The Well & Table Catering: Faith, Food and A New Venture
A new Olney catering business got a much bigger introduction than owner Katie Grubbs expected when The Well & Table served up 200 meals for a back-toschool teacher training sponsored by Texas-New Mexico Power.
Ms. Grubbs, a stay-at-home mom and avid baker who previously worked for Holly Bailey at Hometown Coffee & Tea, launched the Christian cottage-based catering service in June with fairly modest expectations.
“I really had no big plans for The Well & Table,” Ms. Grubbs said. “Feeding people is my love language.”
She had talked over the idea with her family and friend Alyssa Betts, an Olney teacher, thinking she might turn her love of baking and cooking into a small home-based business.
Then Ms. Betts and Olney Community Library and Arts Center Director Lori Cox called with a considerably bigger opportunity: Would Ms. Grubbs cater a teacher training event?
The order totaled 200 meals.
Ms. Grubbs prepared chicken salad sandwiches on croissants for half the group and turkey and Havarti sandwiches with homemade cranberry aioli on ciabatta for the other half. Each meal also came with one of The Well & Table’s signature brown butter cookies — 200 of those, too.
The teacher event remains her largest job so far, but Ms. Grubbs said catering requests are beginning to come in as she figures out what The Well & Table will become.
“It’s really flying by the seat of our pants right now,” she said. “We’re working out all the kinks.”
For now, Ms. Grubbs posts a monthly menu on The Well & Table’s Facebook page and offers regular meal service one day a week, along with special offerings such as back-toschool treats and teacher appreciation meals. She also accepts customized catering orders on other days and already has several bookings.
Customers can order through Facebook, by phone or text, and pay with cash, Venmo or Square. The Well & Table offers free delivery within Olney, generally between noon and 1 p.m.
But Ms. Grubbs said the business is about more than food.
Her 8-year-old son helped convince her that the unexpected opportunity might have a larger purpose.
“The very first thing he said was, ‘You can share the love of Jesus with food, and I can share the gospel,’” she recalled.
Each order from The Well & Table includes a Bible verse. At first, her son chose each one individually, praying and thinking about what might speak to the person receiving the meal. Now the family chooses a verse of the month, allowing Ms. Grubbs to balance the growing business with school and family life.
What began as a way to make a little money from a hobby, Ms. Grubbs said, has quickly become something she never really planned — but believes she was meant to do.