A Founder's Story

Six-time James Beard Foundation semifinalist Martha Hoover founded Won’t Stop Hospitality in 1989 with her first Cafe Patachou, using premium ingredients, prepared from scratch, and partnered with local vendors and farmers — years before the phrase “farm to table” was first uttered. 

In 2013, Martha Hoover founded A Longer Table (formerly The Patachou Foundation) with one clear goal: ensure more children in Indianapolis had access to fresh, nourishing food. Over the past decade, that goal has grown into a citywide effort to reimagine school food and invest in youth leadership. The organization has now served more than one million scratch-made meals, launched Next Course Cafeterias to help schools transform how they serve food, and created the Food Fellowship, a paid career training program that prepares high school students for the food system of tomorrow.

Food and Wine named Hoover “One of The Most Innovative Women in Food and Drink”, Eater named her “Empire Builder of the Year”, Vogue Magazine profiled her and the company for their sustainability practices, and InStyle Magazine named her to their list of “50 Badass Women”. Additionally, Bar One Fourteen was named one of the Best Bars in the US by Esquire Magazine, Café Patachou was named one of Restaurant Hospitality’s Top 25 Coolest Concepts, and Won’t Stop Hospitaity Inc. was named among “19 great restaurants in the US to work for” by Food and Wine.