These Mother-Daughter Restaurant Owners Share the Importance of Food and Family

There's something undeniably special about the bond between mothers and daughters. Whether she was there to motivate you to keep going, provided a shoulder to cry on when times got tough, or has just remained a steadfast anchor in your life, moms have a seemingly infinite well of compassion whenever we need her the most. And sometimes, your mom becomes more than a mom—maybe even a business partner! Just look at Ree Drummond and her daughters Alex and Paige. During the pandemic, Ree's kids have been filming The Pioneer Woman, with Alex and Paige taking over the reins as camerawomen.

Stretching your mother-daughter relationship into a professional one takes strength, courage, and trust. And where better to do that than a restaurant? That's why we spoke with mother-daughter restaurant owners who turned their love and passion for food into a family business. These women discuss how fulfilling their dreams and building a restaurant became possible because they did it together. The experience has also allowed them to share recipes with the world that are important to their family.

Maybe all those hours you've spent in the kitchen together could turn into something magical one day—it certainly did for these mother-daughter duos!

Catherine and Rachel from Le Garage in Brooklyn, New York

Catherine and her daughter Rachel teamed up to open their French restaurant, Le Garage, in 2016. They serve French-inspired cuisine at their fancy-casual eatery in Bushwick, Brooklyn, focusing on seasonal dishes and locally-sourced ingredients. The two combined their skillsets—Rachel, an interior designer and Catherine, a French restauranteur—to create a delightful dining experience.

Sharon and Lexis from Lady Lexis Sweets in Harlem, New York

Lexis set out to create Lady Lexis Sweets, which opened its doors in East Harlem in 2013, with the help and support of her mom Sharon. They serve a variety of sweet and savory dishes, which features a fusion of Southern and Puerto Rican cuisines and family-favorite recipes. You'll find sweets like Benne Seed Cookies and Besitos de Coco as well as main courses like Chicken Purloo and Pulled Pernil on their menu.

Giovanna and Gia from Cafe Gia in Baltimore, Maryland

Giovanna and her daughter Gia's family has been in Baltimore for over 60 years since emigrating from Sicily in 1953. With a great appreciation for Sicilian cuisine, food always played a crucial role in the family. In 2016, the pair decided to buy an old neighborhood diner and turn it into Cafe Gia in Baltimore's Little Italy. They serve Italian favorites in the cozy confines of their eatery that they've transformed to mimic a Sicilian bistro.

On building the restaurant together:

Catherine from Le Garage: "We know each other so well, that all the chaotic moments always ended with a nice meal, a glass of wine, and big smiles on our faces! The day we opened was such a relief—Ouf! as we French say!"

Sharon from Lady Lexis Sweets: "Making and developing the recipes was the easy part but then there's the business side of it, the back-end work, which can be time consuming and hard. The idea of creating a food establishment was scary but in the end, it was well worth it."

Gia from Cafe Gia: "We built our restaurant on a vision wanting to recreate a little slice of Sicily in Baltimore's Little Italy. Our inspiration came from the desire to offer the same kind of homestyle cooking we were so fortunate to savor in my grandmom Rosa's kitchen."

On working together:

Rachel from Le Garage: "We both have a love of food, as we both love making guests feel at home. We respect each other’s place without any doubt: her in kitchen and me in the dining room. It gave me confidence to go forward and realize that my instincts were on point—being a ‘boss’ for the first time and managing employees is not an easy task."

Sharon from Lady Lexis Sweets: "The most surprising lesson that I have learned from my daughter is her insightfulness and her knowledge about food. I am an old-fashioned cook, no measuring for me, very little precision, but Lexis is meticulous in her recipe development and a perfectionist in her craft."

Giovanna from Cafe Gia: "The most important thing my daughter brings [to the restaurant] is her engaging personality, positive energy, and motivation to stay relevant and current."

On what their family has taught them about food:

Rachel from Le Garage: "I grew up with a mother who had many restaurants, so food is part of me. My first experience was when I was a baby and my mother was breastfeeding me (not that I remember!) while she was flipping crepes in her first restaurant Le Mistral in San Fransisco back in the '70s. Being a restauranteur is therefore second nature to me and it just came naturally!"

Sharon from Lady Lexis Sweets: "The biggest connection has been the sharing of family recipes that my grandmother and mother used to make. I was able to show my daughter how to make all the food that I was raised on."

Gia from Cafe Gia: "My upbringing was centered around my grandmother’s kitchen or her garden. Our type of regional cuisine is very simple but robust in flavor with fresh ingredients from the garden or the sea. Having traveled to Sicily dozens of times growing up, sharing my culinary experiences through the restaurant has kept those memories alive."

On their favorite food memory:

Lexis from Lady Lexis Sweets: "There are so many memories and so many good stories to share, but if I had to choose one moment or one memory to remember, it would be when we were featured on Channel 7 for my Rum Raisin Cookies and my mother’s Charleston Bread Pudding. It was one of the best moments—me and my mom on television sharing something as simple as cooking and sharing our recipes with the world."

Giovanna from Cafe Gia: "Our favorite memories are the new relationships we make with our guests. We’ve met extraordinary people who travel the globe to get treatment at local hospitals, students relocating to attend a nearby university, annual conventioneers, or tourists who make their way through our neighborhood and find their way to our Ristorante. Sharing our lives with our guests—many of whom have turned into friends—is priceless."