Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Wade.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Sarah. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I Graduated from Oklahoma State University in ’05 and fell into a Banquet Chef position at the Renaissance Hotel in Houston, Texas. After a little over a year, I moved to the Renaissance Hotel in Charlotte North Carolina as the Sous Chef. After 2 years in Charlotte, I moved BACK to Houston to open a Marriott Hotel, and then a year later I moved on to the AVIA hotel in the Woodlands, TX. After a year there, I was off to Connecticut to the Hyatt in Greenwich. I spent 1 year as the Executive Sous Chef before attaining the Executive Chef Position. After 3 years in Greenwich, I was ready for a change and found a Craigslist ad for Lulu’s. I was a part of opening Lulu’s from the ground up and still remember sitting on a construction site doing cook interviews and picking out china patterns. Lulu’s is where my career has taken off. After being the chef for 3 years I have also taken on the General Manager role.
Has it been a smooth road?
Hospitality is never a smooth road, or if it is, you are doing something wrong. I got into this business with no real cooking knowledge except for some very basic courses from College and a crazy desire to be a good chef. I was very lucky to have some great chefs along the way who gave me refinement and a wonderful appreciation of ingredients.
Moving so frequently also is tough. To move up in the Hotel world, you had to physically move to the next job. It is a great adventure but is also exhausting and you never really feel settled. I do remember I was at a training course in Boston about 10 years ago and one of the chefs said to me “you have good knife skills for a girl”. That was some fuel to my fire.
Nowadays as a GM, the struggles are so different. Example is, today I spent the afternoon vacuuming water out of one of my walk in’s while responding to emails on my phone. It has been an interesting learning experience coming out of the kitchen which is my self-built bubble and falling into a whole new side of the business. Learning that you cannot talk to servers the way you can to cooks, and that you get more flies with honey than vinegar.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Lulu’s Allston story. Tell us more about the business.
Lulu’s is a Craft Beer and Comfort Food Restaurant. We take great pride in our 50 rotating draft lines, most of which are local and most of which are rare. Our bar manager Mackenzie keeps us in the know and at the top of the craft brew trends. I also take pride in our scratch menu with unique food items. I love creating menu items that no one else has thought of, such as my White trash hash, one of our brunch dishes. It is Cajun Seasoned Tater Tots, topped with beer braised, shredded short ribs, two poached eggs and smothered in Hollandaise Sauce. That silly dish has put us on everyone’s brunch radar! I love that the reason people come to Lulu’s is to eat and have a great time. We put a lot of effort in making sure your experience is great and that you want to keep coming back! I also recently competed on Food Network’s Chopped and while all of the episodes have not aired, I have won the Fry competition part and the finale airs on January 30th!
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I anticipate in the next 5-10 years an overall price increase on food, both at the vendor level as well as the guest level.
As people demand better quality products, like natural meats and organic vegetables (as they should!) and that the overall availability of products will be less. It takes longer to “grow” natural animals and vegetables.
Also, as people become more and more busy with less time to cook at home, more outlets of healthy delivery food options or the private chef sector booming. Veganism is going to continue to be a big trend as people continue to become more aware and educated on what they are eating and where their foods are coming from.
Contact Info:
- Address: 421 Cambridge Street
Allston, MA
02134 - Website: www.lulusallston.com
- Phone: 617-787-1117
- Email: lulusallston@gmail.com
- Instagram: @lulusallston
- Facebook: @lulusallston
- Twitter: @lulusallston
Image Credit:
Lulu’s Allston
Sarah Wade
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