Culinary Passion to Business Brilliance with Lauren Kershner - Momma Has Goals

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Culinary Passion to Business Brilliance with Lauren Kershner

Episode 142 • 13th February 2024 • Momma Has Goals • Kelsey Smith

0:00

feeling of excitement and nervousness are actually pretty intertwined. So whenever I'm feeling just like anxious or nervous or kind of scared about leaping and doing something reaching out to someone, what have you, I think, oh, maybe this is excitement, not nervousness and trick my brain into feeling really excited about it and sort of nervous or stressed or fearful of it. So I think if you could harness kind of the power of that inner motivation there, it can be quite fun to actually step into those unknown.

0:37

exponentially since launch in: 2017

4:29

of dancing I eat leftovers practically only or I'm like you do scraps off of people's plates. No but there's really it's a lovely dance a beautiful chaos as you put it. You kind of get into this routine and you end up being like this team that can work really well together even though it is loud and dirty and greasy and we call it a dance in the kitchen. Now it's more like dancing, Tijuana and frozen. But, but it's fun. It's carefree in a way, but a lot of work. If you're you have to work at it if your work at being structured and organized and productive, but also have fun and have self care incorporated into it. So more parallels than I really thought. I love that you brought that into the conversation. Yeah, I was thinking

5:18

about it took the cheese in my hair. I was like, You know what, this is so perfect. Actually. Yeah. And you know, you're one of the few people that has lived in both versions of my professional life, where back when I was working in the wine industry, and I was managing a tasting room, you came in and did some catering for events that we did. And now we've connected into this other world together. Yeah, and you've always been really multidimensional. You've always had your hands and multiple things. But I'd love to hear a little bit about the recent transition from more of the culinary side to the creative business development. And really what brought you to make that kind of bigger transition, where I would say the transitions you've made previously have been little pivots, right? They all kind of connect together. And this one's a little bit bigger.

6:05

while. But I was also working: 6070

8:49

Yeah. And you've had some great accolades within not just the hospitality industry, not even just Sonoma in general, you've taken on, you know, top business woman in the area and North Bay 40, under 40, so many different things that you've been able to bring on. And so in someone that's maybe been in the hospitality industry, or isn't familiar with business hears you say, Yeah, I'm doing business development now. And I'm not as focused on that. But you still have these other businesses. Give us a little peek into not even the day by day because I don't think that that's really how someone's life operates. It's more week by week. What does kind of a week in the life look like and where are you wearing these different hats? Gosh, yeah.

9:27

So when I say creative business development, that's something that I do a lot. And I have something I work on week by week, for example, when people come to visit wine country, they want to have the best experience possible. They want to leave feeling like they experience something amazing and they'll have memories will last a lifetime. And so I'm tasked with how can we provide that and we do our private chef experiences but then there's so many other wonderful ways to experience Sonoma Valley. A so I brainstorm whether it's partnerships collaborations just as straight up offering a new service like our yoga and Brenton bubbles or like a farm experience, something like that. So I'm just brainstorming how to elevate our, our business or services. And this

10:19

is for your business organization as well as others, right? Like, you come in as a supportive role to a different business and say, Hey, here's some opportunities that I see for you in this area. And then you also have your businesses that you're the owner of, and you say, here's how we're going to provide that our services, our business, and I'm gonna bring in a team to do that, because you're not necessarily executing very much of it anymore. You're more on the CEO business side. Is that correct?

10:46

Yeah, exactly. Like recently, we had we so we have our event venue, songbird parlor. And we host micro weddings and corporate events and what have you. But it's it's empty most of the day during the week. So I reached out to a local company, Sonoma yoga, Jess Williams is also an amazing woman entrepreneur. So they're renting out the space twice a week for their yoga. So now they're able to offer like an up Valley location for the yoga in addition to their downtown location, and then we get the income from that, and they get additional clients things like that I'm doing all the time that yeah, so fun.

11:27

So you moved into the wine area, Napa Sonoma area, and didn't really know a lot of people here. And now you've taken on so many collaborations, so many partnerships, you've really built a team personally and professionally to surround you that you've supported others, and they've supported you. How did you first get started for someone that's maybe like, that sounds great. But I don't have the network to create that success. You didn't either. And then you created it. So what are some of the baby steps going back to Lauren moving to California? What were some of the very first steps that you took to start cultivating your personal brand and your network?

12:05

t. And so like, how does this: 2627

13:51

hospitality town and not yet in the tourism. But the people that live and work here as well. Now, it's easy to be where you're at now and say yeah, it all just snowballed, but I'm sure along the way, there were moments where you're like, Am I ever gonna get this off the ground? Am I ever gonna have a client call? Am I ever gonna be able to do this? What did that actual timeline look like when you were in it? Were there were there really hard moments? How long did it take of showing up to the chambers events before finally passing out a business card actually mattered and did something with it? Or did it happen pretty fast? Was it fast success or was it a little slow?

14:25

about a year. It was when the: 2017

16:02

I remember a period in between there where you were in kind of like a, I'm gonna call it Co Op kitchen space where you could like, go in and prepare things there. I think I'd love for you to talk a little bit about that. Because I think it's a really cool opportunity for someone that wants to get into this space, they can't do it in their home. And I know there's so many cool ways that you can get started that people don't know exist without getting like your own big kitchen. Tell me a little bit more about that space and how someone that like, oh, I have this idea. But I can't just like, you know, get a huge kitchen to myself or a huge restaurant. What are some of those baby steps?

16:37

Yeah, and I've helped a handful of kind of small artists and producers get on this path. But it's not a Commissary Kitchen. And most major cities have at least a few when you rent it out by the hour. But what's nice about it is that they carry all of the licensing and the health department certifications and everything. So you just have to fill out really a pretty simple form that you sign in the Commissary Kitchen signs, and then you're kind of good to go. And they provide depending on what you need, you can shop around but the one that I had in Petaluma had all of the cooking equipment, stoves, ovens, walkins, three compartments, saying standing mixers, pretty much all the tools and everything, you need counterspace. So it was pretty easy to get in, pay by the hour. Gosh, I remember they charge a lower rate if you're between the hours of 9pm and 5am. So of course, I spent some of those stupid, first few months trying to, you know, save every penny and work through the night. So you can they're open 24/7 Usually, you know, you can go when you need to. But I think that's a great way to get started. I know quite a few businesses that are really successful now and do have their own kitchens. And they started that way. There also is something called the cottage food act that does allow you to prepare some things in your home. So that's worth looking into if you think you might have a product that fits under that umbrella.

18:07

Yeah. And I remember when you were in that space, what was really cool about that one specifically is there was also like an event area connected to it. So you could have people like me post something there and your kitchen was right there. It made it super easy to execute. Now, when you're looking for opportunities, whether it's in motherhood, life, personally business, sometimes you haven't seen anyone that's done it before. Yeah, and I feel like this has shown up for you in quite a few things that you've done, where you're like, I'm gonna figure out a solution. I'm gonna find a path a way to do this. And I haven't seen anyone else do it. I don't know how I'm gonna get there, but I'm gonna figure it out. I'd love for you to speak to what are some of the skill sets that you feel like you just have innately and those that you've built to be able to, like, have that curiosity and perseverance to push forward? And for someone that is feeling like, how am I going to do this? I don't know how I'm going to accomplish this goal. How am I going to be a stepmom? I don't know anyone? That's a stepmom? How am I going to make this decision and move forward? How do you step into something that you don't see someone else being successful with yet that you don't have a path?

19:11

I think you hit the nail on the head there curiosity and perseverance really it keeps coming back to I guess you can say it's being curious or just having a love of learning and just being really passionate about it. As a business owner, I don't have a boss to turn to I have to figure it out on my own. And I like that I like being in control. So I think that I feel like I can control my destiny a bit. Being a business owner. I'm not beholden to someone else, but definitely a lot of passion and getting help from others. I'm not afraid to ask for help. How do I do this? How do I know get on a podcast or how do I approach a bank about an investment Then opportunity. Yeah, I'm Yes. Curious that I like very excited. It's just very exciting for me to do that. Yeah.

20:07

As you're stepping into the mom role, I guess you're not stepping in, you've been stepped in for a while. Now, what are some ways that you try to implement that as like a family culture, I think it's so important to really create that culture for our kids of, hey, you might not know how to do this yet, but we're gonna find a way to do it. And you can ask for help. But like, keep trying put yourself out there. And you know, your boyfriend's girls are at this really pivotal age. They're seven and 10, where that's like a really important time to have some of those skills. Is there something that you consciously do to help cultivate that for them? Or is it more just leading by example,

20:46

a lot of leading by example, but I definitely like to say I can do hard things, or you can do hard things is something that we talk about a lot, they'll see me come back in the morning, freezing morning, but I just run eight miles. And so just setting a good example and getting them out and experiencing as many different things as they can. Even if we don't go skiing regularly, and you're a great skier, we'll still go just to see what it's like you know, and if it works for you, it doesn't we can go more often, if it doesn't, we can go skateboarding, or biking, but just introducing them to a lot of different opportunities. That's how I like to live my life. And I think it just creates, ultimately creates a lot more just like connections between what you've experienced and what your brain has experienced and just strengthens your ability to get through. So I think, yeah, a lot of leading by example, and a lot of just experimenting with trying new things. Yeah. You know,

21:52

hired a productivity coach in: 2020

22:33

Yeah, so one of the first things Renee taught me was that every business can be organized. And pretty much any business can be organized into five department. And so this is also another culinary kind of reference and connection here. But you do like similar tasks together. So if you're cutting up a bunch of apples, you're not going to peel an apple and cut it and pour it and slice it and then start the next one, you'll like peel the apples. And then you'll cut all the apples I organize and we call it time blocking. So I'll organize my days by departments. And I've experimented with a lot of different ways to do this. I think it's Steve Jobs, famously time blocks and like three minute increments, I don't know how but I do it day by day, like Monday as the headquarters state uses operations day. And just like anything you get in the routine of it, and it feels like almost like it lends itself a little bit. It's just like a little autopilot that happens. So I definitely organized by days by like tasks or departments, if you will. i We also talked about time blocking and self care. So I really do wake up and I try not to start work until nine or maybe even 10am sometimes and charting be done by three or four. And when you have that structure there, you're more likely to stick to it. So that's been very helpful with family life and self care life. So time blocking self care. And I've just been great at delegating, automating, asking for help. All of these things make it a lot more manageable.

24:15

I love that. Now, another parallel between mob life life and culinary is things happen, right? And I always think of this analogy of I didn't come up with this, But somewhere I read it thinking of it as like a duck. A duck always looks like so soft and serene on the surface. But they're paddling like heck underneath to get anywhere and you don't see their legs, you just see this beautiful little gliding on the water. And I think that's how so many people want motherhood to look at and sometimes it does. And that's the experience that we're looking to give in hospitality and customer service right is in the back kitchen. It looks totally different than what the table looks like outside. So I'd love for you to talk a little bit about maybe some of the wrenches As the guys have gotten thrown in either your business world or lawn life or life in general, and how you overcame a situation that was like, Oh my gosh, here we go. And I'm sure there's plenty from like the the event space, but just one that really stands out,

25:16

oh gosh, I don't know, well, if I could come up with just one I just envisioning, like these catered events that we do some of the bigger ones where, like you said, we're in the back, just get it on the plate as a one is a liquid. And then I'm just like, like, go out to my server. And I'm like, is everything cool? Are they happy? And she's like, it's flawless. It's perfect. I'm like, but are you sure? Like, it seemed pretty chaotic. And she's like, No, they don't notice any of that. They're perfectly happy. Okay, so learning to embracing I guess, some of those wrenches or chaos, that and knowing that they're not really as bad as it may seem. But pivoting I mean, we've had to do that a lot. In the last few years with COVID, and fire seasons and, and just kids getting sick, or what have you. I think just leaning into the time blocking, again, self care if I feel like I need to decompress and just take a day off, I'm able to rearrange my schedule in such a way it's a blessing of being a business owner to Yeah, the

26:21

restaurant industry kind of has this theme, often, where it's maybe not always the kindest work environment. But sometimes there is, you know, high emotions, and you kind of hear these stories of like the head chef screaming at the rest of the team and throwing things around and things. I've worked in enough kitchens. Now that that's not the case everywhere. But it can be a really high intensity environment. And I would love to hear just like, has there ever been a situation in growing any your businesses where you had to really take a step back and go like inward and stand up for yourself, and you don't have to give us all the specifics of what happened. But Did someone maybe leave a bad review about one of your businesses or put down your name in a certain way or something that ever, like took a shot at your confidence? And you had to figure out how to get yourself back up and move forward? Yeah,

27:11

well, luckily, we still have all five star reviews. And I'm dreading the day someone dares to leave anything less than five stars. But but not that we people, clients don't reach out and have some critique, I'm an emotional person. And I do tend to take those things. Personally, I think just learning that you can't please everyone, you hear that a lot, as a business owner, something like your mom might tell you, or my general manager, she's very wise woman, just to not take it. So personally. And then of course, correct action, if you can,

27:55

you can't please everybody, there's a quote, I love it. So you can be the juiciest peach in the world. And there's still going to be somebody that hates peaches. And I think that like in life and business ownership that is so important, because we can do our best and we can put our best foot forward. And there's still going to be somebody else that's gonna say, why did you step right instead of last? You know? Yeah. And there's going to be you just have to trust in yourself and have that confidence. And I think what's interesting about you, I see this specifically in you, but it's so common in ambitious women, is you don't even see yourself taking the action to overcome those things or have that confidence because it's just become second nature. You're like, I just I have to get dressed, I have to move forward, I have to keep going. And so you know, you're not even aware of the things that you do on a daily basis to persevere to move forward. Because it just is at this point. It's a way of life. I mean, it is a growth mindset, because it's saying like, I'm going to continue forward, right, I'm going to continue to grow, I'm going to continue to move forward, I'm going to look at my highest self in what what that means in this situation, right? And if someone's going to come to me with actionable feedback that I can take action on, then I'm going to do that and like you said, if there's a situation you can correct you will, but sometimes people just want to complain, sometimes they just want to like feel heard or vent or they have something else going on. And you have to know when to have that gross mindset of okay, here's where I can move forward, here's where I can support and here's where I can and here's where I'm just gonna I have a friend that says bless and release and you can bless and release and move forward and kind of just go about your your day and your business. And I think that I've seen I haven't been in situations where I've seen any of that negativity you've had to deal with, but I can see the other side of it where I know that you're just like managing what's coming at you in such a such a cool way. I want to talk about your businesses specifically. And because there is overlap, you have this event space you have You're a catering company. And then you also have a chem Bucha business. I'd love for you to talk a little bit about the ken Bucha business specifically and how you got started.

30:07

Oh, yeah, so I love kombucha. I grew up in Mendocino. And it's a little bee over there, if you don't know. But brewing kombucha was kind of normal. Like, I have a lot of friends that did it. And I was just at my friend's house, and she's like, trends can be Chai made. And I had a step and it was like the best thing I've ever tasted. So I'm like, What's your recipe and I just have been brewing kombucha for years. And it's so good. And people, you know, my friends would be asking for it. And then I thought we this wouldn't be fun. So, you know, the second fermentation process introduces some fruit juice of some certain kind of adds that sugar to get the natural effervescence. And a lot of people use whatever kind of fruit juices they want. They could buy something from the storage use of themselves whatever's in season, but I got a hold of some grape juice from our beautiful vineyards out here in Sonoma, it was Carneros Chardonnay. And in a Sonoma Valley Pino, I had a friend who had some vineyards, and he had leftover grapes after harvest. So I went and pick the grapes, I rented a press and like, did the whole grape pressing thing in my house, and God was beautiful juice, and make kombucha with that. And I thought it was just genius. And so I bottled that I didn't have labels or anything, really, at that point, it was just kind of for fun. As a side project. Of course, when the pandemic happened, I was able to do a little bit more of that just kind of fun projects until events got back up and going. And, I mean, it's just, I don't know, if you've had a chance to try, it'll have to bring the bottle, but it's very delicious on yours. Yeah, and I'll get you some. So I just decided to make it a serious thing. And I kind of at that point, had been a business owner for a few years, I kind of understood like marketing and who to reach out to, to get help on things. So I pulled together kind of quickly, and I had the catering kitchen at that point, which, you know, had a place to brew it. And I got a website and labels and just got it all taken care of. And so now I have this product that I can sell. And it's really kind of my way of giving back, I don't make a whole lot of money on it, I donate $1 of every bottle sold to a local nonprofit. And it's just been my way to, like love the community and support it

32:38

that is so cool. Such a fun thing. And to take something that you're like, Hey, I like this, my friends like this. There's so many businesses that start that way where you're already doing something, and then you're like, oh, maybe I should expand this, maybe I should make it a little bit more. So you've built so many relationships, you were just talking about how you give back to the community, how you built these networks, I have just always been amazed with your connections and the places that you are and how you involve yourself into that. I would love to know how that felt entering the role of stepmom? How did you use maybe some of the same skills or completely different skills to really step into this new role and build a relationship with these two little girls that were like, who are you? How are you gonna come in? Do you feel like it was completely different than the relationship building skills that you've had previously in your business? Or were there some similarities?

33:32

Oh, man, I think one of the hardest things about building relationships with kids is now trying to connect with parents. You know, I still don't know. Like, how to ask for a playdate, like, how do I ask them for their number? You know, it's still very an elusive experience for me. But as far as the girls, gosh, they were pretty young when they came into my life. So yeah, I mean, of course, it was kind of awkward at first, but they're so sweet. And they embraced me wholeheartedly. You know, it was, luckily it wasn't like that kind of teenage angst, like rebellious against the step parent that yeah, I see. Like in movies and whatnot, but just spending time together, you know, with building relationships for business, the better the relationship is, it's built on trust, you know, trust and understanding when you trust someone, you're more likely to do business with them. And so it just kind of worked on on those skills. You know, Kenny, their father helped me tremendously with that. But just spending quality time together. Sometimes it's not about business, you know, you might want to meet with one of your winery partners and just not even talk about business. Just be a friend. So you know, it wasn't always parenting and discipline and whatnot, but just trying to be a friend to just kind of building that trust that personal connection.

34:58

What are some like tangible activities that you did to do that, like I know sometimes you guys go to the driving range Do you play games together? What are some of the like the tangible things to build that trust and friendship? Yeah,

35:12

we love having fun. We definitely go and do a lot of cool things. They love coming to work with me, actually, they love coming to songbird and running around and helping set up the tables. So I think allowing them to see me in that capacity to you know, not just mom, not just friend, but out in the world, doing things that I'm passionate about, and also support our family has been really instrumental and building like a more cohesive family unit. And I remember to in the beginning phases of our family, I loved being with them at bedtime. So we would read, I would read to them every night, and we'd go with the same story. So they always were curious what's gonna happen next. And that kind of built like a routine. So they got used to us having a relationship together that was independent of their father as well was something that we did together that was like our secret, like little club almost. And also just being there at bedtime. And in the morning time, I think is important to just in a different mode. It's more of like a nurturing time. So they see that you're there to be a part of their, their wellness, and they're sleeping, and they're getting ready for bed and getting ready in the morning. Yeah,

36:38

definitely. What are some of the other outings and activities that you guys do or things that you do in the house? I love the bedtime example, because reading and bedtime is something like everyone can implement. Do you guys go to any special like hikes adventures or play games or anything like that?

36:56

Yeah, we play piano together. We have a piano here and I'm taking lessons so I can have our 10 year old Penelope follow along and she's been natural at it. It's really impressive to see. But they love tic tac toe. Candyland chess, we go and ride bikes together. I love to travel. So I try to bring the whole family when we can. So we've been to quite a few places and with us, but they love cooking in the kitchen. We've made homemade pasta and cheese and cookies.

37:27

I think sometimes we overcomplicate, like how to connect and how to build those relationships. And it can be just these small simple things. So I love some of those examples. Before we wrap up, I know we have to k out of time because you have so many things you have to go do a couple more questions for you. Before we do that, what are all the different places that people can follow you connect with you in stay in your world,

37:52

we're trying to be pretty active on Instagram, so you can follow me at Good gracious eats. And that's my tutoring and private chefs account. And I love Sonoma and I'm always bragging about Sonoma and showing off our little town so you can kind of learn a lot about that there. And then our event venue is at songbird parlor. And it spelled Oh, you are the old English way. And that's just such a gorgeous site if you want to just see really cool inspiration for weddings and florals and interior design. And then Valley of the Moon can Bucha is my little collegia Instagram, but that is all those are all the websites as well. Goodness gracious, eats.com, songbird, parlor.com belly of the moon, Ken bucha.com,

38:38

orking towards as we get into: 2024

39:01

Oh, man, I just excited. I feel like our growth trajectory has just been exponential. Brandi and I are working on a book. So I can have more details for you as we get further into the year and that kind of transpires. But we're really excited about that brandy as an incredible writer, wordsmith and then we're looking to open a restaurant. So that will probably happen the beginning of this year sometime soon. So gosh, just just always, we're just so excited about what we do. It's hard not to just have all these projects in the pipeline. I have been getting into consulting a little bit more and helping other businesses and hospitality businesses grow as well. You can probably see a lot more of that for me. Via that that should keep us busy.

39:51

Yeah, I think so quite a bit. Now if you were to leave our listeners with just one piece of advice to go after their goals too. take that next step to push when you are feeling maybe not confident or uncomfortable and you're stepping into the unknown. What is one thing that they could start with or do today with what they have to really muster up that courage and confidence to pursue it.

40:17

This is something that someone told me once that has really helped me because when you are starting something new, a business, a family, it can be very nerve wracking and stressful, and a lot of those feelings can keep people from moving forward. So the feeling of excitement and nervousness are actually pretty intertwined. So whenever I'm feeling just like anxious or nervous, or kind of scared about leaping and doing something reaching out to someone, what have you, I think, oh, maybe this is excitement, not nervousness, and then trick my brain into feeling really excited about it instead of nervous or stressed or fearful of it. So I think if you could harness kind of the power of that inner motivation there, it could be quite fun to actually step into those unknowns.

41:12

day. I can't wait to see what: 2024

41:25

thank you, Kelsey. It's really an honor to to have some of your time speak with you. Oh,

41:31

it was great love hearing your story and connecting with you always. Sometimes the smallest acts of love is all a mom needs to feel reinvigorated. If you can relate to that I feel so supported by your five star rating and written review. Take a moment and let me know what you thought about this episode.