Paula Deen
Hundreds of patrons line up everyday in front of the The Lady and
Sons restaurant in Savannah for just a glimpse of the owner. Paula
Deen's best selling cookbooks, her hit show Paula's Home Cooking on
the Food Network, and most importantly her personal story have become
a positive force for millions of people.
Living with agoraphobia for twenty years and a crumbling marriage,
Paula was left with two growing sons and no source of income. As a
girl reared in the deep South (Albany, Georgia), Southern cooking was
in her heritage and the kitchen became her only hope. With only two
hundred dollars and her sons. Jamie & Bobby, Paula launched a
home-based lunch delivery service called The Bag Lady in June 1989.
The business model was simple: She made the sandwiches and her sons
went out and sold them.
Two years later, with The Bag Lady growing too large for a home-based operation, Paula opened her first restaurant on Savannah's Southside called The Lady and within five years, it also became too successful for such a small space with limited seating. On January 1996, Paula and her sons went from selling tuna fish sandwiches in saran wrap to running their own downtown restaurant in Savannah's City Market. The Lady and Sons opened her doors to faithful customers, celebrity clientele, and thousands of Savannah visitors seeking out Paula's famous fried chicken.
Paula self-published her first cookbook in 1997, The Lady and Sons
Savannah Country Cookbook. A major publishing house quickly picked
it up after a literary agent unexpectedly came into the restaurant
for lunch to escape a thunderstorm. She bought the book and
immediately saw its potential. Paula began her road to national
recognition in 1998 by promoting its sale on QVC television where
it became one of the best selling cookbooks. In 1999, she published
her second best seller The Lady and Sons, Too! and her third The Lady
and Sons Just Desserts in 2002.
Paula's Home Cooking aired on the Food Network on November 16, 2002 to rave reviews and was an immediate hit with viewers.
In 1999, USA Today awarded The Lady and Sons restaurant the "International Meal of the Year," and a guest appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show triggered hundreds of letters from women who took charge of their lives after watching Paula tell her story.
Paula's deft hand in the kitchen, combined with her flair for dramatic touches, have set her restaurants and cookbooks apart from the others . Her determination, hard work, and innate warm Southern charm have done the rest.
We would love to take this opportunity to send Paula love from Cheddar Bay's kitchen to hers!
Please be sure to visit Paula's Site by clicking on the link below.
Midi playing is the Theme from Designing Women.
