Happy Birthday, Epicurean Group! We’ve been serving fresh, honest, and local food presented with care for two decades. This August 15^th, we celebrate 20 years in business. It was 2003 when CEO Mary Clark Bartlett joined forces with colleagues Marvin Rodriguez (CFO) and Rey Hernandez (Senior VP), all working in food service at the time. They were young and hungry with vision, a trio who wanted to reflect the growing demand for better quality food.

We sat down with Mary, Rey, and Marvin for a walk down memory lane.

Did you think Epicurean Group would still be here 20 years later?

Where did 20 years go? It all went so fast. The next 20 will go that fast too. If you like what you are doing, time flies.

Bring us back to the early days. Share a favorite memory about Epicurean Group.

Mary: One of my favorite memories was when Marvin and I were cold calling in Atherton – looking for St Patrick’s Seminary. We mistakenly walked into a private preparatory school when staff member Karen Eshoo recognized me. “I remember you,” she said, “you ran one food program at Stanford. We want to get the same food here.” We were so surprised that she hired us immediately, and that’s how we started in private prep schools. Not long after that, Epicurean Group caught on like wildfire. Karen went on to work in Los Angeles, and we continue to service schools she manages down there. That random encounter has turned into a 20-year relationship.

Is there anything you miss about “the old days” when you were a smaller company?

Marvin: We really miss some of our old clients – a few schools have closed, or people have retired. In the early days, we had more time to visit individually with them, but now that’s more limited. Our annual outing to deliver wine around Christmas was enjoyable, but we can’t do it like before – we would have to start visiting clients in September!

What is your favorite part of the job?

 Rey: It is so inspiring to watch our unit cooks grow into Sous Chefs, Executive Chefs, and Chef Managers. Or Catering assistants and cashiers develop into General Managers, Catering Managers, and Supervisors. They love what they do and exceed ours and our clients’ expectations.

Mary: The people that we work with every day. They have the same values. We talk the same language.

Can you talk about the value of having key early hires still with you?

Mary and Marvin: A few employees have been with us since day one. They share the same values as us and can execute a site-opening checklist with eyes closed. There’s a lot of trust. We know we can get the job done right and can still be happily surprised with the result.

Staff come and go, but the culture of a company remains. Talk about the culture of Epicurean Group and how it came to be.

Our best practices have not changed since day one. We expect a lot. Not everyone can do what we do.

What would you say are Epicurean Group’s greatest accomplishments?

Mary: I often think the smallest things are the greatest – I’ve been impressed by how things just fall into place. But I also believe in our work with staff and how team members have been able to grow in the job and develop their careers. We’ve watched them develop into competent, trained professionals. It is very gratifying.

What’s been the most surprising part about the journey so far?

Mary: It was unexpected to see how private prep schools could take off and become such a steady cornerstone of our business. The clients are fabulous. Educators are great to work with – the best clients ever. They know good food and want to offer high quality to their students. We’ve realized how important it is to have the same values match as our clients.

What’s one piece of advice your older self would give to your younger self about running a company?

Mary and Marvin: Remember to speak to your core competency. If you get too far out of your sweet spot and become distracted, you can lose momentum, and growth will suffer. We all used to worry a lot more, but we’ve managed through so many things and have gained much more depth as a company. We are sure about what we know and what we are doing. The best advice would be to trust the process.

Epicurean Group has hosted a lot of parties over the years. Does one stand out?

Mary: I really enjoyed it when the company and all our chefs went to the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Napa for a staff development program. It was so memorable cooking together in their state-of-the-art kitchens. We even impressed the CIA!  It was very gratifying to be endorsed by the school.

What’s your favorite Epicurean Group recipe?

 Rey: My favorite is the Red Lentil Burger from our Live Well series

Mary: Rey’s Blueberry Cinnamon Coffee Crumble Cake. I like it warm with a cup of coffee in the morning.

Marvin: I love our veggie Black Bean and Corn Burger. It’s fabulous! Honestly, I love a lot of the vegetarian food we cook in-house. I can’t pick a favorite.

What do you all think the next 20 years will bring? Where do you want to take the company? What changes would you like to bring forth, or key issues you’d like to tackle?

Everyone deserves to eat delicious and healthy, no matter what their budget is—our goal is to help people get good food. More people have the message about how important food is and trust what Epicurean Group stands for. We will continue to grow and double in size. Twenty more years will see continued strong success.