Meet Wren

For over 30 years, Murphys based chef and entrepreneur Jennifer Wren Stoicheff has earned a reputation for creating food inspired by the occasion and the season.

Wren was born in Dallas, Texas but in the mid 1960s her family relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1982, while working as a server at Roaring Camp Cafe & Caterers in Oakland, California, she entered the world of seasonally prepared, creative food and catering. When the owners of the café took a trip to Puerto Vallarta and ended up buying a beach front restaurant and moving, Wren became an “accidental” caterer, helping out Roaring Camp’s clients who were left high and dry! Wren Catering was born out of this very fortunate event.

In 1984 Wren had an opportunity to open and co-chef at Parigi, a restaurant in her home town of Dallas, Texas. Parigi, which means Paris in Italian, combined California fresh and Paris classic and quickly became the talk of the town. After taking time off to cook for the DuPonts and the Luces on Fischer’s Island in the summer of 1987 she moved back to California to get married and start a family.

In 1990 she opened Lily’s, named after her daughter, in Sonora, California. A small lunch café, Lily’s was known for its fresh and innovative soups and sandwiches. With the birth of her son, Alexander, Wren went back to her catering roots, growing her business in the foothills and catering to the Bay Area as well.

In 2001 Wren opened Alchemy Market & Wine Bar in Murphys, California, a specialty food store and café & wine bar, which she ran until 2007. In 2010 she opened Wren Café & Catering in Murphys.

Wren can now be found providing her unique style of catering to clients from the gold country town of Murphys to the Bay Area and beyond!