The history behind Jessie & Laurent is what it makes so special. Jessie’s travels to France introduced her to Laurent and their shared passion for food and cooking grew into a beautiful, thriving family business, launching in 1981; its aim was to provide delicious hand-made and personalized gourmet food to households and businesses all over the Bay Area. Their passion for food, their clients and each other are the hallmark of each dish they prepared. A huge success Jessie & Laurent was to become.
The culinary duo became a mainstay in Northern California with their fiercely loyal following for the next 38 years. In February of 2019, Jessie & Laurent opted to sell their business, and to continue on their journey of beautiful new discoveries and leisurely travel. The company is now in new hands, and the owners like Jessie & Laurent, are based in Marin County.
The mission of J&L remains intact. The same wonderful staff is all here. The food is prepared with the same utmost care, and Jessie & Laurent, the wonderful couple we have all come to love for the last many years, are cheering us on with their beautiful spirits, and our mutual excitement of the future.
The new team at the helm of the company is a quartet of talented, food savvy people.
Rick Graves, the Managing Partner, has over 35 years of restaurant business experience. As an operator he expanded concepts such as Café Z and Patxi’s Pizza. As a business consultant and professional facilitator, Rick made it his life’s work to steer companies to success by helping leaders experience joy in their work and giving managers, even the ones bewildered by millennials, tools to inspire their teams.
Alex and Lisa Stricker with over 20 years of combined restaurant experience, also own Stateroom Brewery and The Flatiron in San Rafael. With Alex focusing on branding and marketing and Lisa focusing on day to day operations, their hands-on approach to ownership and focus on the culture they create for their employees has been, and will continue to be, the trademark of their continued success.
John Scheuring is a Bay Area based lawyer who very early on, knew that being a part of Jessie et Laurent was an exciting opportunity. John has a significant number of restaurant/bar clients, primarily in San Francisco and Marin County. He is focused on providing organizational and transactional advice related to development, merger and acquisition, ownership relations, and joint venture transactions, as well as the day-to-day issues that arise throughout the lifecycle of a business.
From left to right: Rick Graves, Lisa Stricker, Adeline Ropion, Alex Stricker, John Scheuring.
