Wil and Lauren Wood, owners of Love to Cook in Logan
Emily Buckley, editor in chief
Love to Cook is a family-owned culinary specialty store in Logan. They sell quality kitchen items at reasonable prices, teach cooking classes, and host birthday parties, but, above all, they pride themselves in offering “the best customer service around,” owner Wil Wood said. “We love people.”
Wil and his wife Lauren came to Cache Valley in 2017 after selling their Great Harvest Bread franchise in Boise, Idaho. “We are both from Cache Valley, but we were gone for 10 years,” Wil said. “It was awesome. We learned a lot about ourselves, running a business, and running a business together. We didn’t know exactly what we were going to do when we came back to the valley, but when the opportunity came up to buy Love to Cook, it felt like a great way for us to keep living a lifestyle we loved — working with employees and customers — while doing our own thing.”
Lauren adds that they have a desire to encourage people to cook at home again. “We want to go back to the basics and teach people to cut, chop, season, and flavor food to feed their families, or the people they love.”
Running a business together can be difficult for many couples, but Wil and Lauren enjoy it, and say their qualities complement each other. “I’m a ‘pie in the sky’ dreamer,” Wil said. “And Lauren is really good at organizing those dreams and making them something that can really happen.”
Like most small businesses around the world, Wil and Lauren have felt the ripple effect of lost sales during the COVID-19 pandemic, but they are
choosing to face the future with hope instead of fear. “I’m grateful that we, as a community, decided to stay home together for the good of all,” Lauren said. “I’m not afraid because I’ve seen the good of people’s hearts and souls through it all. We’ve seen people come in and say they want to spend part of their stimulus check in our store to support us. This situation has not only caused us to be more innovative in our business, but also for people to be more innovative in the ways they support each other.”
One example Wil shared is of a woman from Hyde Park who he had noticed buying several items online day after day and having them delivered to addresses other than her own.
“One day I saw that she ordered an ice cream scoop for $7.17,” Wil said. “Our system charged a $10 delivery fee, which it does automatically for orders under $70. I emailed her and said, ‘Hi, thanks for your order! I refunded your delivery fee. I see we are delivering it to your friend in Smithfield. I’ll already be going that way, so no need to pay for delivery.’ She responded, ‘Oh thanks, but next time just keep it for a tip!’ She just wanted to help — a lot of people are doing similar things; we just don’t always get to hear the backstory.”
This summer, the Woods are moving their store from its long-time home at 1211 N. Main Street in Logan to 795 N. Main Street, where locals will remember the Reel Time and Logan Art Cinema being in the past.
The new location will feature a large demonstration kitchen in the sunken area where the movie screen once was. “It will be fun to make our business even more our own,” Lauren said.
