Sarah Merryman Photo: Facebook
By Angelina Keizer
Sarah Merryman never planned to run a restaurant. Her background is in healthcare, not food service. But after 15 years as an X-ray technician, she saw her life reshuffled by the COVID pandemic. She was home with two young children, looking for a way to contribute to her household. That search led her to open Sarah’s Table, a takeout and delivery business in Sanford that specializes in family-inspired, home-cooked meals at reasonable prices.
Reflecting on the past four years, Merryman acknowledged that running a business has been harder than she expected. The paperwork, the regulations and the constant learning curve have all been challenges. But she does not regret it. “Anything having is worth working for,” she said. “Having not been a business owner previously, that was all starting from scratch for me. But once you know, you know.”
Once she solved food safety and home kitchen regulations by finding a commercial kitchen space on Main Street, next to Central Park, “it all kind of started to fall into place,” she said.
Merryman, 38, grew up in Shapleigh and attended Massabesic High School. She went to technical school in Sanford, got her nursing assistant certification, and later studied to become an X-ray technician. She worked at Goodall Hospital for 15 years until the pandemic led to downsizing and her position was eliminated.
At the time, she was eight months pregnant with her second child. Her husband at the time suggested she stay home, and she was happy to do so for a few years. But eventually, she wanted to do something more. Cooking had always been a big part of her life. Everyone in her family liked to cook. She spent hours baking with her mom and helped her grandparents with their vegetable garden in Saco.
“Food brings people together,” she said. She started making meals for her grandparents and freezing portions so they wouldn’t have to rely on canned soups. That gave her an idea. “I was like, maybe there’s something with all of this.”
The name Sarah’s Table comes from a loved adage: If you have more than you need, build a bigger table, not a taller fence. For Merryman, that captures what food does. “You talk at the table, you share stories at the table, you settle your arguments at the table,” she said. “It’s just always a good place for people to end up at the end of the day. Whether you cooked or you didn’t.”
Many of the recipes at Sarah’s Table come from Merryman’s mother, grandmother, aunts and cousins. She has developed others herself by reading cookbooks as if they were novels and jotting ideas in a journal. The menu rotates weekly, and regular customers often request old favorites. Prices range from $15-18 for each individual-sized meal.
“I have some people that I’ve been feeding for all these four years,” she said. “They’ll say, ‘You haven’t made that barbecue meatloaf in a while.’ Okay, sure, we’ll do that next week.”
Some customer-favorite dishes include baked ziti dinner, traditional meatloaf, lasagna and stuffed shells. Merryman’s personal comfort food is her mom’s tuna noodle casserole, which appears on the menu. For dessert, the banana cream pie is a top seller, even though Merryman never had it as a child. The chocolate cake from her grandmother is also a staple. “It’s fluffy, it’s moist, and it’s just something that everybody enjoys,” she said.
Delivery is available to Sanford, Springvale, Shapleigh, Waterboro and Lyman. “The response has been incredible,” Merryman said. “Folks share with us the ways our service helps them; we always appreciate hearing from them that what we do makes a difference in their lives.”
Merryman does not run the shop alone. Her best friend of 20 years, Liz Rocchio, works alongside her. They met at the hospital working in departments next to each other. Rocchio has always been a foodie, too, and the arrangement worked. Both of their mothers also help out. “We’re a big mother-daughter team here,” Merryman said.
The shop also provides small-scale catering. Sarah’s Table has contracts with the Southern Maine Agency on Aging to provide meals for free senior lunches at multiple locations. A local daycare has picked up nutritional meals. The shop has even helped feed 100 kids at a Head Start school that temporarily lacked a cafeteria worker. Merryman also participates in the Sanford Farmers’ Market in Central Park.
“That’s how we stay connected with local produce farmers, local meats, cheeses, bakers,” she said. “So much community has come out of being here for me. I didn’t realize how involved you could really get as one person.”
The shop is open Wednesday through Friday from 11 am to 6 pm. Customers can preorder meals online or walk in and choose from the fridge and freezer selections. A microwave is available on-site for customers to heat meals.
Looking ahead, Merryman hopes to expand, perhaps when her children are older.
“I would like to be in a place where we’re open full time and serving hot food,” she said. “To have people come in and get a hot soup, a fresh sandwich—along with refrigerated and freezer foods,” she said. “I think it’s a service that our town could benefit from.”
This piece was produced through the training and support of Journalism New England’s Career Lab.
The post Sarah’s Meals Bring Families to the Table appeared first on Sanford Springvale News.
