Page 12 - BusinessWest July 11, 2022
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 possible addition to the collection.
There are works of fiction placed in one small
section, but the rest — much like Ekus’s career, and that of her daughter, Sally Ekus, now a part- ner in this venture — are devoted to food and cooking. The volumes are carefully cataloged and arranged by various subjects, meaning everything from food types to geographic regions, authors to individual countries; she recently added two vol- umes on Polish cuisine.
“There were agencies that did book PR. But we really honed
in on chefs, cookbooks, food companies, and understanding the evolution and growth of what was happening on a very vast global stage.”
The library, like her work to create what have come to be known as ‘culinary celebrities,’ is a passion.
“It’s all organized physically, it goes around the globe by country, and then it goes through our country by region,” she told BusinessWest. “And there’s specialty, single subjects — soup, health and diet, wine ... you name it. I’ve read maybe 75% of them and I’ve touched them all in some way.”
When asked what makes a book worthy of
placement in the library, Sally answered for her mother. “It has to be ... unique.”
That’s a word that could, and should, also be applied to this busi- ness, formerly known
as the Lisa Ekus Group, but changed recently to reflect Sally’s more promi- nent role. Indeed, there are few companies like this anywhere, and prob- ably only one in a rural setting like Hatfield. And while the library does a good job of conveying its growth and presence, it doesn’t ... well, tell the full story — pun very much intended.
To fully understand, we need to visit other rooms of the house, which is adjacent to the com- pany’s offices and plays a huge role in day-to-day activity.
Like the dining room and its massive table. Here, Lisa Ekus has hosted literally thousands of people for dinner over the years, including culinary celebrities such as Julia Child, Emeril Lagasse, and countless others.
Or the nearby kitchen, which doubles as a TV studio where many of these same chefs have mas- tered the fine art of cooking for a television audi- ence, a business niche that the Ekus Group has cultivated over the years.
Or the large side porch that Ekus added on the
Sally Ekus, left, with her mother and business partner, Lisa Ekus.
property several years ago. Here, she does more entertaining with those who have become celeb- rities and those who want to gain that status.
Or the Airbnb that she recently opened with the appropriate name Cooks Chateau. As the pandemic has eased and leisure and business travel have returned, she has booked the space for the next several months, and projects that it will eventually become a solid profit center.
Together, these spaces in the Ekus home speak to a hugely successful business, one that contin- ues to add new lines to its recipe for success, such asavirtual“HowtoWriteaCookbook” course
          12 JULY 11, 2022
WOMEN IN BUSINESS
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