Intentional Table: Consciousness raising with food, wine, travel

Intentional Table was one of Business Circle’s 2015 Real Stories Video Contest winners.

One day while Zoe-Ann Bartlett was at cheese school in Vermont, something congealed—and it wasn’t just a round of cheddar.

While visiting a barn, she took a photo of a curious baby goat peering up at a sweet, brown-eyed calf. Both were only three weeks old. And there, it hit her. “Every time we have cream in our coffee or enjoy a scoop of ice cream, there has to be a birth to have milk,” Bartlett said. “Every time we have a steak or ribs, there has to be a death.”

Now her philosophy is, “make intentional choices.” “Food comes from somewhere; it doesn’t come in little Styrofoam^® packages,” she said.

It’s also the philosophy behind Intentional Table, her food and wine studio on Bainbridge Island, Washington. “I named it ‘studio’ because that implies creativity,” she said. “We’re pretty darned creative.”

Bartlett is extremely inventive in getting people to eat purposefully, whether they are enjoying her cooking classes, learning from a guest chef from as far away as Asia or Italy, enjoying her al fresco dining experiences at local farms, or traveling on culinary excursions to Tuscany or Cuba. Inspiration has been on a slow simmer since childhood. “I think I launched this business the first time I ever cooked with my mom in the kitchen. I grew up with a mom who had an intentional table.”

From blog to food and wine studio

Intentional Table wasn’t always a studio; it actually started as a blog and dining event company. Bartlett wanted to tell stories about colorful people she met during a rustic apprenticeship program in France. “This was not the Cordon Bleu,” she said. She told tales of her instructor, a Portland-based chef who for 23 years taught students in France. His first day of class included driving to the middle of French farmland, picking up a handful of dirt, and proclaiming, “This is where your food comes from.” She also told tales of the second-generation cheese maker who piped music into the barn for the goats. He believed that taking care of his goats meant that they would take care of him.

“I look for ways to collaborate. If anyone walks in the door and has a good idea, I’m all ears.”

In 2012, Bartlett and her husband moved from Seattle to Bainbridge Island, Washington, and the blog morphed into a food and wine studio. She went from storyteller to story maker. For example, she threw an 80^th birthday party for a local resident who insisted on having coconut cream pie rather than birthday cake—for the first course. “The celebrant explained that at 80, she didn’t have to follow rules,” Bartlett said. On another occasion, Bartlett collaborated with Back of Beyond Outfitters, a canoe and kayak shop across the street, to create a seafood picnic in the middle of Puget Sound. Intrepid diners paddled a Native American canoe out to Blakely Rock Reef, a tiny island teaming with harbor seals. The group ate fresh oysters and salmon “where the food came from,” and watched sailboats, ferries, and the towering Cascade and Olympic Mountains in the distance.

Such collaborations with Bainbridge Island stores—and local chefs and farms—are common. “I look for ways to collaborate,” Bartlett said. “If anyone walks in the door and has a good idea, I’m all ears. It’s a tightknit community.”

Intentional Table also hosted a “magical wedding” last Christmas in its studio. “The intention that night was love,” Bartlett said. The groom’s mom sent a card thanking her for the simple but beautiful ceremony that focused on the couple. “That’s the kind of stuff that gives me juice,” she said.

Bartlett also leads food and wine tours locally and abroad. A recent trip to Cuba was a bit of an anomaly, set up before the U.S. lifted its travel embargo. “With Cuba, it was about learning about scarcity. Often, people think of Miami Cuban food, but food in Cuba is relatively simple. They eat a lot of rice and beans.” Visiting a country with such scarcity was profound. “I will never again in my life complain about not having an ingredient.”

This is why Bartlett calls her trips “food and wine travel experiences” rather than culinary tours. It’s not just about dining in five-star restaurants. Participants meet the producers and learn about art, history, and architecture. Cuba, in particular, was not a luxurious experience. “It’s about having people look through a different lens. It’s not necessarily a comfortable one.” Tuscany, on the other hand, was abundant and beautiful.

The role of technology

Bartlett loves her work but wouldn’t call it easy. With only three employees, she’s spread pretty thin. “I’m the CEO, the marketing person, and the janitor.” Fortunately, technology helps her run the business efficiently.

She started using Square for transactions when she launched. “Then we went to a fancy point-of-sale system. It was the worst decision I ever made. We returned to using Square. It’s easy and relevant. In fact, we were able to remove multiples pieces of equipment, a chunky desk. Now, everything is mobile and we can bring the register to our clients and guests instead of having them come to us.”

Intentional Table relies on its website, social media, and high-speed Internet to communicate with customers and to announce upcoming classes, events, and trips. Bartlett has a limited marketing budget, so she uses social media, including Facebook^®, Twitter^®, and Instagram to entice foodies into her intentional world. Website visitors can also subscribe to her electronic newsletter to keep up with events.

“I don’t want to work for the big guys. When I wake up in the morning, I really like who I am. It’s heart work; it’s passion.”

Bartlett acknowledged that she left her very nice DSL camera at home while in Tuscany and Cuba this year and found it wonderfully easy to snap plenty of smartphone pictures to share on social media. “Our latest and greatest favorite is Instagram. It’s a fun way for people to follow along. Telling a story is how you market in this day and age.”

As any entrepreneur will tell you, staying in business is filled with challenges. “You have to have an ingenuity gene,” Bartlett said. For example, the day Intentional Table was scheduled to host its annual signature dining event, an outdoor farm-to-table dining event under a 48-foot arbor at Sweetlife Farm, forecasters predicted a nasty storm. “We called our guests and offered, ‘have dinner inside our studio or be refunded.’” Fortunately, half opted for the studio. Unfortunately, the studio lost power that day. “We had to bake using the generator at the house,” Bartlett said. “We cooked by candlelight.” The electrified band couldn’t play, so they put out a last-minute request for musicians with acoustic instruments. “We pulled it off flawlessly,” she said. When another power outage hit the island in November, the chef shipped the duck across town to be cooked in a propane oven.

Making a big pivot in 2016

Bartlett’s gut-wrenching challenge of late has been deciding whether to keep her brick-and-mortar store open. “The overhead is high. I don’t know if I can sustain it.” In December 2015, she announced her decision on Facebook.

“Next year, Intentional Table plans to close the studio on Madrone Lane to focus exclusively on curating food and wine experiences,” she posted. “Our offerings will include event dining in spectacular Northwest locations and small-group food and wine travel experiences both locally and abroad. Intentional Table will still be an integral part of the food and entertainment community on Bainbridge Island.” In 2016, Bartlett plans to launch a new website and to host culinary trips to both Sicily and Southeast Asia.

Bartlett acknowledges the hard work and tough financial choices, but she’s unlikely to return to her desk jobs of the past. “I don’t want to work for the big guys,” she said. “When I wake up in the morning, I really like who I am. It’s heart work; it’s passion. Intentional Table is the outward manifestation of what’s in my heart.”