Marjorie Taylor & Kendall Smith Franchini Transcript
Kerry Diamond:
Hi, everyone. You are listening to Radio Cherry Bombe, and I'm your host, Kerry Diamond, coming to you from Newsstand Studios at Rockefeller Center in the heart of New York City. Today's guests are Marjorie Taylor and Kendall Smith Franchini, the mother-daughter duo behind The Cook's Atelier, the popular culinary school in the Burgundy region of France. Marjorie and Kendall joined me in just a minute to talk about their brand-new cookbook, “French at Heart: Recipes That Bring France Home,” and the bold life choices that brought them all the way from Phoenix to France at very different stages in their lives. With Mother's Day right around the corner, I thought you'd enjoy their very inspiring story. Stay tuned for Marjorie and Kendall.
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A little housekeeping, we are hard at work on our summer issue, and it's our first ever Power issue. It will be out this June, and it's a celebration of folks using their power for good and doing important, interesting, and impactful work. To subscribe and get our four annual issues delivered straight to your door visit cherrybombe.com.
Now let's check in with today's guests. Marjorie, Kendall, welcome to Radio Cherry Bombe.
Marjorie Taylor:
Thank you for having us.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
Thank you.
Kerry Diamond:
Tell everybody what brings you to New York.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
Well, we're celebrating our second cookbook, “French at Heart,” which we're very excited about, and we're just here kind of celebrating that.
Kerry Diamond:
And “French at Heart” as opposed to “Wild at Heart.”
Kendall Smith Franchini:
It is a little wild in some ways.
Marjorie Taylor:
It feels wild more oftentimes than not.
Kerry Diamond:
Marjorie, tell us about the title.
Marjorie Taylor:
Oh, that was so funny because as we were working with the team trying to produce the book, do this stuff, we just kept thinking, "What is the title? What should this book be called?" And all of a sudden, actually it Kendall, who came up with a name, and she's like, "It's obvious, it should be ‘French at Heart.’"
Kendall Smith Franchini:
I mean, you know how you go through and you just have a list of a hundred different titles. It could be this, it could be that none of them were working out or this isn't working, and then all of a sudden I'm like, "Of course ‘French at Heart,’" because that's kind of how we feel all the time, doing what we do, living where we live. And so we thought it was the perfect fit and just when you know you know.
Kerry Diamond:
We all thought it was the perfect title, when-
Kendall Smith Franchini:
Oh, good.
Kerry Diamond:
... the book showed up at the office, we were like, "Oh my gosh. That makes complete sense." “French at Heart” is your second cookbook. We all absolutely adore your first one-
Kendall Smith Franchini:
Thanks.
Kerry Diamond:
“The Cook's Atelier.” Tell us what's different about the new book.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
Well, this book kind of dives a little bit deeper into family life, I think a little bit more, it's a little more intimate than the first book. The first book was really based on more of the school, how we teach certain techniques and foundations and things that we think every home cook needs to know how to do. And this book really showcases a little bit more about the story about how we arrived in Beaune, why we wanted to move to France, kind of the method to our madness of why we do the things we do too. And also to try to explain to others how you can kind of bring a little bit of that into your own life every day. It's a nice little ode to living in Beaune and Burgundy and it's fun.
Marjorie Taylor:
We wanted the second book to be very approachable to people because it looks like one thing on pretty Instagram and all that stuff, but it's really just a family doing what they love and creating a business around that. So we wanted to kind of open that or remove the curtains so people could see a little bit more of that too.
Kerry Diamond:
Was it hard to write?
Kendall Smith Franchini:
It was hard to kind of wrap your head around it when you're making it, but not really. No.
Marjorie Taylor:
We always have a lot to say.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
It's actually hard to keep it condensed and figure out focus on this. And yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
I got the sense that it was something that just flowed right out of both of you.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
It did. I mean, I think there are certain parts in the book that we really knew we wanted to hit home and really wanted to focus on. We managed to figure that out early on, which is good.
Marjorie Taylor:
Yes.
Kerry Diamond:
I thought it was interesting that so much of it is about intuitive cooking essentially, whereas the first book is recipes, recipes, recipes that you are meant to follow. And this book is sort of about letting go. Is that safe to say?
Marjorie Taylor:
Yes, I think that's a good way to say it because the idea around the first book is you have to have some core foundations and stuff if you want to be a better cook. But the idea is once you've mastered that, you can do anything. And I think it was really important for us to make it where it was not intimidating for somebody who doesn't cook at all, but somebody who really likes French cooking or maybe somebody who's more versed at it. But there's something there for everybody.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
Yeah, and I also think that's just, in a way, all of it is kind of based on mindset and French cooks, even at home, French people at home, it is a lot of intuitive cooking and you don't necessarily need a recipe nearby, and it's not always about following the recipe to a T. So I think that was a big part of it too.
Kerry Diamond:
You definitely stress the importance of beautiful ingredients and produce-
Marjorie Taylor:
Absolutely.
Kerry Diamond:
... in the book.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
That's fundamental. And I think just what we've taken away from living in France too is the beauty of the ingredients. I mean, that's the most fundamental thing. Even anywhere you live, that's the most important thing to focus on is finding good ingredients, focusing on seasonality if you can. If you do that, your cooking is just going to better and elevated anyways.
Kerry Diamond:
Where's a good place to start with the new book?
Marjorie Taylor:
Oh gosh, there's so many. We always say to the class, if you take one recipe, learn how to make a proper gougère because those are so fun and they're so easy.
Kerry Diamond:
They're very French.
Marjorie Taylor:
They're very French, and they look hard and everybody loves them. But once you have that, you can make a multitude of other things using that. That's a favorite for sure.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
And it's nice too because something like the gougère, which in this book, it's a variation on the gougère, spicy cheese puffs, which are great because it's always an icebreaker. It's fun to get other people involved in doing it too. It's the beginning of a meal if you want to serve it as an apéro, which is really fun too. So it's kind of a nice introductory recipe, I think.
Kerry Diamond:
Do you greet people at the culinary school with gougère and champagne, or did I read that?
Marjorie Taylor:
No, we make them work for it first. We greet them a really great coffee and we mingle and introduce ourselves, and then we head upstairs to the kitchen. But that is always the first recipe that we make because it's kind of fun because the 10 people there, they don't know each other necessarily either, and we don't know what level of what cook they are, how they cook. And it's kind of fun because like Kendall said, it's very fun, just icebreaking, get in there, let's have some fun. And so it's always big.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh, I must've been reading about someone who had visited and they said something about being greeted with the gougère and a glass of champagne, and I was like, "oh, I want to be-"
Kendall Smith Franchini:
That's assume-
Kerry Diamond:
"... greeted that way every day."
Marjorie Taylor:
Yes, it's a good habit to have.
Kerry Diamond:
Marjorie folks might not realize you had a successful career in Phoenix of all places.
Marjorie Taylor:
Yes.
Kerry Diamond:
Phoenix to Paris does not seem like the normal trajectory.
Marjorie Taylor:
Well, and then you throw in Arizona, it's a really long ways away, which we apologize for that. But no, actually it started out for me, having been a single mom with Kendall, and you do a lot of jobs, put food on the table, but I always had this thing about food, and I remember Kendall as a little kid would say, "I just remember used to say, you just want to feed people." So as Kendall got older and I had more time, I really put a lot of emphasis on learning to cook. And for me, I really wanted it to be classic French cooking.
Kerry Diamond:
Where had that seed been planted along the way?
Marjorie Taylor:
I'm not really sure. I think, well, first of all, I start out, I'm an entrepreneur and people ask that all the time. So for me it was important to figure out, okay, now I have a chance to be an entrepreneur. What do I want to do that I'm going to love doing every single day? And for me, that was cooking and it was important for me because I think French cooking maybe at the time, maybe more so, but I think that I'm like, if you know how to cook a French person, you can do anything. So I really wanted to learn all the classic techniques.
Kerry Diamond:
Obviously you'd been cooking for a long time because you were feeding your child, but you didn't really learn how to properly cook until your late 20s, correct?
Marjorie Taylor:
That's correct. Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
That's amazing.
Marjorie Taylor:
And it was fun. So then with our story, what happened is then Kendall for some reason-
Kendall Smith Franchini:
Totally enamored with France in a weird way. I don't know why. It's not a hotbed Arizona for anything French, but I did have a really good teacher in high school, a French teacher that totally made it seem "Okay, this is possible. This is something that I'm not just making up in my head. She did that. I could maybe do it too."
Kerry Diamond:
Do you remember your teacher's name?
Kendall Smith Franchini:
Yes. Miss Malene, love her to death. She's great. After that, we did a high school trip to Paris and I was hooked. So at that point she knew, okay, yeah.
Marjorie Taylor:
Yeah, just had Kendall. Obviously you're paying attention to these clues, and I thought, "Oh dear, she's going to figure out how to live in France. She's going to figure it out." So then of course, after university and all of that, then Kendall makes her move to France. Then the job is to figure out how to make it stick 'cause it's not easy to move to France.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
Figured out how to be a student in France. That's one of the easiest ways to do it. And was able to do some studying abroad and French and art history. That was kind of my angle. 'Cause I've been always into culture and the language and that kind of thing. Then found myself working in Paris, and so I was interning at Christie's Auction House, and that was great. Doing a little wine bar job at the side and then really got into wine and "Mom, I really want to figure out wine." And she's like, "Okay."
Marjorie Taylor:
Then I get the call. I'm from Arizona, my child is working at Christie's in Paris, and I'm just so proud of her, and then I get the call that says, "Mom, I really want to study viticulture." And I'm like, "Well, that sounds great. Why not?" Because that's kind of my mindset. Next photo I get she's on a tractor and I'm like, "Oh dear, this will be fine." So that's how we found Beaune actually, because that's where Kendall went to-
Kendall Smith Franchini:
Viticulture school.
Marjorie Taylor:
... viticulture school.
Kerry Diamond:
What was the school?
Kendall Smith Franchini:
It's the CFPPA. So it's basically a program that any winemaker in the region has to go to be certified, to be actually a wine producer. It was really intensive program, all in French, very intense, but really interesting.
Kerry Diamond:
So you were at Christie's. What were you doing for Christie's?
Kendall Smith Franchini:
I was interning really, but doing anything and everything that they needed. So it was interesting. It was an interesting experience, but it wasn't really well paid, so that only lasts for so long.
Kerry Diamond:
So you're doing the wine bar at night. I remember when I used to go to Paris for work all the time, the city, it seemed like overnight fell in love with natural wine. Was that going on when you were there working the wine bar?
Kendall Smith Franchini:
It was in the, let's say 2005, 2006. So it was maybe kind of on the cusp of that. Not really.
Kerry Diamond:
So you were more into the traditional wine world. Okay, so you go to school, meanwhile back in Phoenix, you've opened a restaurant. So you didn't just learn how to cook-
Marjorie Taylor:
No.
Kerry Diamond:
... for real.
Marjorie Taylor:
Once Kendall was grown and she was off to college, I opened up a restaurant, very small, 20 seat restaurant, which also a couple nights a week did cooking classes 'cause I've always loved the teaching aspect of it, and it was fun. And we did that for a while and it was kind of a unique concept, at least I thought it was at the time where I was very determined. I didn't want to have any debt. I didn't want to have the menu too big. And I said, "I only want to cook what I want to cook, and I want it to be very prefixed." At the time, my mentor, my whole person that I was in love with was Alice Waters, of course, during my time period there. And so I kind of mimicked that idea in this little tiny place in of all places, Phoenix. I mean, I had a little garden in the back.
It was ridiculous. Nothing grows there, but we were having fun at it. And what's fun about our story is then when Kendall went off to college, she would come work with me in the summer. So we've been doing something similar forever. Then it was about 2007, Kendall had gotten settled in there and she was working at Kermit Lynch, and she called me and she said, "Mom, you're going to love this town. You've got to come and see this." And she goes, "I mean, I think you need to move here." And I'm thinking, "Oh dear, how in the world am I going to figure this out?"
Kerry Diamond:
And you still had the restaurant?
Marjorie Taylor:
No. Well, I sort of did, but I was-
Kerry Diamond:
Let's go back 'cause you said a few interesting things, and we have a lot of restaurateurs out there in the listening audience. You said it was a 20 seat restaurant. What was the name of the restaurant?
Marjorie Taylor:
It was called Ruby Beet Gourmet.
Kerry Diamond:
Ruby-
Marjorie Taylor:
Beet as in vegetable.
Kerry Diamond:
Ruby Beet Oh, I love it. Okay.
Marjorie Taylor:
Thank you.
Kerry Diamond:
Ruby Beet Gourmet. And you said you did not want to go into debt, which is great advice for everyone, for everything.
Marjorie Taylor:
Well, and the idea was the joy of cooking. It was the part I liked. And at the time I had a business partner. It was something, no major business plan, no real thought out plan of action here, no investors, it's just us. Let's do this. It'll be fun. So it started out where we'd sit outside on the porch and shell peas, drink wine, and whoever showed up got to have dinner. It was ridiculous. I do not-
Kerry Diamond:
It sounds like a TV show, not a business.
Marjorie Taylor:
It kind of was, that's a good way to think it. But it was a good life experience. Nobody got killed. So it ended up okay, but it was certainly not ideal.
Kerry Diamond:
It seems like a movie, doesn't it?
Marjorie Taylor:
A lot of this seems like a movie.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh my gosh, did you lose money? Did you make money?
Marjorie Taylor:
No, we made money and-
Kerry Diamond:
This was how you made a living. Yeah.
Marjorie Taylor:
Yeah. And it was fine. It wasn't anything over the top, but more importantly, I was having fun doing it.
Kerry Diamond:
Okay and did you find an audience because you had so many rules, it was prefix, you wanted to cook what you wanted to cook.
Marjorie Taylor:
At the time.
Kerry Diamond:
You found your people?
Marjorie Taylor:
We found our people, and one fun thing, we're very good friends with Chris Bianco at the time.
Kerry Diamond:
The famous pizza God.
Marjorie Taylor:
The famous pizza God, which we love dearly, he's such a good guy. So it was kind of funny because of course he always had so many spillover people that couldn't get in, then they would kind of wander over to us. So it was a good fun thing. So that's sort of how that story went.
Kerry Diamond:
That's a good business plan.
Marjorie Taylor:
Yeah. Fast-forward a little bit.
Kerry Diamond:
Let me open near somebody really popular where nobody can get in.
Marjorie Taylor:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
What did you do as a living before you opened the restaurant?
Marjorie Taylor:
Oh my goodness. Anything possible. Lots of administrative work, none of it, which I enjoyed at all, which was part of me saying, "As soon as Kendall gets a little bigger, I'm going to figure this out." So that's why I gave a lot of consideration, what is that going to be? And so that's how I got into food.
Kerry Diamond:
So you went to La Varenne at some point.
Marjorie Taylor:
I did. I was just going to say that. That's kind of a fun story and I love her to that. She's amazing.
Kerry Diamond:
Tell folks what La Varenne is and who Anne is.
Marjorie Taylor:
Well Anne Willan, the proprietor of La Varenne, just outside of Burgundy. At this time, Kendall's in college and I'm trying to think, how am I going to even figure out anything, let alone, she hasn't even told me "I'm moving to France," yet. And so I really wanted to figure out a way to be in France, because Kendall was in Paris at that time. I thought that would be fun. So I first wrote Anne and said, "Hi Anne." Nice little cover letters. She does or did at the time. You would have a stage there. And at this time, I'm older, I've already had a restaurant, I've already done stuff, but I don't have any paperwork that says I really went to culinary school. So I thought, "Well, maybe Anne, that would be fun," because I didn't have enough confidence in myself at the time. I thought I needed the paperwork, which is ridiculous. But at any rate, that was a fun adventure. First time she said, "No, you're too old." And I'm like, "Oh gee."
Kerry Diamond:
Oh, for real?
Marjorie Taylor:
Yeah, true story. But again, this was a long time ago. So then second time I convinced her, "I promise I'm not a prima donna. I will do whatever you want. I just want to have the life experience." She said, "Yes." That was a big exciting thing. About that time I pack up, I think I'm going for three months, which is the typical thing, but I ended up staying longer than that, which was good for us because at this point, Kendall's in Paris, and the first time we're back on the same continent.
So we met a lot and talked a lot, brainstormed a lot, how can we figure out how we can get mom here, me? And so we just kept obsessing over everything. And about that time, I don't remember all the names, but there were a bunch of pop-up restaurants done by Americans, like Rose was doing all that stuff spring, and I'm like, "Wow, this is really neat. Why don't we do, Hidden Kitchen was in somebody's apartment in Paris." I'm like, "That sounds fun. I could do that." So we kind of have brought together the original idea of The Cook's Atelier around that, and we laugh about it all the time because it was not a formal plan at all. I get to France, I'm thinking to myself, "I am either completely mad or I'm having a midlife crisis. This is going to be fine."
Kerry Diamond:
Could be both.
Marjorie Taylor:
Yes. I'm like, "It's a sabbatical. I'm going to give myself a year, and if we could figure it out, I can stay. If we can't figure it out, I'll have to figure out the next plan." Did Anne know what you were up to?
Kerry Diamond:
No. You did not want to tell her?
Marjorie Taylor:
No.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
No. And that was after you were done with Anne?
Marjorie Taylor:
Yeah, because I went back after Anne. I knew that I had to come back, so I had to come back to the States and figure out, all right, you can't just stay here. That doesn't work. You have to get the paperwork, all this kind of stuff. I initially went, I had a visitor visa, which was great. I got stay for a year, but I couldn't work. And I had just sold my house in Phoenix and I was trying to figure out, "All right, what are we doing?" We're brainstorming at this time. Once I finally get back and I'm like, "I'm a cook, I need a stove, I need something." So actually Kendall and Kendall's husband, Laurent, they were dating at the time-
Kendall Smith Franchini:
Good guy, I'll say.
Marjorie Taylor:
He's a good guy.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
He deals with both of us. Yeah.
Marjorie Taylor:
We're walking down the street in Beaune and there's an apartment. I can see guys painting in there and I'm like, "That's going to go for rent. That little apartment is adorable. Cute street." I said, "Maybe I could do a pop-up in there. That could be fun." Of course, being the nice French guy that he is, he figures out how to get a hold of the guy. There's no multiple listing or anything. And we get into the apartment and I'm like, "This would be perfect." So even on the website, if you... I always like to say, pour yourself a glass and burgundy, look down. And you could see the whole evolution of the business, which is hysterical. There's one, a little video.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
Short film.
Marjorie Taylor:
Short film where Kendall's in there. She's got Luke, who's now 14 in a BabyBjörn, and we're in the kitchen cooking. I mean, it's crazy stuff. You can't make it up.
Kerry Diamond:
I want to go back to La Varenne for one second. How much older were you than the other students?
Marjorie Taylor:
Oh, gosh. She would hire the kids in their maybe 20s, maybe 25.
Kerry Diamond:
How old were you at the time?
Marjorie Taylor:
I felt like how old was I? I was probably 44, 42 something. I was in my 40s.
Kerry Diamond:
What did you learn while you were there?
Marjorie Taylor:
Well, I already-
Kerry Diamond:
'Cause you already knew how to cook.
Marjorie Taylor:
Yeah, I already knew how to cook. I already knew how to cook. But it was fun to see the program, how she ran the program, how she did that, what was behind the scenes of doing something like that. That's why I was there. I really wanted to observe and see how that part worked.
Kerry Diamond:
So Kendall, you and your mom, you had no business plan-
Kendall Smith Franchini:
No.
Kerry Diamond:
... at all.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
No.
Kerry Diamond:
And were you two close growing up?
Kendall Smith Franchini:
It's kind of like we're two peas in the pod. I mean growing up with a single mom, we didn't have a dad around that kind of thing, we kind of helped each other out and we kind of relied on each other.
Kerry Diamond:
And supported each other.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
And supported each other.
Kerry Diamond:
So that must've been a lot for you to go from Phoenix to France.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
It was a lot, but I think it was normal. I mean, obviously you're going to go explore things and go try things out, and my mom was always really good at basically saying, "You can do whatever you want. You can try anything you want to do." So I was never afraid to try something, which is good.
Kerry Diamond:
And you weren't heartbroken back home in Phoenix?
Marjorie Taylor:
Well, it was the right thing for her. That's what you're supposed to do as mom. You're supposed to say fly. So that was really great. But it was fun because after all these years of doing it, I always like to say Kendall's dream was big enough. She let me come with her.
Kerry Diamond:
That's beautiful.
Marjorie Taylor:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
Okay. So no business plan. How did they react to you two down there?
Kendall Smith Franchini:
Actually, it's an interesting question because we get that a lot, really nice people. Burgundy is very international, it's very small, it's traditional, yet international at the same time. It's very strange. And I think at first we started to explore the market a lot, because our whole goal was to really get involved with the artisan food producers. That was our whole mantra. And we knew because Burgundy is such a great wine region, it has really great farmers too. And so we kind of started off with that a little bit on the Saturday market. And they'd kind of get to know us, not really knowing why we were here, if we were here full time, what was going on, what we were doing.
And then we started the classes little by little in the apartment, and we started bringing people and then people were catching on like, "Okay, they've got people in tow."
Marjorie Taylor:
There's like ten people.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
"What's happening?" We've got full market baskets. Everyone has ingredients, but they didn't know where we were going, what we were doing with all these people and all this food. Just as the years went on and on and on, and then they started figuring it out, we opened the shop. And so it was kind of, I guess, awakening to really what The Cook's Atelier was. But everyone just in short was really supportive and really nice. It's a really great community.
Kerry Diamond:
One of these days I'm going to visit and come to Cook's Atelier.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
You should, you should.
Kerry Diamond:
I know I always have fun when I see you had Rebekah Peppler there.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
Yeah, it's-
Kerry Diamond:
And so many people love-
Kendall Smith Franchini:
... it's a great place. Any season is beautiful.
Kerry Diamond:
What is the town, how big a town is it?
Kendall Smith Franchini:
It's got about 25,000 people full time.
Marjorie Taylor:
It's a great location. It's about two and a half hours south of Paris, and you're in between Dijon and Lyon. But it's a very central location, which is really nice about Burgundy. So you could be pretty much anywhere very quickly. So it's a good base.
Kerry Diamond:
And how's your French now, Marjorie?
Marjorie Taylor:
It's still horrible.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh. But you get by.
Marjorie Taylor:
Well, obviously I'm not shy. And the point of the matter is I always like to say I speak food French and wine French, so I'm fine.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh my God. I might steal that. I speak food French. Exactly. I would like my food French to be even better though. Okay. So you decide you're going to do this, you start teaching classes up in the apartment. How does it grow and become a more full-fledged business?
Kendall Smith Franchini:
Well, obviously it kind of started off as something where let's make sure I don't get deported. My mom doesn't get deported throughout all of this. She's got to have a job here. And at the time I was working at Kermit Lynch. Kermit Lynch is the wine importer in America. Really great company. So I was lucky to have a little short experience working there. And I would help my mom on Saturdays during market day and we would do the cooking class together. It just started kind of snowballing. She ended up doing the first website. This is before Instagram, before there was iWeb. That's how I think the first-
Marjorie Taylor:
I did it. I can't turn off the flashlight. My grandson has to swipe.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
It was ridiculous, but it worked. And during the blogging days and all that kind of stuff, it just started kind of snowballing in word of mouth, and people would tell their friends and then people would come back. And so it just kind of carried on. And we did that for five years.
Marjorie Taylor:
We've never advertised ever, which is kind of funny. But what happened after five years is Kendall's husband Laurent said, "This is really adorable and really great, but maybe you need a shop."
Kerry Diamond:
Oh, that was his idea.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
Yeah. Well, and we had advice from friends who were like, "You guys kind are growing out of this." But we didn't want to lose that little feeling that we created the magical little spot. So we were kind of hesitant and it was a big jump and we're like, "Oh, are we ready for this? Should we do this?"
Marjorie Taylor:
What if everybody stops coming or they don't cook? But as soon as we saw the building and we're like, "You have to say yes. 'Cause if you don't say yes, you're going to regret it for the rest of your life." So we jumped into that project too.
Kerry Diamond:
So the building where the store is also where the cooking classes are?
Kendall Smith Franchini:
Yes.
Kerry Diamond:
Okay. And you have the whole building.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
Yes. And it was at that point then that Laurent decided to join the team, which was great too, because when we saw the building, it's perfectly compartmentalized. So you've got a space for the kitchen, the dining room, and then you have the shop, which is on the ground floor. And we're like, "Well, what are we going to do with the ground floor?" And Laurent's like, "Well, I'll do it. I can do a culinary job." He's originally in tourism, and I always say he's a very friendly Frenchman.
Kerry Diamond:
How did you two meet?
Kendall Smith Franchini:
Through mutual friends in Paris. And it wasn't the right time, but destiny intervened and eventually we ended up finally getting together. So yeah, that's when it kind of became that small family business that it is today.
Kerry Diamond:
And now you have three little ones and you have, well, not so little Lucas 14, he's going to be 14. And you have three grandchildren. How old is the youngest?
Kendall Smith Franchini:
Six.
Kerry Diamond:
Wow. And how has it been, I know things are different from working families over in France than here in the U.S. How has the experience been being a working mom over there?
Kendall Smith Franchini:
Well, I think it's just like anyone, any working mom anywhere, it's kind of the same feel. It's tricky. I mean, the kids get a lot of time off from school, so usually during times when we're really busy, so it's often a juggling act. But what's really great about it, they've just grown up there. After school, they come get their hot chocolate and-
Kerry Diamond:
They bring their friends.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
... say hi to the clients. Yeah, bring their friends. Sometimes he likes to help during the cooking classes. So it's good. It's good.
Kerry Diamond:
And how about for you being around your grandchildren as they grow up?
Marjorie Taylor:
That's amazing. Well, again, we never in our wildest dreams ever thought it would've turned into this, but the part I love the most now that I'm the grandma, grandma is the fact that it's been this small family business to watch it grow, watch it flourish, and everybody's involved. I always like to say, we're not a pyramid, we're a triangle. And we figure it out. Everybody has their place. We come back together, circle in. The big kids do a lot of help just because we want to expose them to that too. But I think it's really great too, to do it as a family and that they know we're all doing it together. They see us work and build it together. And I think it's good for the kids. I'm very proud of it. Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
Have you two become better business people through this process?
Kendall Smith Franchini:
I think so. I think when you obviously go through that, you do get better at certain things in certain areas. And I think we've, along the years, we've figured out what everyone is really good at. We didn't go into it knowing exactly what our roles would be completely, but after 17 years now, this is our 17th year.
Kerry Diamond:
It's amazing.
Marjorie Taylor:
Yeah, it's scary when you say that out loud.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
I know.
Kerry Diamond:
You did look shocked, Marjorie. How do you divide what everybody does? What do you do Kendall versus what you do Marjorie?
Kendall Smith Franchini:
Well, I basically now to my best ability, do a lot of the social media website stuff. Marge does a lot of the class scheduling, that kind of thing, emails back and forth with clients. And then for the cooking classes, we're just both in it.
Marjorie Taylor:
Both in there together, which is fun.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
And we do the shopping together and all that stuff. And then it's just during the cooking class, we're all in it together.
Marjorie Taylor:
And Laurent's in charge of all the red tape and he works the culinary boutique and all that stuff. So it's a lot. It's a lot. And it's gotten bigger than we ever thought. So it requires more management than when we were in the little apartment.
Kerry Diamond:
Do you have other instructors?
Marjorie Taylor:
No.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
We don't have-
Kerry Diamond:
It's still just the two of you?
Kendall Smith Franchini:
It's just us.
Kerry Diamond:
Wow. Okay. I'm assuming everyone who's listening wants to come and take a class, because I know I do. And the whole Cherry Bombe team wants to. What do you offer? Can you come for a day? Do you come for a week? What's on offer?
Marjorie Taylor:
What's on offer? Well, our favorite offering, which we love to teach to begin with that we do what we call a seasonal Burgundy Masterclass program, which is a five-day program. And it starts Monday. It goes Monday through Friday, first four days are at the boutique. And then the fifth day we go to the Woodland House, which is AKA Kendall and Laurent's house where they get to see the chickens and the garden and all this stuff that's evolved around that. And then we do the one-day program during the weeks that we don't do the five-day program.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
Which are really fun too. It's great to be able to offer both. So one-day program is nice for people who are just passing through and get a little taste of it. And then the five-day really is immersive and gets really into the seasonal and aspect of cooking.
Kerry Diamond:
And if you come for the five-day, where do you stay?
Marjorie Taylor:
We are very fortunate in Beaune that we have a lot of very nice hotels. We also have a lot of Airbnb-type apartment rentals. So we kind of recommend things and people choose their logic.
Kerry Diamond:
And is this year-round?
Kendall Smith Franchini:
Basically we start April and we go through November. Beaune is a sleepy little town in winter. So it's funny because when we first moved, we're like, "What's happening? Where are all the people?" It took a long time to get used to that, but now we actually really enjoy it because it's downtime a little bit. It's nice to have that. So it's basically April through November.
Kerry Diamond:
Okay. And how far in advance can people... Everyone listening is going to be like, "Is Kerry just booking her trip? She's just using this episode as an excuse to book her trip." How far in advance do you have to book?
Marjorie Taylor:
Well, what's currently happened, which this is the first year this has ever happened, but super exciting. We were fully booked for 2025 in January. Then we added two new programs and those quickly booked within two weeks. So 2025-
Kerry Diamond:
Congratulations. That's amazing.
Marjorie Taylor:
... is fully booked. And so we're taking reservations right now for 2026.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh my gosh. That's incredible.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
Good.
Kerry Diamond:
And do you have a fun little network with people who do similar things? Are you pals with Darina, who's at Ballymaloe Cookery School?
Kendall Smith Franchini:
We want to go, we're thinking about going in August and we know you've been, should ask you.
Marjorie Taylor:
Yeah, we definitely want to go for sure.
Kerry Diamond:
It's so beautiful in August. Oh my gosh.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
I bet it is.
Kerry Diamond:
The hydrangeas are so spectacular in August. Yeah, I always wondered, are these people all friends who do these things?
Kendall Smith Franchini:
I think we know of each other, yeah and we haven't always met each other, but yeah, we definitely know each other and kind of recommend each other here and there. And yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
And who are the students? All ages?
Marjorie Taylor:
All ages.
Kerry Diamond:
From all over?
Marjorie Taylor:
International. They come from everywhere, which is amazing.
Kerry Diamond:
More than just America.
Marjorie Taylor:
Oh yeah, absolutely. We have a lot of Australians, Canadians. We have people this year booked from Belgium. We have Saudi Arabians.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
A little bit everywhere.
Marjorie Taylor:
They're everywhere.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
It's very cool. And the thing is, you never know who you're going to join the program with, which is all part of the fun too. So it's kind of like everyone's coming together from different backgrounds, different life experiences, but you're coming together with a common goal of really enjoying it. Nice time around food and wine and it's fun.
Kerry Diamond:
I want to talk about your aesthetic because anyone who enjoys your books and who looks at your social media and your website is immediately struck by just how beautiful everything is. When you see the pictures of the store and the kitchens, even just the two of you walking to the farmer's market with those gorgeous baskets. I mean, you see the baskets and you're like, "Oh, I need one of those for my farmer's market trip." Where does that come from?
Marjorie Taylor:
It just developed, it's kind of funny because my mom was quite the collector. Kendall's much more of a minimalist, but I've always sort of been a little bit, "Well, if you need one jam pot, why not have 10? It's there, let's do it." So I've been kind of that sort of personality forever. And when Kendall was a kid, she would hate to go to the brocards and stuff like that.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
It's a kid thing.
Marjorie Taylor:
It's a kid thing. But as she got older, we kind of got into doing that together. It's sort of the things that I've collected over the years sort of found their place where they were supposed to be. And then being in France, that's everywhere.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
It's so easy to find. I mean, you just have to walk outside and it's just beautiful.
Marjorie Taylor:
Yeah, and our aesthetic, I think is really, we like things that last a long time. Obviously we're big on copper, we're big on creamy whites and stuff like that. What's fun about Kendall and Laurent's house, you call it the yin and the yang at the shop.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
It's different because the Atelier and Beaune is very white and bright. And the Woodland House, which is all in book two, is very nature-oriented. It's a lot of stone, a lot of iron, things like that. And so we kind of just complement places. They both complement each other, but they're totally different in a way. But it's kind of like we let the spaces speak for themselves too. And just the architecture there is so neat and beautiful. It's not hard to add to that and kind of make it aesthetically pleasing. And we want these places to feel warm and inviting. That's important.
Marjorie Taylor:
Well, and we actually got asked the question last night is like, "Who did the design?" Well, there is no design. It's just like, wow, let's put this here. And it's just in something that we just gravitate to depending on. One of our big projects we just did while we're still working on it's almost done, is the barn. So we are opening or starting a barn kitchen, which again, if you would've went back 17 years and said "One day your guys are going to have this beautiful barn kitchen in Burgundy," it would've been crazy. But that's the next thing. So that's really fun. So we have another teaching space there.
Kerry Diamond:
Do you think you'll add additional instructors?
Kendall Smith Franchini:
No.
Marjorie Taylor:
No.
Kerry Diamond:
No. Okay.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
We're going to tackle it all.
Kerry Diamond:
It's a lot of work for the two of you.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
It is-
Kerry Diamond:
More and more popular you get, I would imagine between the emails, the media requests, everything.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
It is. It is. I think it's important. You have to figure out where you can outsource in certain areas. And yeah, we're still figuring that out.
Marjorie Taylor:
We like the joy. We don't want to give that part up. And part of the fun, I think, for the guests that come is they're often surprised, well, this is the team. Sometimes Luke on Wednesday, if he doesn't have school, he's helping. But this is it. There's not a big backup. Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
Let's talk about food a little bit more 'cause I feel like all we talked about was gougère earlier. There's way more to it. The photos of the farmer's market in Beaune is unbelievable. What are some of the specialties of that region?
Kendall Smith Franchini:
Oh, there's so many good things. I mean, right about now, spring has sprung. It's beautiful. So we'll be getting white asparagus. Probably it's already started since we've left. Very good strawberries are on their way. Wild garlic, green garlic, just so many beautiful things.
Marjorie Taylor:
Well, in the market in Beaune, it's probably one of the most beautiful markets in France, and we're lucky it's all year. We have to admit, in winter you get a lot of root vegetables. But it's a beautiful market. And what's really nice about that specific market is it's still very authentic in the fact that the farmers themselves who are growing or producing the food, they're also selling the food. So it's not like you have a co-op situation. It's very real. So that part's really fun too.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
And we've gotten to know all the producers over the years, and so we go to this guy for certain things. And then this lady, she does this really well. So we kind of know when to go to which person at what point in the market. So it's fun to do. Saturdays never get dull.
Kerry Diamond:
The cheese photos always wow me.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
Yes.
Kerry Diamond:
Yes.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
Have a thing for the cheese. Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
Are there any cheese specialties of the region?
Kendall Smith Franchini:
Oh my gosh, there's so many. You have your famous Epoisses, which is the cheese and the little wooden-
Marjorie Taylor:
The classic stinky cheese.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
Yes. That you have to eat with a wooden spoon. It's just part of it. It's great. There's a Brie which they do with truffles, the Burgundy black truffle. You can get it without, but would you, what other ones do we have? There's so many good ones.
Marjorie Taylor:
Hess' Cheese.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
Hess' Cheese Delice de Pommard, which is, it's kind of like a creamy cow's milk cheese, and they take the grains of the mustard seeds and vinegar. So it's really got that Burgundian mustardy kick to it, little tang.
Marjorie Taylor:
And Jan's cheese.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
And we have a fabulous cheese maker, Jan. We profiled him in the first book, the Sheep Guy. Really nice younger guy. And he does his own sheep cheese, which has really gotten famous now in the area because all the fancy restaurants have it and stuff. So there's so many good ones.
Kerry Diamond:
Have you impacted the economy of Beaune?
Marjorie Taylor:
It's all building relationships and complementing each other for the community because that's what we really love. That's why we don't recommend one specific hotel, or we don't set that up. We're like, "Well, wow, would you like to stay? You can stay here. This is also very nice here." So I think that's been good. And especially as Americans coming and starting in an unmarked building, it's pretty amazing that they're like, "Thanks, this is really great." So that's fun.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
And even just with the restaurant community, which is tiny there, but it's great too, and just recommending all of those wonderful places to eat outside of their time with us, and it's a nice community to live in.
Marjorie Taylor:
Well, and I also think too, what's nice with the program, the classes that we do is you're not just visiting. You're kind of really in it because it's going to be fantastic or over here. And so they kind of get to meet the people through us in a more, I think a more-
Kerry Diamond:
It's more immersive.
Marjorie Taylor:
More immersive kind of way, which is nice.
Kerry Diamond:
Have you noticed in the 17 years you've been doing this, the farmers, the producers, the cheesemakers, the winemakers? Are young people being attracted to those professions in the region?
Kendall Smith Franchini:
I think, yeah. COVID we all had a really hard time obviously. We lost quite a few farmers at the market, which was really sad. But you see, every once in a while some new ones popping up. And I think what's really nice about France is you still have that market culture, which is still so strong, and we hope that never goes away, and that's why we say it's so important to go to the farmer's market and support those people because you don't want that to go away. I think we're really lucky to have that, and I hope more and more younger people do do that. But yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
That's such a great point. Just a good reminder that if you love those things, you have to support them. At Jubilee, we did a panel on independent restaurants, and it's the same thing. They're the lifeblood of every neighborhood, but if you don't support them, they do go away. Yes these are fragile things.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
Okay. Want to talk a little bit about each of you some more. What have you learned about yourselves in this process? This has been so adventurous.
Marjorie Taylor:
Oh.
Kerry Diamond:
I don't know if you look at it like that, but from the outside.
Marjorie Taylor:
Well, I think for me, first of all, if you would've told me even maybe a month before I was going to move to France, born and raised in Arizona, I was going to live and die, have French family and French grandchildren, I would've said, "You're completely mad." But I think what was really fun is for whatever crazy reason, I was willing to give it a shot. I think that gave me a lot of confidence. I think the fact that we've able to build this very unique and special brand that is so unique because you can't double it, because it's really about family and it's about us. That's been fun to see that that's actually, you stick with something long enough and you're going to... Like Kendall always says, there's no straight line to what you want. You just got to keep dodging and weaving. So I think that's been good. And I think for me, the grandma, the family thing has been huge. Having Kendall as a young mom and seeing Kendall and Laurent with their kids and their family, I mean, it just makes me so proud.
Kerry Diamond:
Yeah, we don't want to make you cry. Don't do it on air. But what's interesting, you share a pub day with Barbara Costello who is Brunch with Babs. I don't know if you saw the other books that came out on the same day as yours. A lot of special authors on the day that your book came out, the two of you included of course. Barbara was on the show a few months ago, and she has such an interesting story. Her daughter pushed her to go on TikTok and everything just took off for her. I think she had said that when she turned 50, she remembers looking in the mirror and thinking her best years were behind her and had no idea that in her 70s she would become this sort of grandma to the internet. So it's just such a powerful reminder that to just be bold and take chances.
Marjorie Taylor:
We have to be bold. And especially in my case I, and anybody who's younger than 50, I always say, it's going to get better. When you get to 50 it's everything. Right after 50, it gets better. You're in a different mindset, and then you get a step back and kind of observe and wow, we accomplished this. This was great.
Kerry Diamond:
Kendall, how has it changed you?
Kendall Smith Franchini:
I think just in general, just realizing you don't have to have all the answers. I was always thinking you have to have things figured out and-
Kerry Diamond:
Before you-
Kendall Smith Franchini:
... have a path. But no, you just, sometimes you just got to jump and just trust that your instinct is right and that if you follow it it'll lead you to the right moments and the right opportunities. And I think that's a good lesson for anybody.
Kerry Diamond:
We always ask the guests if they're good at trusting their guts, and it sounds like you definitely are.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
I think we're pretty good at that. Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
Yeah. Do either of you have a motto or a mantra?
Marjorie Taylor:
Well, we kind of have a funny one together. We always say "Spread the joy, the butter's optional," 'cause we use a lot of butter.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
It's true.
Kerry Diamond:
Since you two have to be over at William Sonoma to see your fans who all want to meet you, we'll just do the last question on the speed round. If you had to be trapped on a desert island with one food celebrity, who would it be and why?
Marjorie Taylor:
Stanley Tucci.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
Oh, that's a good one. Thanks.
Kerry Diamond:
Tell us why.
Marjorie Taylor:
Well, just first of all, I just think he's absolutely adorable and I just like his whole, he just seems so real and so full of life. I just think he looks like an amazing guy.
Kerry Diamond:
And you'd have cocktail hour every night. It would be fabulous.
Marjorie Taylor:
Yes, he makes a martini. I love that.
Kerry Diamond:
That would be perfect.
Marjorie Taylor:
It'd be perfect, wouldn't it?
Kerry Diamond:
Yeah.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
That's a hard one. I need to think about that for a minute. Everyone says Julia, right?
Kerry Diamond:
I mean, the number one answer is probably Ina.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
Really?
Kerry Diamond:
Followed by Anthony Bourdain.
Marjorie Taylor:
Oh wow. I was thinking, Anthony, you could have said Alice too.
Kerry Diamond:
She's lovely.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
Yeah, Alice is pretty good.
Kerry Diamond:
Yeah. You get a lot of information from her.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
Maybe Alice. I think so.
Kerry Diamond:
Alice Waters.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
Alice Waters. Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
Tell us why.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
I just think she's inspirational and everybody knows she is, and she's done some pretty great things, I think.
Marjorie Taylor:
Well, and she's also done so many great things about the sort of thing that we talk about all the time, because even as a really young person in me, I mean poor Kendall had to listen to all that stuff forever. I was obsessed with that stuff, which kind of formed how we cook, even before we were doing it professionally. You know what I mean? Yeah. I think we've always been excited about that.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
And just obviously people who have so much wisdom, you want to be able to be around that and learn from that too.
Kerry Diamond:
So Marge is looking to have a good time on the island and Kendall you're-
Kendall Smith Franchini:
And I'm looking for-
Kerry Diamond:
... looking for more educational.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
Exactly. Hats, different phases.
Marjorie Taylor:
Sums everything up. You've just met the co-founders of The Cook's Atelier.
Kerry Diamond:
I love it. Well, thank you both so much. I hope the next time I see you is in Beaune.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
We do too.
Marjorie Taylor:
We hope so. Bientot.
Kendall Smith Franchini:
Bientot.
Kerry Diamond:
That's it for today's show. Thank you to Cartolina for their support, and to Marjorie and Kendall for stopping by. If you enjoy this episode, check out past shows with a few folks who are mentioned on this episode, like Alice Waters and Brunch with Babs. Our theme song is by the band Tralala. Joseph Hazan is the studio engineer at Newsstand Studios. Our producers are Catherine Baker, Jenna Sadhu, and our editorial coordinator is Sophie Kies. Thanks for listening, everybody. You are the Bombe.