Local businesswoman turns food into delicious art

By JOHN BARTIMOLE

Special to Olean Times Herald | October 18, 2025

(Editor’s note: This is the second in a series of eight articles spotlighting the businesses making up the 2025 Laine Business Accelerator cohort.)

Artists use a variety of media to demonstrate their talents. Painters may use canvas, writers may use words … but Shaina Griffin combining her chef and as an artist to create culinary masterpieces as pleasing to the eye as they are to the palate.

The result are two food-based business, Adored Boards, specializing in charcuterie, and Seven and Sage, a complete meal-based business for home or for events. Ironically, Griffin, whose works truly are visually striking, is as surprised as anyone over this demonstration of her creativity.

“I really can’t draw or paint very well,” she said, “but I love to work with food and with presentation.

“I really started by bringing dishes to pass at parties and events,” she said. “And people said, ‘Hey, you really have a talent here with your food and presentation.

You really can have a career in this.’ So, I did small charcuterie boards, mostly with meats and cheese. Eventually, I started going deeper.”

“Going deeper” is an understatement. Her boards are sensory, and creativity delights and range in size from the typical small board to banquet-table length masterpieces.

In addition to Adored Boards, Griffin also has Seven and Sage, a business that provides home-cooked-like meals for families or larger gatherings. This business grew out of Griffin’s desire to “expand the crowd” of those using her services. The name is derived from her favorite childhood number — seven — and the fact that she and her siblings are seven years apart.

“So, they are two different companies, but with just one, common mission statement,” she said, ‘to create unforgettable culinary experiences that go beyond the plate … to show how people can come together through the power of food.’” Griffin said both of her businesses are “a labor of love. “I wake up with burning passion every morning. I don’t think, ‘Oh, I have to go to work.’ No! I love to go to work.”

While Adored Boards is more of an event-by event type business, she hopes Seven and Sage develops into a more consistent, predictable business.

“Right now, I’m working with many business owners and preparing their meals for them and their families,” she said. “I give them four different options and ideally, go into their homes and prepare the meals they choose.”

Griffin has already benefitted from her involvement in the Laine Business Accelerator.

“Expansion and exposure have been two outcomes from the LBA for me,” she said. “The sessions are just so informative. I leave there thinking that the sky’s the limit.”

But Griffin’s real support comes from her family.

“They are all incredibly supportive,” she said. “To me, it’s amazing for them to see me follow my passion. They support me every day and in every way.”

In turn, Griffin makes certain she shares her talents with her family.

“I cook every day, all day long,” she said. “I don’t take the easy way out…and I still construct heart driven, quality meals for my family.”

In five years or so, Griffin hopes to be a private chef consistently for several families. And always creating, she has toyed with the idea of a food truck. As Fall weather creeps into the area, she is looking forward to creating soups and, of course, making two of her favorite Italian meals— lasagna and risotto.

Clearly, she has turned an avocation into a vocation … and turned food into a delicious art.