After 14 years of operating out of rental kitchens, Naperville caterer Cynthia Hyett finally has a permanent address.

Hyett's company, Busy Butternut, opened Clarify Kitchen in January 2026 at 1701 Quincy Ave., Suite 20, in north Naperville off Ogden Avenue. The 5,000-square-foot commercial kitchen and event space gives the appetizer-only catering company its first brick-and-mortar home, adding cooking classes, kids camps, corporate events, and weekly meal pickup to a business that previously could only come to clients.

The Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce and city officials celebrated the opening with a ribbon cutting on Feb. 4, 2026. The space has been open and booking events since.

Hyett, a Naperville native who grew up on the east side in the 1980s, founded Busy Butternut in 2012 after running a predecessor company called Entertaining Forkless. Both centered on the same concept: everything in small bites.

"I wish everything was just little, and I could hold it and take a quick bite," Hyett said in a November 2025 interview with Living in Naperville, filmed while the space was still under construction. "I realized that I love appetizers and everything in small bites."

Her roots in the community run deep. Hyett's grandmother, Kathryn Holler, taught at Ellsworth Elementary School for 39 years, retiring in 1973 after 16 years in fourth grade and 23 in third grade. In 1988, the school was dedicated in Holler's honor, with a plaque mounted inside the main entrance. Holler's teaching philosophy is also commemorated in the "Golden Rule Days" sculpture on the Century Walk, located on the walkway off the south side of Jefferson Avenue just east of Washington Street.

That family emphasis on seasonal, from-scratch cooking shaped Hyett's catering philosophy. Busy Butternut builds themed events around a client's vision, coordinating florals, decor, risers, tablecloths, and food into a single presentation. The company caters baby showers, bridal showers, graduations, anniversaries, and celebrations of life.

The Clarify Kitchen space sits across the street from Go Brewing and down the block from Solemn Oath Brewery, adding a culinary events venue to a stretch of Quincy Avenue that has drawn food and drink businesses to north Naperville. Day rentals for celebrations run $1,250 for 15 hours; hourly meeting space is $175.

For residents who have hired Busy Butternut over the years for house parties and backyard events, the permanent location means a place to take a cooking class, book a themed party in a dedicated space, or pick up weekly meal prep without coordinating a caterer's schedule around a shared kitchen.

Clarify Kitchen is open for bookings at clarifykitchen.com. Busy Butternut catering inquiries go to [email protected] or 630-338-5447.