Corporate Social Responsibility

Service Rooted in Experience. Hospitality Beyond Our Walls.

At The Popal Group, hospitality has always meant more than what happens inside our restaurants. It means showing up for our community, especially in moments that matter.

As former refugees who fled war in Afghanistan in the 1980s, the Popal family understands displacement, rebuilding, and the generosity of community firsthand. That lived experience continues to shape the way we operate today. Service is not an initiative we adopted; it is a value woven into the foundation of who we are.

Our Commitment to Service

Giving back is a pillar of our business ethos. Throughout the year, our team organizes and participates in meaningful corporate social responsibility initiatives across Washington, D.C., including:

  • Volunteer days with local nonprofits

  • Donation drives and supply collections

  • Tree planting and environmental stewardship efforts

  • Direct support for refugee settlement organizations

While much of this work happens quietly and without publicity, it remains central to our identity. We believe community impact does not need to be loud to be meaningful, but it should be consistent.

Supporting Refugees, New Americans & Our Community

In August 2021, following the evacuation from Kabul, we were honored to assist Afghan evacuees as they began rebuilding their lives in the United States. The outpouring of support from the D.C. community was overwhelming and inspiring. We helped collect, sort, and distribute essential goods, and we continue to partner with refugee settlement organizations to support families navigating their first chapters in a new country.

Through our quarterly corporate social responsibility initiatives, our team continues to take part in that work, volunteering time to sort donations and deliver supplies to newly arrived families.

In 2026, that commitment also brought our teams into local gardens and green spaces. Our Pascual team volunteered with the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay at TreeLay!, planting trees to support watershed reforestation efforts.

Our Lutèce team spent a late summer morning volunteering with the Franciscan Monastery Garden Guild, a nonprofit tending 15 acres of monastery grounds, including a one-acre urban garden in D.C. Volunteers carry out every part of the work, from sowing seeds to harvesting, and all produce is donated through local organizations, churches, and ministries to neighbors experiencing food insecurity. Since 2014, the garden has provided more than 100,000 pounds of fresh produce across the District.

These moments are deeply personal to us. They reflect where we came from and why we believe in extending hospitality beyond the table. Whether welcoming new neighbors, planting trees, or helping grow food for our community, service is part of our business, and part of our legacy.