At the young age of 10, Lauryn Raymond roughly sketched the plans that would one day be her restaurant.

With not much help or equipment, Lauryn created her first mouth-savoring menu for a wedding hosting 150 guests when she was just 19 years old. The wedding was a tremendous success, and word quickly spread about the great food and impeccable service. That wedding officially launched Lauryn’s business and was the catalyst for what the business is today.

Lauryn, a wife and a mother of four children, continually leveraged her keen sense of creativity to propel her family and the business forward. While running her business and raising a family, Lauryn decided to attend Louisiana Culinary Institute, where she graduated at the top of her class in January 2009.

Lauryn’s daughter, Morgan, grew up in the kitchen watching her mother live out her dream. From prepping food and dishes after school to giving her mom back massages while she finished office work, Morgan was constantly there by her mom’s side.

That’s when Morgan decided she would go to the John Folse Culinary Institute at Nicholls State University where she could learn both the business and culinary aspects of running an event business, in hopes of what would one day be Morgan and Lauryn’s wedding venue.

Unfortunately, on May 29, 2014, a few months before the grand opening of the new venue, Lauryn unexpectedly passed away from a heart condition that she was unaware existed.

For 20 years, Lauryn’s family watched her work long hours, day and night, to make her dream a reality. So when she died her family refused to give up on her dream. Morgan had just completed her first year of school. With still three years to go and only selective times to be able to work, Morgan’s grandfather and Lauryn’s team arrived every day, with help from Lauryn's family and friends when needed, to carry on the dream.

In 2016 Morgan graduated early from the John Folse Culinary Institute at Nicholls State University, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science. From then, she started working full-time at Lauryn Hope.

Lauryn’s life goal was to provide for her family by doing what she loved, and she still has managed to do that even though she is not physically here.

Today, Morgan continues to live out she and her mom’s dream by providing an elegant venue, in a prime location, for those in the Baton Rouge area.