Sera Cuni | Co-owner and chef,
Founding member of Les Dames d’Escoffier
Born in Trumbull, Conn., Sera grew up in a family of self-taught cooks who enthusiastically embraced their Italian and Czech heritages. Her childhood is filled with kitchen memories: Draping handmade pastas rolled out by her grandparents’ expert hands over the backs of dining room chairs, stirring pots of garlicky tomato sauce until simmered to perfection, and creaming butter and cottage cheese for flaky Kolacky cookies at Christmastime. For the Cuni family, such traditions, including sharing home-cooked meals together every evening, were the necessary ingredients for an abundant life. The bonding experiences also helped pave the way for Sera’s career. Although a talented athlete who excelled at soccer, Sera’s interest took a significant swing thanks to Saturday mornings with her father, who first introduced her to Julia Child and her cooking shows on PBS. After attending Green Mountain College in Vermont on a soccer scholarship, Sera took her passion for food and cooking back to Connecticut, where she graduated from culinary school. Over the course of her career, Sera has worked as a chef at Main and Hopewell, Americus on the Wharf, and Pastis all in Connecticut; at the Fearrington House Inn in Chapel Hill, and Nordstrom’s Café in Durham. In 2006, Sara Foster hired her as a chef and kitchen manager for the Foster’s Market Chapel Hill restaurant. She was promoted to general manager in 2008. She and her wife Susan purchased the Chapel Hill location in January 2013. Sera still considers Sara Foster a mentor and as such abides by her primary food ethic—that great food doesn’t have to be fancy.
Susan White | Co-owner and marketing manager
Unlike her foodie partner, Susan is a product of the South—a child raised on easy-to-bake casseroles and Sunday lunches of fried chicken, deviled eggs and savory green beans. However, like Sera, Susan also discovered her passion early. Growing up, she loved to write poems and stories, a hobby she eventually mustered up the courage to pursue professionally. A graduate of Campbell University with a BA degree in mass communication, Susan worked for 17 years as a journalist, including for The Daily Reflector in Greenville, N.C., The Winston-Salem Journal, in Winston-Salem, N.C. and The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Va. Susan spent the majority of her journalism career shining a brighter light on social justice issues, including poverty, homelessness, mental illness and hunger. Over the years, she received numerous awards for her emotional and thought-provoking storytelling, including the national Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism for her reporting on children and families. In 2008, she left newspapers and joined the UNC School of Social Work as a marketing writer and academic editor. Shortly after moving back to North Carolina, Susan met Sera over a delicious meal with friends. Although opposite in many ways, their partnership in life and in business is a well-balanced one filled with love, laughter and of course, great food.
Christina Infanti | Director of Catering
Tina graduated from Appalachian State in 2014 with a degree in nutrition and foods. She discovered her passion for catering and event planning while apprenticing under a wedding planner after college. She currently lives in Durham and enjoys cooking, seeing live music, and hiking in her free time.