Our founder, Kathy Kudler, was the Vice-President of Marketing for a large defense contractor. Weary of the constant travel and the pressures of corporate life, Kathy was looking for other opportunities. As it happened, Kathy relieved her stress through gourmet cooking and on a shopping trip for ingredients for a gourmet repast, she suddenly realized that there was an opportunity for an upscale epicurean food shop in La Jolla.

Kathy developed a business plan, obtained financing and six months later, on June 18, 1998, the first Kudler Fine Foods opened. Within nine months the store was at break-even and was profitable for the year.

In 2000, a second store was opened in Del Mar and in 2003 our third shop opened in Encinitas.