ONE WHOLE YEAR!!

You guys!!! It's been one WHOLE YEAR we've been live with our Supper Club website. ONE WHOLE YEAR TODAY!!!

Before I launch into the story, if you just want to order delicious, wholesome and amazing meals and not read any more schtuff, just go HERE and place your order now--the new menu for next week is live now. We know not everyone has time for stories!

For the rest who want to know what has been ONE WHOLE YEAR, keep reading...

THAT DARNED FAILED START-UP

Many of you know that we before we were San Mateo Supper Club, we were part of "Gather Made"--a VC backed start-up that was following after www.Shef.com--a platform for local chefs to get online quickly. Shef.com had received over $20M in series-A funding back then, and VC's were listening--especially given the big names of some of the investors in Shef. We had fun making Gather Made, but, well, it didn't work out, and like many start-up stories, we woke up one day and our jobs were gone.

Yes, it sucked.

But then many of our customers came and asked us to please keep making meals for them and their families...and so we did.

SAN MATEO SUPPER CLUB WAS BORN

I pressed the publish button on this website exactly 1 year ago today. Chef Mary & I had unceremoniously lost our jobs at the VC-backed start-up just a couple of months prior, and we faced a holiday season without jobs, and no warning. It's a tale as old as time, right? But your voice came through and we heard you, and we built what you requested! And today we are here, happily, one year after pressing GO! Thank you so much for making this crazy dream real.

Right now we cannot imagine life without you! But back then it seemed like we were done. Even today we see restaurants have a hard time making it--recently several have closed nearby, and it's not just because of rising food prices--it's also because of the labor market. Many of the local restaurant closings are because the labor market cannot support them. Many of you may not realize, but San Mateo Supper Club is made up of two chefs. That's it.

We do everything ourselves. We design the menus, we do the sourcing, we prepare & pack the meals, and we deliver them directly to you. We write the emails, we manage the website--we do every little thing ourselves. There are no VC's, there are no secretaries, it's just us. That's part of our success (and part of why we manage a few mistakes here and there), we can be and do all the things AND make a LOT of food every day.

Remember that we source locally, so when you outsource your meal prep and delivery to us, you're also supporting many local businesses including farmers and small-business owners as well as local franchisees. Part of our vision is to strengthen the local food economy as well as build community. We focus on sustainability in our processes and in our sourcing, and so far it it is working well.

MANY MANY MANY DELICIOUS MEALS

It's been a year, and looking inside the website we found out that we offered, made and delivered OVER 400 different menu items last year! OVER 400!!!!!!!!! That's crazy. We love to offer you seasonal variety, and clearly we DO! As our archive has grown, we knew it was getting harder and more tedious to scroll through our old offerings, but we didn't realize the actual amount we had compiled until recently.

Of course, we have our own favorites to make and we do repeat many of our menu items, but we also are ALWAYS looking out for new things, great deals and delicious trends. Now, after our first year, we can honestly say we offer more meals than there are days in the year! This is part of what we love--to create and make new and exciting things.

We love creating and making new things all the time. We also love to serve you your favorites. Do let us know what those are when you have a chance! We thank you for this tremendous & exciting inaugural year and we do so look forward to this second year. We are sure it will be full of delicious memories. Order for next week HERE!

We can't wait to serve you.

Sincerely,

Chef Ginny & Chef Mary