A Little About Us, and a Lot About Why We Cook
At Hay-Mar Kitchen, we believe that serving others is one of the simplest and most meaningful ways to show we care.
For us, food has always been about more than what’s on the plate. It's the smell of something familiar that takes you back years. The meal that brings everyone to the table. The thoughtful little details that turn an ordinary evening into a memory.
We're Stacey and Laird Marshall, the husband-and-wife team behind Hay-Mar Kitchen. Between Laird's more than thirty years in restaurant kitchens and a lifetime of family traditions that taught us the joy of feeding others, we've come to believe something wholeheartedly:
The best food doesn't just taste wonderful. It makes people feel something.
And that's what we hope to bring to every gathering we're invited to be part of.
Stacey and Laird Marshall
It Began Long Before Hay-Mar
Some of our earliest lessons about hospitality came from watching the women who raised us.
Stacey remembers her mother humming quietly as she worked in the kitchen. Every Election Day, after casting her vote, she would spend hours making pumpkin rolls, freezing them to share with friends and family throughout the holidays. She never made a fuss about any of it. She simply had a way of making ordinary moments feel extraordinary.
Laird grew up with that same kind of generosity. His mother, now in her eighties, still spends her summers picking berries and making jams, and her holidays baking breads and cookies to wrap and give away. Those gifts have become treasured traditions among the people lucky enough to receive them.
Neither woman needed an occasion to make someone feel special. They understood that the smallest gestures, offered with care, often become the memories we carry longest.
We didn’t learn hospitality from a business plan. We learned it at home.
A New Chapter, Around the Table
After more than thirty years in restaurant kitchens, Laird knew that cooking was still where his heart belonged. But we began imagining a different kind of kitchen, one where we could bring the same dedication to wonderful food, with more room for creativity, connection, and the personal touches that make a gathering memorable.
Hay-Mar Kitchen began as a shared dream with our dear friend Jenny Haynes, whose enthusiasm and talents helped us take those first steps. The name itself carries a little of that history: Hay for Haynes, and Mar for Marshall.
Today, Hay-Mar is led by the two of us, Stacey and Laird, with a trusted team of chefs, servers, and bartenders who join us for each event. We bring in the right number of people for your gathering, whether that’s an intimate dinner for twelve or a celebration for 200, so every guest is looked after, and nothing is stretched thin.
In many ways, Hay-Mar has become exactly what we hoped it would be: a place where good food, good people, and genuine hospitality come together.
It’s a labor of love, and we’re grateful for every table we’re invited to share.
Client Testimonial:
“My guests just raved about the food! They were also so moved when I described the beautiful process for building the menu.”
-Leslie Williams, June 2026
Every Table Has a Story
We believe food has a remarkable way of carrying us through time. A familiar flavor can bring back someone we love, a place we've been, or a moment we thought we'd forgotten. And a beautiful meal shared with the right people can become a memory we'll carry for years.
That's why, when we begin planning a menu, we want to know more than what you'd like to eat. We want to know about the people you're gathering, the traditions you treasure, and the feeling you hope your guests will take home.
Because to us, catering has never been simply about serving food. It's about caring for people, honoring their stories, and creating something meaningful around the table.
We'd love to hear your story.