With a business name like The Hangry Lady, it’s clear owner and executive chef Allie Lanham has a passion for food.
And now, she’ll be able to share that passion from a new, larger location.
Ms. Lanham has moved her business from the NewBo City Market, where she had been working since June 2021, to a new on-street location at 1101 Third St. SE, directly across from the NewBo Market and adjacent to Next Page Books.
Perhaps best-known for charcuterie boards – meats, cheeses and other appetizers, formed into creative shapes and displayed in visually elaborate layouts – The Hangry Lady was launched by Ms. Lanham in November 2020. She moved the business into the NewBo Market in June 2021.
In many ways, The Hangry Lady is the next logical evolution of Ms. Lanham’s lifelong enthusiasm for food and nutrition.
A 2014 graduate of Washington High School in Cedar Rapids, Ms. Lanham realized early in life that her career would involve health, food service and preparation.
“My whole life story is all about food,” she said. “I lost a lot of weight in high school just by learning how to eat healthier.”
That knowledge was deepened when Ms. Lanham enrolled at Kirkwood Community College, earning a two-year associate degree in dietetics. She then changed majors and entered Kirkwood’s Culinary Arts Program, where she earned her culinary degree in 2019. Thereafter, she said, her career path became clear.
“When I went to culinary school, everything came to me so easily,” she said. “I didn’t really have to try that hard. It just made sense that that’s what I was supposed to be doing with my life.”
Before launching The Hangry Lady, Ms. Lanham’s career path traveled through several local restaurants, including a two-year stint as Chef de Cuisine, or head chef, at Caucho – during which she was named as one of the “40 Women to Watch” by the Iowa Restaurant Association – and another six months as the executive chef at Popoli.
She said she first got the idea for the Hangry Lady – Iowa’s first charcuterie business – during high school visits to California.
“It was really popular out there,” she said, “and I thought ‘if I bring this to Cedar Rapids, it’s a whole new concept that people haven’t heard of yet, so it’s going to be exciting.’ And when you start a business, you want to either do something that other people aren’t doing, or you want to be the best at what you’re doing. I wanted to do it differently and do it right.”
In many ways, Ms. Lanham said, the Midwest is already predisposed to the charcuterie concept, with meat and cheese boards as staples for many parties and potlucks. A charcuterie board, with its elaborate layouts and myriad flavors, is simply the next evolution of that concept with a gourmet touch, Ms. Lanham said, and she knew that the notion would succeed in an Eastern Iowa setting.
“I knew that no one else was doing a charcuterie business,” she said.. “There’s some people that had a board on their menu, but it was little accoutrements, not a bountiful board like what we make. There are no blank spaces on our boards. They’re full of options. And I knew that this town would appreciate it.
“In my experience working in the restaurant industry, they assume people just want meat and potatoes, but there are a handful of people that want the elevated things,” she said. “Ever since I was a little kid, we had a meat and cheese board for every special occasion. It might have been summer sausage and cheddar cheese from the kiosk in the mall, but we always had it. And that has never changed. So it could be seen as a trend, but to me, it’s something that’s always stood the test of time, just in a different, more elevated way. It encourages you to try different things together.”
Charcuterie is also generally presented for special occasions, so the variety of flavors, and the visually striking presentations, reinforce the events they accompany, she said.
“It’s always going to be about the experience, because you get to get away from your normal day-to-day life,” she said. “It’s visually appealing, and it’s fun. It’s like a breath of fresh air. You might eat the same thing every day for breakfast and go to your nine to five. So this can be something that brings you some excitement and joy.”
Ms. Lanham also strives to source her charcuterie ingredients locally as much as possible. She shops at farmers’ markets during the growing season and actively pursues local producers for ingredients, from honey to meats and cheeses, whenever they’re available.
The decision to move The Hangry Lady from the NewBo Market to a standalone location was driven primarily by practicality, Ms. Lanham said. The new location has more than four times the space of the NewBo Market site, providing more room not only for food preparation, but for guest seating as well.
“The market gave us great public exposure, but it was such a small space,” she said. “We had to say no to a lot of orders because we just didn’t have the capacity.”
The larger space will allow The Hangry Lady to broaden its offerings and to be open extended hours to meet customer demand. Ms. Lanham said she plans to have a number of “grab and go” charcuterie items available for last-minute purchases. Salads, cold pressed juices, tea sandwiches, desserts and soups are also part of The Hangry Lady’s expanded menu.
And while the business is driven primarily through special event catering orders, Ms. Lanham said she also plans to expand her charcuterie class offerings, which will now be available both in-home and at the store.
The transition from the NewBo Market to the standalone storefront has been a gradual one, Ms. Lanham said. The building’s interior has been extensively renovated, primarily by Ms. Lanham, with a bright color scheme and an eclectic array of furnishings. For example, Ms. Lanham said her father, who owns Lanham Electric, hand-crafted the building’s light fixtures, using items as diverse as wicker baskets, hubcaps, cold brew jars and colanders.
“Every item is different,” she said. “That’s kind of my style anyway, very maximalist and colorful. When I go out to eat, if I’m waiting on the food or the conversation isn’t the best, I like to have visual things to keep me distracted.”
The Hangry Lady also features dozens of paintings on the walls, all created by Ms. Lanham and available for purchase.
“I’ve painted since I was five years old,” she said, “so I’ve accumulated 15 years of artwork and posted it at my previous shop at NewBo. We actually sell a lot of paintings. So that’s like a side hustle for me.”
Eventually, she said, she’d like to make wall space available at the Hangry Lady for other local artists to display and sell their work on a consignment basis.
“Being an artist too, I know it’s not always feasible to have your own storefront,” she said. “That’s all down the road a bit, but I definitely want to help bring up other people, because it’s all about the people that help you that allow you to get started. A lot of the things that I have going for me now wouldn’t be possible if I hadn’t met the right people at the right parts of my life.”
The restaurant had a soft opening Sept. 27, and Ms. Lanham said she hopes to solidify her new regular hours by mid-October.
Ms. Lanham said The Hangry Lady has experienced rapid growth, both through various marketing channels and word of mouth, and she said she plans to continue that growth at the business’ new home by stressing the principles that brought her to this point.
“It’s all about reliability,” she said. “We always show up, and we do what we say we’re going to do. We offer a beautiful item, and there’s something for everybody. I always figure when you have someone cater an event, it’s usually a special occasion. So the food that you cater should add to the fact that it’s a special event and be a decoration in itself, as well as being delicious and convenient.”
THE HANGRY LADY
1101 Third St. SE, Cedar Rapids
(319) 981-1515
Hours: Wednesday and Thursday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays.
