We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Laura Laird a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Laura, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s jump right into the heart of things. Outsiders often think businesses or industries have much larger profit margins than they actually do – the reason is that outsiders are often unaware of the biggest challenges to profitability in various industries – what’s the biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?

Right now? Inflation! As gas prices rise, everything else follows. There is also a tremendous decline in available and willing work force. People rely too much on financial stimulus from the government not realizing this will very soon end. There is no such thing as “free money”. As inflation rises, taxes rise as well which puts great hardship on those of us who work and produce, on job creators, etc. and the numbers of us are declining. In my area I am seeing a lot of food related businesses, almost exclusively small businesses, having to close their doors because they cannot find employees.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?

Oh, where do I start? 😊 I was born in communist Romania in 1968 under Ceausescu’s regime. I lived there through the 1989 revolution which abolished communism in my country and remained there until 1992. Our lives were always difficult but the last 10-15 years were the worst. There were shortages of all kinds! We lived in a concrete building, like most people in my country and everything that Americans or any capitalist/western civilizations would consider basic necessities was in short supply. Our electricity, hot water and heat, even in the harsh Romanian winters were turned off from 10 AM to 6 PM every day. During winter, my parents and I slept together in one bedroom which was heated by a small radiator. Most mornings in the winter time I would go outside and scoop some snow and let it melt to use for brushing my teeth and washing my face. There is so much more I could tell you! To this day, nearly 30 years later, I feel beyond grateful that I can take hot, long showers! I never could growing up. All 3 of us bathed in the same 6 inches of lukewarm water in the tub. I know it sounds gross but we had no hot water so we heated some on the stove and we all used the same water. It was much harder for families with multiple children. As far as food is concerned, we had very limited choices and we stood in tremendously long lines for hours for everything! Every day I stood in a 2-3 hour line for a loaf of bread. Many of the ingredients that might seem trivial and normal to people here I did not know existed! I never ate steak and I was 18 when I tasted Pepsi for the first time. The point is, I could not go and get something I wanted from the grocery store because it was either unavailable or it took hours to obtain it. In spring and summer, things were a bit better as we had people from the neighboring villages come and form what you would call a Farmer’s Market and bring some ingredients such as new potatoes, lettuce, tomatoes and radishes. During the summer months we ate a lot of salads. As far as meat is concerned the staple was pork. We also had some chicken, when we could find it and very rarely lamb. My father worked in a chemical factory in his birth village and the people there would bring him things like chicken and fresh vegetables some times. Spring time was very joyful for me for several reasons! Some years my father would bring home half (literally!) of young lamb which my mother and I would butcher on the kitchen table and I always got a new pair of shoes for Easter! In my country, if you didn’t cook you didn’t eat! There were no fast food places and the few and far between restaurants were reserved for the communist elites. We could not afford them! So we cooked whatever ingredients we had together! I remember being in my maternal grand mother’s very tiny kitchen, sitting on her tiny table and watching her cook rice, I was 6 years old, feet dangling and I was fascinated! My grandmother, Elena and I had a very special bond! I remember her telling me that day: “You must toast the rice in oil before adding the water and dried herbs sweetheart!” 😊 Rice was a staple we did have however we bought it in small, brown paper or sackcloth bags with the chaff, small pebbles and dirt still inside so we had to pour the rice on the table and separate the clean white grains from the rest. It took hours to do that! We would pay for a kilogram of rice but end up with a little over half of a kg after cleaning it! As I continued watching the women in my family cook, I found I absolutely loved the process! I started learning from them and it was not a chore for me! It was a joy! As I grew up, I continued learning and at 12 I made my first full meal consisting of chicken dumpling soup and a stew for my parents and myself. This is how we cooked – we made a soup and a stew in large enough quantities to last a week and that is what we ate. My parents gave me good reviews and I never looked back! I remember making them garlic mashed potatoes when I was a teenager and they hated the combination! 😂 My mother said garlic does not belong in mashed potatoes, ever! Little did I know I was sort of avant-garde as garlic mashed potatoes are beloved here!

In September of 1992 I left my home and traveled to Paris and from there to Germany for a day trip. I lived in Paris for 3 months and in that time I was introduced to such bounty of ingredients! Paris was a food adventure and my senses and desire to produce good food with my own hands were awakened like never before. When I finally moved to America in December of 1992, I became voracious for information about food! I read cook books like novels, watched, in awe I might add, people like Wolfgang Puck and Bobby Flay cooking on TV no less! It was shocking to me that people actually did that! But it was a blessing for me because I literally went to cooking school in my own living room! Then I started buying produce and meats and ingredients I knew nothing about and started experimenting in my kitchen! I learned the Imperial system, as we used Metric in Europe, taught myself how to combine ingredients, what flavors I liked and how to put them together! And I made lots of food for my friends! In 1996 I met and married my husband, Ken. As we made friends together as a couple and as now I had a family I continued learning, experimenting and making food for all the people around me! We had a LOT of dinner parties! I found, as my level of knowledge and experience grew, that my cooking was an eclectic mix of what I remembered from my childhood and what I was learning here! I combined ingredients others maybe wouldn’t, used the Mediterranean and Eastern European influences Romanian cooking has but incorporated American ingredients and even cooking styles! I guess what I think sets me apart from others is two fold. First, I am a believer and I believe with all my heart this cooking ability is a gift from God to me, a way to bless people and make them happy! Second, I don’t necessarily subscribe to any particular style of cooking or cuisine! I just combine ingredients and flavors I like, borrow ideas from my own memories growing up and other cuisines of the world and make my own dishes! The result Is food that is flavorful and comforting, yet elegant and gourmet!

In February 2017, my husband encouraged me to seek advice from a non profit organization in this area called SCORE. They have people from every industry out there who volunteer their time to advise others who are thinking about joining the ranks of people in a particular field. One of the 2 gentlemen I had a meeting with asked me if I knew what a Supper Club was. I responded, yes, of course, but I live in N Texas! Here people are meat and potatoes type of people and a Supper Club is more refined! I didn’t think it would work! He begged to differ and advised me that people’s palates are changing! There is a growth in people wanting to experience refined, farm to table, gourmet food they can enjoy! An experience rather than just eating dinner! Those words resonated with me! Because for me food IS an experience! A journey you take without leaving your table! So I went home, gathered 6 of my core group of friends and invited them to a multi course Supper Club dinner! I explained to them what I had in mind, a multi course Supper Club with themed dinners that would take my clients on a culinary journey of taste! I wanted them to be my clients, not my friends and I wanted their critique, no matter how harsh! I was serious because this business I was starting was not then and it is not now a hobby! This is my passion and I take it seriously! So I spent 2 days getting ready for this event! I made a 5 course French inspired menu which included my versions of Vichyssoise, Nicoise, coq au vin and Clafoutis. At the end of that dinner, I went in ready for their critique! There was none… They did make mention of portions being way too large and the soup needing to be hotter but as far as flavors and creativity they loved everything! I took the advice, learned how to portion better and how to keep courses hot! A small business was born that night and it is continuing today!

I now host Supper Clubs in my clients’ homes! My team and I offer a very unique service in my community. We enable our hosts to hold elegant, multi course, 5 star gourmet dinner parties in their homes without having to worry about anything! From consulting with my clients regarding their likes and dislikes and possible food allergies/intolerances and offering each of them a custom menu for their parties based on their needs to purchasing the groceries, preparing them myself from fresh, organic, non GMO, wild caught, grass fed, etc., high quality ingredients, to cleaning in between each course and bringing our own plates and silverware to use for serving, everything is taken care of by us! The only thing my client hosts are responsible for providing is setting the table and bringing their favorite wine! My dinners even include a “welcome” champagne cocktail also custom created! And, if my clients require it, I also provide a “table scape” service which consists of myself or one of my team members setting my clients’ table the night before the party. My clients ts can just invite their guests, dress up and enjoy the party! We take care of the rest.

Those Supper Club events can be themed, with themes such as A Culinary Trip around The World with each course inspired by cuisines from 5 different countries, to Edwardian, Downton Abbey type dinners or any theme my clients may want. But my most popular and loved theme is the Murder Mystery Dinner for which I write everything myself. Inspired by mysteries such as those written by Agatha Christy or Clue, etc., I write the characters, the plot and each character’s secret which makes each guest a possible suspect! As dinner is served and enjoyed, I task one of the dinner guests with being the detective. This guest knows all the participants’ secrets and he/she reveals them at the table as dinner progresses. This always has a fun effect, as people get into their characters and point fingers at one another! By the end, the murderer is usually found out by the guests but if that does not happen, the detective and I reveal that person to everyone after dessert! Some times I take an active role such as “undercover agent” or something similar and reveal myself at the end of dinner! These Murder Mystery events are a lot of fun!

Unfortunately, on January 5th of this year, only 5 1/2 months ago, my husband of 25 years and the father of our two adopted daughters, Faith and Grace, who always supported me in my endeavor and who was the main financial earner for our family so I can pursue my passion, passed away suddenly and very unexpectedly! It was a tremendous blow, one I cannot understand or explain! Having been such a sudden and unexpected occurrence, I was thrown into the deep end of the ocean, emotionally and in every other way, a life without him with my 2 almost 16 year old daughters! Now I find myself in a very different and unique position where my gift is no longer just a passion but a necessity, the only way I know how to provide for my daughters! But, as I said, I am a believer and I have seen the hand of God in everything since my husband’s passing!

Life can be hard and this world is becoming more harsh and less and less friendly! We are encouraged to distance ourselves from one another and live in fear of tomorrow! But human contact, friendships, family, connection is at the heart of who we are as people and we need those things to thrive! I love doing what I do for so many reasons! But one of the most important reason is the JOY I hear from the dining rooms in my clients’ homes as my team and I work hard, frantically almost, to deliver 5 courses to the people in our parties, some as large as 25 in one sitting! What better way to connect than around the dinner table? And this business makes me a part of that connection! I love hearing the laughter, the banter, the friendship and communion between the guests and yes, the sounds my clients make when they taste the food! It is rewarding to hear them say things like “oh my gosh, this is delicious” or “I’ve never tasted anything like this before!” It makes me happy to make them happy! It warms my heart when my host comes to me after an event and gives me a hug telling me the evening was everything she imagined and more! I have made so many friends and acquaintances through this blessing I was gifted with! And I hope and pray it will continue and grow!

We’d love to hear about how’d you met your business partner.

Even though my husband, Ken was not necessarily my business partner, his support and encouragement was invaluable! He also helped me a few times when I could not find people to work with me for an event! One of those times was for the 2021 NY Eve event I did! As no one was available to work, he served and our daughters cleaned, so it was a family affair. As he passed away literally 5 days after this event, working together as a family that night is a memory I will always cherish and never forget! He truly was my partner, in life and business!

We met on October 13, 1996. We were going to the same church and he noticed me in the choir. He was mesmerized – his words! 😊 – and prayed! On the day we met which was a Sunday, as he was jogging in the morning, he prayed if I was the girl he was supposed to marry, God would have someone introduce me to him that day. He said if that happened he would ask me to lunch after church and we would go from there! Well, someone did introduce me to him that day, merely 2 hours after his prayer! He told me later how stunned he was that his prayer not only had been answered but it was answered that very day! He did take me to lunch and we had the best time! I felt I had known him all my life! I felt so comfortable in his presence! You see I had noticed him as well but I prayed and waited as I did not want to rush into anything without God’s guidance! We married 7 weeks exactly after that encounter, on December 7th 1996. I was 28 and he was 36! We weathered a lot together, had many ups and downs but through it all we stood on a scripture God gave Ken 2 weeks before we walked down the isle. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12. That passage of scriptures ends with this: “Though one may be overpowered, two can withstand him(an enemy). And A THREEFOLD CORD IS NOT EASILY BROKEN” That 3rd cord represented God in the midsts of the 2 of us and we continued to rely on Him for the entire 25 years we were married! One of the sad things we weathered was the fact that I could not become pregnant! we tried for 10 years and nothing happened! I went through a lot, surgeries, treatments, etc., in those 10 years and finally, after realizing we just could not conceive, we decided to adopt! We did so through CPS, child protective services in our state of Texas and we became parents of 2 beautiful little girls, 3 months apart in age, Faith and Grace! They have been with us since they were both 3 days old so I am grateful we are the only parents they have known! They are now almost 16!

Although my husband and their daddy passed away, he left a legacy of an honorable, hard working, God centered life and a strong foundation on which my daughters and I can continue to build our family!

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

My main source of clients comes from FaceBook groups I belong to! I advertise once per month on each of those group pages, mostly mom pages, I belong to and I get a lot of clients from there! Word of mouth is the second best source! I have been recommended many times by my clients. In fact, Ruthie Staalsen, a client of mine, recommended me to your magazine! 😊

My advice is to try and remain present on social media as much as possible but not become a nuisance! As a customer base is built, I believe consistency in service, a willingness to adapt to people’s needs and work with them and honorable practices are key to maintaining a good reputation! Just because no one knows or is looking doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it the right way and as you promised you would! 😊

Contact Info:

• Website: www.cisupperclub.com
• Instagram: @taste the experience
• Facebook: @culinaryimmersionsupperclub

Image Credits
One photo courtesy of Emilee Prado