Long before Maison Intimate Catering became a personal chef and intimate catering business serving clients from Virginia to Philadelphia and beyond, Chef Stacia Epps was fresh out of culinary school with big plans and an idea inspired thousands of miles from home.
Epps, who attended Walnut Hill College in Philadelphia, spent the final three months of college completing an externship in France. She became enamored with the hospitality, agriculture and pride surrounding food, from the ingredients themselves to the experience of gathering around the table.
One particularly simple meal stayed with her. Each morning, an older woman made soft cheese using fresh milk, honey and salt and served it on bread.
“One of the best bites of my life,” Epps said. “How simple is this and we need this.”
The experience made Epps wonder why that same appreciation for local food couldn’t be cultivated back home in Harford County. About 13 years ago, Maison Intimate Catering was born.
Its beginnings, however, looked different from the business Epps operates today. Her first restaurant job had been as a busgirl at The Bayou, although she desperately wanted to be in the kitchen. Later experiences included fine dining and working at a Haverford, Pennsylvania, club where produce and herbs were picked from the garden and brought directly into the kitchen.
After culinary school, Epps initially imagined Maison Intimate Catering through the lens of fine dining.
“At first, I thought that everyone wanted to eat foie gras and caviar,” she said. “And at the time, they did not.”
Instead, some of her earliest fans discovered Epps through breakfast sandwiches at the Havre de Grace Farmers Market. She made bacon and sausage from scratch, developing the flavors that eventually had customers lining up for her Hog Wild sandwich.
During the pandemic, Carl, owner of Concord Point Coffee, provided a space for Epps to continue selling the sandwiches. A bright pink pen purchased on sale became another unexpected part of the story, making the business recognizable around town as “Maison with the pink pen.”
Those humble beginnings eventually grew into personal chef services, cooking classes, intimate catering and special culinary experiences. Along the way, Epps developed an even greater understanding of seasonality and how to preserve local ingredients as jams, compotes and syrups so clients could enjoy their flavors beyond the growing season.
Today, local sourcing remains central to Maison Intimate Catering, with as much as 80% of its ingredients sourced locally during the summer.
“I think it challenges me. To practice what you preach,” Epps said.
For Epps, farm-to-table cooking means knowing the people behind the ingredients. It can mean visiting newborn pigs or a new calf, talking directly with a butcher or understanding why a farmer may not be able to grow something that season.
“It’s real relationships that you build,” she said. “It’s important because they’re small businesses.”
Those relationships are showcased through Maison Intimate Catering’s Field to Feast dinners at Gridiron Hill Farm. Held monthly, the experiences invite guests onto the farm for tours, bonfires and meals highlighting its heritage-breed animals and locally grown produce. Upcoming dinners are scheduled for October 4 and 24, with the latter featuring a Brothers Grimm theme.
“I like to do fine dining in a way that feels like home,” Epps said.
That sense of comfort matters as much to her as what appears on the plate. Epps recalled a guest becoming emotional during a farm dinner because a dish reminded them of someone they loved.
“Those things matter in a busy world today,” she said.
Epps also credits the growth of Maison Intimate Catering to learning that entrepreneurship cannot be a solo endeavor. Her husband, Bryan Stansbury, left his job to become her right hand in the business, while her parents have remained trusted sounding boards. The team, aside from Stansbury, is entirely female, and Epps also makes a point to work with other women-owned businesses.
“You can’t do this alone,” she said. “Adding on team members was the best thing I’ve ever done.”
She has also learned that every role matters.
“Whoever is washing dishes is the most important person that night,” she said.
Thirteen years into Maison Intimate Catering, Epps is still looking ahead. She hopes to continue growing Field to Feast, eventually expanding the farm experience with a barn, additional produce and a full event venue. Her larger dream is for the business to someday purchase land and establish a rehabilitation farm supporting people transitioning from incarceration and women leaving domestic abuse situations.
But wherever Maison Intimate Catering goes next, Epps intends to keep learning.
“The moment you feel as a chef you know it all, that’s your biggest downfall,” she said. “Humble yourself, you don’t know it all.”
I like to do fine dining in a way that feels like home.