When Dana Berbenich was growing up with a big Italian family on Long Island, New York, the gatherings were a food lover’s dream.
“We always had a ton of food,” Berbenich remembers. “And we always had antipasti boards that was like, you know, at every event, the meat and the cheese and the pickled veggies and whatnot. So I grew up around that. It wasn’t quite charcuterie, but same concept.”
It was a concept that stuck with Berbenich, who toyed with the idea of becoming a chef before her mom, Kathy, steered her toward college, noting that long hours and a difficult work-life balance lay ahead along the restaurant path.
Instead, Berbenich went to school and received a degree in business management and began a career in corporate human resources. With a successful albeit “super demanding” profession, she turned to cooking as her passion and a way to release creative energy.
When COVID-19 hit, she and her husband, Joe, had just relocated to Bel Air from New York to join good friends who had settled in the area, and Berbenich, 36, said she had yet to make strong connections to the community.
Since she had an employer that allowed her to work from home, Berbenich started posting images of food she had prepared, cooking videos and recipes on social media.
“I’d post like pictures of my finished like products and recipes and some of the things I would post would be charcuterie boards. And those were the ones that got like all the attention,” she said.
“I would get … 10 likes on something and then I’d get 150 likes on a charcuterie board.”
The popularity of the charcuterie posts led to people asking her to make them for parties and dinners. Her family encouraged her to keep going with an enterprise that was bringing joy to Berbenich during a time that was stressful for everyone.
“It was like a creative outlet for me. And, you know, I thought I wasn’t too bad at it,” Berbenich said. “It was just really awesome to see how much reach I could have … and the way the community was turning out [and] showing up for me.”
From that strong start, she launched Boards by Dana, an online website where customers could place orders. Soon she had so many clients she needed a larger kitchen space, and she found one in nearby Joppatowne. It was around then that Berbenich decided to leave her job to pursue making charcuterie boards full time.
“The business just kept growing and growing. And I would have to hire people and bring them on for busy weekends,” Berbenich said. “It was just getting to the point where even with my rented commercial kitchen space, I still had all my supplies overflowing in my garage and my basement and my dining room.”
So a little more than two years after starting her online business, Berbenich opened The Grazing Room, a brick-and-mortar location in Bel Air last October.
The 2,100-square-foot space was previously a children’s art studio, so it underwent a complete renovation to create a restaurant/cafe with a retail storefront. Berbenich said she has hired a full team, including charcuterie artists and instructors.
The Grazing Room offers charcuterie boxes and boards that can be taken home or enjoyed on site. Customers can also take classes on how to make their own and purchase supplies to create them at home. In addition, appetizers, sandwiches and salads are available.
Berbenich also offers catering and says charcuterie boards that feed 30-40 people are a “sweet spot.” The boards include a variety of salami roses, meats, different types of cheeses, fresh and dried fruits, breads, crackers, spreads, chocolate, nuts and many more options.
“The beauty of a charcuterie board is that there’s something for everyone on it,” Berbenich said. “It’s something where you set it down. And if you have guests that maybe don’t love cheese … there’s still so many other items.”
“The other piece is just the excitement about like different flavor combinations that you can create on a board,” she said. “Like every time you go back you can have a completely different experience.”
The Grazing Room at Boards by Dana, 15 E. Churchville Road, Suite #109, Bel Air, boardsbydana.com.
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