In 2012, Gather opened as a neighborhood restaurant for friends and family to come together around good food.

SOLE PROPRIETOR II SUR LIE & GATHER RESTAURANTS

Krista Cole is a two-time James Beard semi-finalist. She is a semi-finalist for Outstanding Restaurateur and her restaurant Sur Lie in Portland is a semi-finalist for Outstanding Hospitality (final nominations will be released in March 2023, wish us luck!)

Krista is the sole owner of both Sur Lie in Portland, Maine and Gather in Yarmouth, Maine. Krista built Sur Lie from the ground up, opening the restaurant in the fall of 2014. When she found out the community-loved restaurant, Gather, was for sale in Yarmouth, she bought it in January of 2022. Gather was very much focused on buying local and giving back to the community, so she felt that the values aligned perfectly between the two restaurants.

Krista is no stranger to hard work. She was raised by a single mom in rural Maine north of Bangor. Her initial career path was nursing, and she achieved a Bachelor’s of Science in nursing right out of high school.

Krista worked night shift as a nurse to get through graduate school where she received her master’s degree in management and organization with a certificate in entrepreneurial studies while living in Denver. She worked all night, then went to classes during the day. It was during her last year of graduate school in 2012 that she started writing the business plan for Sur Lie and planning her move home to Maine to make this dream come to fruition.

Hospitality and leading teams are in her blood. While she left nursing for good in 2019, the love she has for people and her team has translated heavily into the leadership she provides at both of her restaurants. Breaking down the barriers for females in our industry has been a huge passion of hers as well. Sur Lie and Gather are both 100% female owned, and her executive leadership team is all female.

Leadership is something she takes very seriously, and feels that her most important job is to create an environment of equity, transparency, integrity and respect. She seeks team members who share her passion for the craft of hospitality and who believe in the contributions they make to their community.

When the pandemic hit, Krista most worried about the local vendors that she supported. She create her farmer baskets! Similar to a CSA, she sold weekly baskets filled with local vegetables from the small farmers surrounding Portland. This grew into adding baked goods from another family owned restaurants, seafood and fish from local fishermen, local meats raised 100% in Maine and much more. She was able to sell over $800,000 worth of local goods during the peak of the pandemic.

Krista’s love of community reaches beyond the work of both restaurants. You can find her sitting on the board of directors for Portland Downtown and the Portland Development Corp for the city of Portland.

100% female owned & 100% humbled by the love and support these two communities have shown me.