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

Cay, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

Savor came to life as an outlet for us to have some creative freedom with our craft as well as provide a space for others to come and showcase their skillsets and talents. We wanted to have the freedom to challenge the standards in the restaurant industry and evolve ourselves. Some of the most memorable moments happen around a dinner table.
To be given the honor of having such a range of individuals come in and sit at the dinner table with us and allow us to be a part of these revered moments in life – to be the reason all of these beautiful humans come together is humbling and ethereal.
Creating a meal is an art in itself. Our mission is to treat it as such.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

How I got into the industry? I started working in kitchens when I was 13/14. During the summers I would pack my bags for three months and go live at camp, all through high school and a little into college, working in the kitchen & doing prep work and setting the mess hall for meals. I suppose you could say that’s also when I got into seasonal work.
I’ve been working in the hospitality industry ever since. Through the years I’ve held down jobs at a handful of pizza joints, some seasonal restaurants on Mackinac Island, bartending in Marquette, spent some time bartending and waiting tables in Detroit & the metro area.
While in Detroit a chef and I partnered up in 2019 and turned the first floor of a 720sqft house into a chef’s table.
This is when Savor came to life.
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Savor has allowed me to create an atmosphere where everyone can feel welcomed; Not only by myself but by whoever else they are sharing dinner with.
When you enter this space you should feel cherished and appreciated, because you are. It is so humbling and such an honor whenever anyone comes to sit at my dinner table.
There have been many times throughout the years I’ve walked into an establishment to have a meal and I feel rushed, I feel like I have to be on my best behavior and try not to offend anybody by what I order to eat or how I like my whiskey served; I don’t feel welcomed, I feel like an inconvenience that’s tolerated because as a customer I provide an income. I’m seen as a dollar sign, not as a being.
We approach the industry a little differently than that.
We would not be able to do what we do, to follow our passions if it weren’t for every guest that walks through our doors and sits down. If you leave without understanding how appreciated and important you are to all that Savor is, we haven’t succeeded at our job.
We don’t see what we do as restaurant work, we are in the hospitality business.
hospitality
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[ hos-pi-tal-i-tee ]
noun,
1.the friendly reception and treatment of guests or strangers.

2.the quality or disposition of receiving and treating guests and strangers in a warm, friendly, generous way.
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We aren’t just here to provide you with a meal, we are here to help you create an evening that, years down the road, you can pull up in your memory bank and still feel the love and appreciation and reverence we all have for you.
You, our guest, are our most valuable component to any meal.
——-

What am I most proud of?
Wow
Such a simple question that holds so much within it.
I’ve been staring at my keyboard searching for the words for weeks now.
I guess let’s just dive right in.
In October of 2022 chef cut ties with Savor.
There were a few months I wasn’t sure Savor would be able to continue.
How can you have dinner without a chef? I was searching for solutions. The 2023 season started up on Mackinac Island. The first few months I spent my spare time trying to find a replacement chef willing to come and help create this vision of mine. It was stressful and disappointing and just didn’t feel right.
None of them ended up coming to fruition.
After several encouraging conversations with some very cherished and respected individuals in my life they collectively (little to their knowledge) planted this little seed inside of me.
This tiny seed of encouragement and validation took root and I made the leap and stepped up as the chef.
On June 29th Savor hosted the first dinner of the season, the first dinner for me as the soul creator without my partner and the first female-lead dinner.
When I say female lead I mean there were no men’s hands in the entirety of the evening.
Every purveyor I contacted was an empowering female.
My sous chef
My FOH manager
My support staff
The owner of the building we’re in; All incredibly inspiring and talented Females.
That alone is something to be proud of, but being told that this was the most enjoyable and impressive Savor experience yet, that was a feeling I still haven’t been able to put to words
I am so incredibly humbled by all of the love and support that has been poured into Savor these last several months.
So I guess, what I’m most proud of is all of the amazing human beings that have stepped up and helped make Savor all that it is today and that we not only have been able to keep it going despite the sabotages and challenges but Savor has finally become a true representation of what we are trying to do.
It has never been closer to its core purpose
I’ve never been so in love with what I’m doing and I know I would never have made it this far without all of the talent and love surrounding me and cheering me along the way.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

This kind of circles back to what I’m most proud of. Diving head-first into Savor without the original chef was one of the most terrifying thigs I’ve ever had to do.
But I have a vision and a drive to give life to Savor.
Being able to make that happen and make it an even better experience than it was before is such an amazing feeling.
There were a few months where I honestly thought Savor was being laid to rest.
Nothing was working in my favor it seemed.
After a few conversations with a few inspiring people I got the confidence and encouragement to just go and do it.
The passion I have for this isn’t by mistake, there is a purpose for it
So I closed my eyes, took the leap and trusted it all to work out.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

The amount of unlearning that has come with this has been nothing short of mind-bending. The attitude towards customers has drastically changed. Seeing guests as humans and not as dollar signs.
The levels of respect for your supporting staff, despite their rank or position in the industry; recognizing everyone’s potential and not just seeing them for what they have to offer you in the immediate moment.
The meaning of hospitality in general has been a big unlearning process.
We’ve taken the word back to its origin and have tried our best to truly embody the meaning and give it life.
But the most challenging and drastic unlearning has been about myself.
Learning that I am capable to do this, learning that I do know what I’m doing and that I do it well.
Learning to have as much confidence in myself as I do my friends and supporters and learning that I can and I am shaping my dreams into realities.    

Contact Info:

• Instagram: _savor_

Image Credits
Savor Crew