, we have our belief, and every event we do brings us closer to what we are building toward.
We want to show the world that two women — one from Russia, one from Ukraine — can create peace, love, and care together, and overcome every obstacle in their way. That even when everything is difficult, even when the world says it should not be possible, you can still rise. You can still build something beautiful. You can not just survive but thrive.
This is why we are building High Touch. And this is why we care so deeply about every single event we take on.
Lena Zakharova & Chef Elena Fedchenko, San Francisco
Lena & Elena — San Francisco, 2026
We want to show the world that two women, one from Russia and one from Ukraine, can create peace, love, and care, and overcome all obstacles.
Lena Zakharova
Before catering, Lena was a high-performance coach and motivational speaker in Russia, working with business leaders and organizations to build stronger teams and clearer thinking. That foundation — the ability to read a room, anticipate needs, and hold space for other people’s goals — never left her.
When Lena moved to San Francisco, she started from the beginning. She took a position as a server and rose to Senior Manager faster than anyone expected. Along the way she did not just manage events — she personally executed them. Thousands of corporate gatherings, conference weeks, executive dinners, and large-scale productions across the Bay Area.
In one peak conference week alone, Lena managed 45 events in six days, many of them with 200 or more guests. That experience taught her how to stay calm when timelines compress, guest counts shift, and every small detail starts to matter.
Every High Touch event is personally overseen by Lena. She curates every proposal herself. She responds to every new inquiry personally — typically within 15 to 20 minutes. There is no team between you and her. No automated outreach. No AI system that contacts a client on High Touch’s behalf.
When you reach out to High Touch, you reach Lena. When your event happens, Lena is there. That is not a selling point. It is the whole model.
Chef Elena Fedchenko
Elena began working as a cook at 16, while still completing her education. By 19, she was the youngest head chef in a chain of pizzerias in her city. She did not stay there. She moved deliberately — always toward stronger restaurants, more experienced mentors, harder problems. She was building something specific, even when she could not yet name it.
Her career took her to the level of city-wide institutional leadership. Elena headed the children’s nutrition system for her entire city — responsible for the quality, safety, and sourcing of food served to thousands of children every day. This was not a desk role. It was a daily accountability that sharpened her standards to a professional level most chefs never reach.
She worked at the Cherkasy Regional State Administration and was recognized personally by the Ukrainian President for her contributions to food service and public nutrition. When war came to Ukraine and schools closed, Elena made the decision to start again. She chose to leave, and to build a new professional life from the ground up.
Within two years of arriving in the United States — before she was fully fluent in English — Elena became a sous-chef. Her colleagues did not need a shared language to recognize the discipline, the technique, and the standard she brought to every kitchen she entered.
She brings 16 years of professional experience, higher education in food technology and pastry-making, and a belief that real craft is its own form of communication. Every High Touch menu reflects her judgment. Every kitchen she runs reflects her standard.
Human•Kind
“Always Both.”
The dot between the words is intentional. It holds two things together: humanity and kindness. Both matter. Neither works without the other. Human without kind is cold competence. Kind without the human is empty performance. We need both, always, at the same time.
The central question behind every menu we design, every event we plan, every service style we recommend: how will this make the guest feel?
This is not a decorative philosophy. It is an operational question. It affects what food gets selected, how it is served, how the room is set up, and what happens when something goes wrong. It determines how we source ingredients, how we brief the team, and how we think about the moment a guest picks up a plate.
When you feel it — when a room just works, when the food is right, when guests linger longer than the schedule intended — that is Human•Kind at work. Most guests cannot name it. They just know something was made for them with care.
The Human•Kind feeling by service type
- Networking Reception Easy Connection
- Conference Morning & Recharge Morning Calm
- Lunch, Bowls & Drop-Off Restored Focus
- Executive & Private Dining Quiet Trust
- Desserts & Late Night Remembered Comfort
- Full Event Care Complete Relief
AI takes care of the details. Lena takes care of you.
The operational infrastructure
- Event logistics and planning documents
- Proposal structure and initial drafts
- Error detection and timeline projections
- Team communication and coordination tools
- Website building and content management
Everything that touches you
- Lena personally reviews every proposal before it goes out
- Lena responds to every new inquiry, personally
- Every client call, email, and text comes from a founder
- All decisions about menus, service, and event flow are human
- Chef Elena leads every kitchen, at every event
Before the doors open.
Most people see the food. We see the moment before the doors open: the team gathered, the room almost ready, the energy that carries the whole event. This is where High Touch begins — not with a checklist, but with intention.
That energy is what guests feel without being able to name it. It is why the room feels warm. It is why the food arrives before you knew you needed it. It is why people leave saying they felt cared for.
Read the story behind this event →
Eight seconds before the doors opened at The Hibernia.
“I’ve worked with Lena for 2.5 years across multiple events for different clients, and I keep coming back to her for a reason. What sets Lena apart isn’t just her execution, it’s her instinct for what a production actually needs — including things you didn’t know to ask for. Seven hours into a long event, she’ll appear with a plate of food and a knowing smile. When a venue had no prep kitchen, she made it work out of a laundry closet. When a hot day caught us without enough water to drink, she had canned beverages in people’s hands before I’d even finished flagging the problem. She finds the way, every time. I’ve recommended Lena to others in my field without hesitation, and every single one of them has come back grateful.”
Danielle Cleaver — Production Partner & Repeat Client
Ready to talk about your event? Lena responds personally — usually within the hour.
Ready to work with us?
Tell us about your event. Lena responds personally, usually within the hour.