There was a time when Anna Pump and her daughter, Sybille van Kempen, were two captains of one ship. When one said, “left,” the other said “right.” When one said, “yes,” the other, predictably, said, “no.”
But that didn’t stop the mother-daughter team from working in tandem for 35 years — first at the iconic Loaves & Fishes Foodstore in Sagaponack, which Pump started in 1980, followed by their opening of the Bridgehampton Inn & Restaurant in 1994, and finally, right next door, the Loaves and Fishes Cookshop in 2003.
As their businesses grew, their relationship deepened. While Pump, a German-born chef and author, taught her daughter everything she knew about entertaining, she also instilled in her the importance of slowing down, being patient, and practicing thoughtfulness — lessons she learned from her own father as a child.
“And also, just don’t be afraid to show how much you care about things,” Van Kempen said during a recent telephone interview. “Everything mattered to my mother, and she let everybody know that. I think that’s something that stuck with me, as well.”
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