By Hannah Lester
hlester@opelikaobserver.com
The Cup and Saucer took the healthiest items from its menu and joined The Well — collaborating to provide a space of health, inclusivity and wellbeing in Opelika.
The Cup and Saucer already had a base of operations, regular customers and a full menu when it joined The Well.
Lisa French opened The Cup and Saucer in 2004 as a business that provides fully-prepared meals for sale, along with catering.
Originally, French began the business in her garage, providing prepared meals to the community.
“Wanting to be available to her children, [French] began to develop a business concept of providing healthy hand-prepared meals for families,” said the Cup and Saucer bio on The Well’s website. “She began at a home show, where she quickly sold out of her homemade bread, chicken salad and signature Mediterranean Chicken Pasta casserole. Encouraged by friends and a recent divorce, she began taking orders and jumped in with both feet.”
The Cup and Saucer, unlike many businesses, was actually able to open its second location during the coronavirus pandemic.
The main kitchen and market is located at 555 Opelika Road in Auburn, and the mini market at The Bodegas at Midtown is located at 1188 Opelika Road in Auburn.
French took a couple of the salads that Cup and Saucer offers, along with a whole 30 chicken salad and began selling them inside The Well, as a smaller, third location, either a sit-down or to-go lunch option.
The Well opened on Avenue A in Opelika in 2021 and is a collection of businesses inside one inclusive space.
There are other art products for sale, such as prints, jewelry and clothes. But there is also food: donuts, salads, teas and lattes. And each business is owned or ran by women.
“I thought that it was such a neat and interesting concept to have a collaboration of a bunch of different, small, cottage-type vendors and we really weren’t in Opelika, or had an outlet to reach people in Opelika,” French said. “And I just thought it would be a neat way to get our name in Opelika, but also, just to be a part of having that collaboration of women with businesses that they started.”
Only recently had Cup and Saucer been offering salads at its own location.
“We had so many people ask for, ‘I really want a good salad, we need a good place to get a good salad to-go,’” French said.
The takeoff for The Well and for Cup and Saucer’s salads was almost overnight, she said.
“I had no idea that there would be such a demand for salads and our Whole 30 chicken salad and different lunch options,” French said.
The Well is located at 824 Ave. A, Opelika and is open:
Monday: 2 p.m. – 7 p.m.
Tuesdays – Thursday: 7 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Friday – Saturday: 10 a.m. – 10 p.m.
Sunday: 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
This is the seventh in a series of articles on the different businesses that are located inside The Well.