Meet Laurel Martin | Chef and Purveyor of Small Batch, Handcrafted Spice Blends and Gourmet Foods

We had the good fortune of connecting with Laurel Martin and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Laurel, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I have always been intrigued by the thought of starting my own business, but it was really Covid that forced me to finally take the leap. I was the Director of Land-Based Food & Beverage at Catalina Express, running the restaurants in both the San Pedro and Long Beach ferry terminals, when Covid forced us to shutter my restaurants in March 2020. By June 2020 it became clear that the company wasn’t going to be reopening the land-based food service operations any time soon, so my entire department (which had been furloughed for months at that point) got laid off. I had started A Bite of Good as a blog to keep myself busy during the shut down, but now I needed a job. I definitely wasn’t comfortable jumping right back in to the restaurant industry with the pandemic still raging, so I did some research into what kind of food business I could operate out of my own home. I’ve always made my own spice blends, so I decided to get my Cottage Food Operator license and see if I could make a go of it. What started as a lineup of maybe a dozen small batch, handcrafted spice blends that I manufactured out of my home kitchen and sold at my local farmers market has grown into a lineup of over three dozen spice blends as well as cocktail infusion kits, hot cocoa mixes, and various other small batch and seasonal gourmet items. I still make everything by hand in small batches, grinding most of the spices myself, and sourcing local ingredients whenever possible, but I now manufacture everything in a commercial kitchen space and am licensed to sell not only direct to consumers nationwide but also to retailers and restaurants. It has been quite the journey.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My professional career certainly has not traveled on a straight trajectory. As I prepared to graduate college with a double major in Dramatic Arts and Italian Cultural Studies (ah, liberal arts), I knew I wanted to continue my education but decided it was probably time to study something more “practical” than Second Wave Feminism in Italian Theater (yep, that was what my senior thesis was about). So I took the LSAT, got into Berkeley Law School, passed the California Bar, and got myself a job at a big, well-respected law firm in West LA, where I was a litigator for just short of six years. Everything was going fine, but I wasn’t what anyone could possibly call “happy,” so instead of doubling down and going for partnership at my law firm, I quit and went to culinary school. I had always loved cooking and thought I’d maybe go into catering. But as I was getting ready to graduate from culinary school, I found out that the owner of Catalina Express was opening a new terminal in San Pedro and had built a fabulous little kitchen. I pitched him on taking a chance and offering a more gourmet food experience to his ferry passengers as a way to really kick off their Catalina experience, and I suddenly had an Executive Chef job. I took over the Long Beach restaurants the next year, and I am really proud of what I did there and of the food we served. Now that I am on my own I recognize how incredible that experience was and am really grateful for the opportunity and for the confidence it gave me to jump into something even when I pretty much had no idea what I was doing.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Well, my best friend and I grew up in Avalon on Catalina Island, so we would definitely have to spend at least a couple of days there, catching up with old friends and hitting all the old haunts. It’s amazing how many people I encounter that have never visited Catalina. There is literally something for everyone there.

Here in San Pedro, we would definitely start each day with a nice hike or walk. I live out on Point Fermin, and I am so incredibly grateful to live in such a gorgeous place with so much access to the outdoors. We love to hike around the White Point Nature Preserve or one of the other incredible trails maintained by the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy, and there’s nothing better than a walk along Paseo del Mar or around Cabrillo Marina.

Chances are there would be a small business pop up somewhere in town, so we would definitely stop by and support some of my favorite local small businesses, and even if there weren’t a pop up happening, we would spend some time bopping around Downtown San Pedro. There are so many cool little shops and restaurants down there.

As for food, we would definitely get burritos from The Choriman, pastries from Colossus Bakery, wine from 5Pours, cheese from Oh La Vache (in Long Beach), and seafood from Great American Seafood Market. Talk about a great picnic. We would probably get dinner one night at Compagnon Bistro and spend another night at Brouwerij West (hopefully eating Miller Butler Pizza).

If she is here on a weekend I wouldn’t let her leave without a stroll through Crafted, and we might pop in to the Maritime Museum. Right now, I’d show her the plans for the new West Harbor development, and in a few years I’ll have an even bigger list of my favorite things to do in San Pedro.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Oh, this is an easy one. First is my husband, Michael. Without his constant support and encouragement I would basically be in a puddle on the floor most of the time. He calls himself my Chief Tasting Officer, but he is so much more than that. He works every event with me even though it often means he doesn’t get his own days off, and there has not been a single moment in which he has discouraged me from going after an opportunity or suggested that this is just some sort of hobby. I keep saying I’m going to pare down the number of spice blends I make, and he just laughs and adds another spice rack to the wall. I honestly could not do life without him, let alone run this business.

Second is Melissa Hay (of Homemade by the Hays) and the community of local female entrepreneurs she has curated and to which I am honored to belong. Through the small business pop up events she organizes, this amazing collection of local small business owners has come together in an incredible way to support, encourage, and mentor each other. San Pedro is a great place to be a small business owner because there is such support for shopping local and shopping small, but it is even better feeling like you’re not alone even though you’re an entrepreneur. We might all have different types of businesses (spices vs. candles vs. jewelry vs. you-name-it), but we are all women trying to figure out how to run a business, and the sense of community has been incredible.

Website: www.abiteofgood.com

Instagram: @abiteofgood

Facebook: @abiteofgood