Success seems to be in the making for the new food shop coming to town, Mary’s Kitchen. How could it not be, given the roster of investors and backers behind the gourmet shop opening early December at Malibu Creek Shopping Center: Whoopi Goldberg, David and Linda Foster, John Mellencamp and mega manager Howard Bernstein are just a few of the heavyweight Malibuites behind the store.
But success and popularity take much more than money. They take the goods. Good goods. Good foodie-loving goods.
And from the history behind Mary Spellman’s (the Mary of Mary’s Kitchen) cooking, it looks like the goods may be here for Malibuites.
Mary and Don Spellman hail from the east coast, the Hamptons precisely, where they operated one of the most popular food stores around, taking in about $1 million in sales in a period of only three months, according to Bill Miller, one of their fans from back east. In fact, Miller is the main impetus behind the opening of Mary’s in Malibu.
“I’ve been a foodie all my life,” said Miller.
Miller, who lived in New York and spent summers in the Hamptons, frequented the Sagaponack General Store as a customer. The store was so popular that lines of people would be waiting out the door for service, with cars backing up on the main road.
“I got tired of waiting in line one day,” said Miller. “So, I got behind the counter and started working.”
That’s how he met the Spellmans
Mary met her husband Don when he worked as a life guard on the beach. After just a year, they married. Growing up in Sagaponack, Mary knew all the people who frequented the 100-year-old general store, half of which served as a post office.
“Don went to ask to take over the store,” said Mary. “We bought the business.”
They started out selling only dry goods, and “little by little we built it up,” explained Mary.
The secret behind Mary’s popular cooking — her mom. Her mother, Genevieve Szczepankowski, started a boarding house when her husband decided to buy a farm.
Her mother operated the boarding house for 45 years, serving outside guests to the Hamptons. Mary and her sisters helped out, serving during the summer.
“Mom loved to cook,” said Mary. “[She is] who I owe it all to.”
Her mother taught her how to cook everything from meat loaf and chicken pot pies, to her famous dessert pies — especially the apple.
And the apple is where it all started here in Malibu for Mary, Don, and Miller and his companion Judith Haenel.
Miller, who has worked in the music business as a tour manager, moved to Malibu two years ago after 20 years of off-and-on visiting. One evening, the Fosters came over to his place for dinner.
“I baked a pie using Mary’s recipe,” said Miller. “David came running asking, ‘Who made the apple pie?’ “
Foster loved the pie so much he said, ” ‘Why don’t we go into the pie business?’ ” said Miller.
“It was incredible,” said Foster.
Miller told Foster about the concept behind Mary’s store, and Foster was enthusiastic about the idea, saying there was nothing like that in Malibu, something so “homey.” Miller then presented a formal, well, somewhat formal, proposal — he made a Compact Disc with a sexy woman’s voice talking about what they don’t have in Malibu, specialty foods presented in a homey, corner market. Foster was in.
“I helped steer him [Miller] to other people,” said Foster of investors, some of whom also include Gary Ashley, president of AMR, and his wife, Donna, and Alan Grubman, entertainment attorney for such music makers as Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel. Mellencamp was a customer of the store in the Hamptons.
These people invested because of “their civic feeling about this place [Malibu],” said Miller.
Foster backed this assessment, “Most got involved because, A, Malibu needed something like this, and B, they wanted something like this for themselves.”
“There’s a camaraderie between the investors,” said Foster. “We’re very happy with the arrangement. Nobody wanted to jump in by themselves. It’s fun to be in a family of investors.”
“I’m really excited about it,” said Linda Foster. “Who doesn’t love to eat? I’ve tasted their food. The food is just amazing.”
Bernstein, who said he and his wife try to shop locally whenever they can, has had a taste of what’s to come.
“We’ve had their pies, and they’re absolutely incredible,” he said.
One point Bernstein made is that the prices are reasonable.
Miller convinced Don to come out to Malibu to look for a place to open up the new business a year ago. With only a 100-day season for the store in the East, and tired of the cold weather, it was easy to talk him into it. Later Mary and their children, Genevieve, 16, and Johnathan, 12, followed.
“The adjustment [to Malibu] has been hard,” said Mary, “but it’s a beautiful place.”
The people have been great. It’s so nice to come to a place that’s so welcoming.”
Mary said the store will be serving “anything concerning food.”
Soups, chili, deli items, meatloaf, ham, salads, fresh turkey and a coffee bar serving Pete’s coffee, a bakery with fresh bread from La Brea Breads, as well as imported cheeses, fresh produce and appetizers will be available. For the cheeses, expert Amber Michelle, who calls herself the “cheese lady,” was hired. And for those who are too tired or hurried to cook their own fresh meals, homemade entrees can be ordered to pick up on the way home from work. They also plan to offer catering, especially for the holidays.
“We’re big on holidays,” said Mary.
And, of course, the famous pies will be sold.
“There’s nothing like a Mary’s pie,” affirmed Miller and Haenel.
“We’re not trying to compete with Ralphs or How’s,” explained Mary. “They do what they do, we do what we do. It’s comfort food.”