Sarah Clark, Bay Gourmet Catering and Crown Hall, Mobile

Regardless of the pursuit, talent, passion, intelligence, and perseverance are a winning combination. Sarah Clark, owner/operator of Bay Gourmet and the Crown Hall Events Space at the corner of Broad Street and Dauphin Street in Mobile, has these qualities in spades.

Linda and I, with two close Mobile friends whom we don’t often see, recently attended a wine pairing event hosted by Sarah at The Crooked Crown, one of the event bar and dining rooms at Crown Hall. We had a fabulous time, and the food and wine pairings were outstanding.

Sarah’s story is interesting, with lots of twists and turns. She was born in Holland, Michigan, where her father owned the Crazy Horse Saloon, which at the time was the largest distributor of Miller Lite on tap in the United States for three straight years, He also owned a steakhouse and a Dairy Freeze at the same time. 

One day, he decided to enroll in a Seminary. He was accepted on his third attempt and graduated from Western Theological Seminary when Sarah was in the 6th Grade, and he accepted a position at a church in Mobile. Sarah graduated high school, attended Auburn, and earned her BS Degree in Criminology in 1996.

She married soon after graduation and moved to Hyde Park, New York, to attend the Culinary Institute of America. “It’s in my blood,” she says. “It was always tugging on me. I love to cook and entertain.” In Michigan, Sarah had grown up on farmland. “Farm to table is what we did. There was nothing unusual or novel about it in our family. We talked about it at dinner, and was easy to embrace.”

Sarah and her husband couldn’t find weekend jobs in the restaurant industry in the Hudson River area of upstate New York. “It’s a tourist destination in summer, but it’s absolutely dead in winter. By then, my parents had moved to take a church on Long Island, and we would travel there on weekends to work at Pazzo, an Italian restaurant owned by a Greek family and run by Hispanic kitchen staff.” 

An interesting side note, while in New York, Sarah’s mother, also a minister, became the head of Women’s Ministries in NYC and worked in human trafficking at the United Nations. Both of Sarah’s parents are currently Presbyterian ministers in Mobile.

Sarah says, “There is an unbelievable concentration of wealth on Long Island. If you are going to cut your teeth in the restaurant business, there is no more effective place than New York. These customers are the real deal. They know their food and can’t be fooled. If you aren’t the real deal, you aren’t going to make it.”

Sarah and her husband decided to move back to Mobile, and eventually, the family filtered back. Her sister, Dr. Jennifer Clark, is a Ph.D. cancer research doctor at the Mitchell Cancer Center. Her brother, Stuart Clark, is currently working with Paul Davis Restoration.

Sarah went to work with Armbrecht Jackson Law Firm for eight years as a paralegal utilizing her criminology degree. She took her LSAT and had been accepted to attend The University of Alabama School of Law when she finally decided that wasn’t what she wanted to do. She cashed in her 401K and bought a catering kitchen. “My dad was horrified.”

She started taking odd catering jobs. It took a while to develop the concept and the menu. “I didn’t want my name on it because every other catering business in Mobile already did that - I wanted something people could remember,” she says. “I started experimenting with different regional and ethnic cuisines, never stuck to a set menu. More ideas emerged, differentiating us from other catering operations, and still does.”

“It was trial by fire. Straight from the skillet to the frying pan.” She started off by booking a wedding for 400 people. Then the Mothers of Mystics (MOMs) wanted her to cater their Mardi Gras Ball for a thousand guests within three months of opening the business. “We made it work.” 

Two years later, Bay Gourmet took over the Silver Ladle kitchen space at the Loop, stepped into the existing staff already there, and was off to the races. “It was perfect.” Candy Simmons has been with Sarah from the beginning. “She taught me a lot about dealing with clients and executing parties and events.” 

She goes on, “Catering is not easy. Going into strangers’ homes, they’re nervous. Candy would always tell me, 'Kill them with kindness. Kill them with kindness. Kill them with kindness.' I couldn’t have made it without Candy in those early years.”

In 2018, Sarah began looking for an event space and wanted a liquor license. “I saw I was losing a lot of potential revenue.” She bought out her partner and signed a lease at the old Red Cross building that was undergoing renovation at Dauphin and Broad Streets. “When I first walked into the building, I said, 'this is it', and stopped looking.”

Bay Gourmet continued operating at the Loop location while the new space was being prepared. “Everything had to be rebuilt. It was raw, and I had the opportunity to create exactly what I wanted.” The 6,300 sf space has one big room where everyone can be together. “It’s not chopped up. I didn’t want to lose the energy.” 

Crown Hall is the larger event space, with a bridal suite upstairs, and there are two other smaller areas, The Crooked Crown (2,800 sf) with a bar area and dining space, and Crown on Broad (2,000 sf) available for sit-down dinners, parties and gatherings for up to 200 people. 

The 2,000 sf kitchen is designed to handle both on-site and offsite events. “We lack nothing and can handle multiple events simultaneously. I wanted to ensure we had accommodations for all types and sizes of gatherings. I wanted plenty of onsite parking to accommodate any event.”

Off-site catering is still Bay Gourmet’s bread and butter. They are fully insured to offer off-site bartending at any event legally. “We can handle anything,” says Sarah. We can handle up to three weddings a weekend.”

Sarah opened Crown Hall in June 2019 and hosted their first wedding later that month and another in July. They had been open for eight months and had just opened The Crooked Crown Bar in time for their first Mardi Gras when Covid hit around Ash Wednesday. “The struggle was real,” says Sarah.

“I had people that had worked with me all these years, and they all had the deer-in-the-headlights look. I just decided I wasn’t sending anyone home.” Sarah and her team did as much Gourmet-to-Go as possible and tried to survive with everyone intact. “And we made it!”

Sarah says they kept everyone aware through social media. “The community support was huge. It kept everyone’s morale up. It was difficult, but even Mayor Stimpson stopped by to offer encouragement and asked what he could do to help.”

It was at least a year and a half before things returned to normal. “We had brides that picked three different dates for their wedding; the backlog was unreal. Once the pandemic restrictions were lifted, everyone was ready to gather again, and everyone was ready to go back to work. We had the best year ever after we reopened!”

What’s next? “We have the MOMs here for their 75th anniversary this year. We are beginning to host more ticketed wine dinners, which have been great. We get to step out a bit and try new things on our menu. Food changes, and that’s what I love about it. New food offerings allow us to show what we can do, and we are getting great feedback from guests.”

Sarah’s goal is to have Restaurant Night several times each week. The Crown on Broad room is being readied. “Everything is back,” she says. “We couldn’t promote our business for so long because we are a 'gathering place'.” 

“Many people haven’t seen or know about us yet. The ticketed wine events bring people in, and they are experiencing what we are and what we can do. Jayme Richburg, our chef for 12 years, has come into his own. He has tremendous talent and executes beautifully.”

For the record, the Wine Tasting & Food Pairing featuring Moet & Chandon was superb. We had a blast being with our friends, seeing many familiar faces, enjoying terrific food and wine pairings, and learning about what was being served and poured. Everyone enjoyed themselves, and we can’t wait to attend the next one.

We think Sarah and her staff do a wonderful job entertaining, and with the new space, it's the perfect venue to host any gathering that suits your fancy. Give Sarah a call, or stop by Crown Hall to look around. Also, sign up for her recipe blog for great ideas. You will be impressed!