Waldo County restaurant phenom urges fellow entrepreneurs to start small
Photo / Renee Cordes
Erin French, left, of the Lost Kitchen in Freedom, chats on stage with Quincy Hentzel, CEO of the Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce, Wednesday evening at Aura in Portland.
When Erin French opened the Lost Kitchen in the Waldo County town of Freedom more than six years ago, she envisioned a little place with English muffins, coffee and WiFi.
After seeing it evolve into today's go-to dining hotspot with far more reservations than it can accommodate, French is glad she started small — and urges fellow entrepreneurs to do the same.
French spoke of how she started the business as a supper club in her apartment, borrowing equipment and furniture from friends. Today at what's now a 48-seat restaurant in a renovated historic mill, she says she has the liberty to hone little things and "keep making it better.”
“At the end of the day I own it, it's all mine," she told a crowd of about 300 people gathered Wednesday evening at Aura in Portland, at the Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce Kegs & Issues event.
French was interviewed on stage by Chamber CEO Quincy Hentzel, who shared her own experience at the restaurant and showed slides. Hentzel described the venue as "casual, cozy and elegant,” and said a vegetarian in her party even ate bone marrow, because "we will eat whatever Erin puts on the table."
Many in the crowd raised their hands when asked whether they had also been to French's seasonal establishment, open from May to October. They were far outnumbered by those who have tried for reservations with handwritten postcards, one attendee putting a reminder in her phone calendar during the talk.
French, profiled by the New York Times in August 2017 and numerous other national publications, explained they switched from telephone reservations to the postcard lottery system because of the overwhelming number of calls, saying that "it got to the point of survival."
Today, she likens the big mail haul every April to "Valentines on steroids" and says it's an annual ritual the team has come to relish.
"It's almost become a spring celebration for our staff," she said.
French also said that while she wouldn't open a restaurant in Portland, she believes the Lost Kitchen “can shine wherever it is," and gave a shout-out to her home state for the opportunity to do what she loves.
"There's no way I could do what I do without Maine," she said.
French says she spends all winter working on new dishes and ideas for the restaurant, and that early March marks the start of planning and preparation for the next season. That's when 16-hour days are the norm, though she always takes her son's birthday off no matter what.
While she hopes to keep running the restaurant as long as it's fun, she's also working on other projects.
That includes her memoirs, due to come out next year about "a lot of crap that happened in a short amount of time," and a pilot for a documentary-style TV show awaiting the green light.
Charity raffle raises $700
Through a raffle of cookbooks signed by French and other items, the Chamber raised about $700 at Wednesday's event for the Locker Project, a local nonprofit that helps ensure food security for children by providing class-time snacks and healthy foods to take home.
Based in Scarborough, it distributes staples and rescued fresh food to children and their families at 24 schools and neighborhood sites in Portland, South Portland, Westbrook and Saco.
"The organization and mission really resonated with Erin French, who herself grew up in an area of Maine where children experience a good deal of food insecurity," Hentzel told Mainebiz on Thursday. "We were excited to be able to highlight the organization and their mission at Kegs & Issues."
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