Lana Richardson is the host and founder of Gourmet Retreats at CasaLana. With almost twenty years experience in the corporate business world, Lana left a successful career in the software business and enrolled in the chef program at the California Culinary Academy. After graduating from CCA with top honors, she was chef at Walnut Creek’s popular Secret Garden Tea Room and also cooked at Bradley Ogden’s Lark Creek. In 1996 Lana started her own business, which offered catering and personal chef services. She has taught cooking classes in private homes and at B&Bs. You may have seen one of the B&B classes in a television segment of "Real Romance" on the Romance Classics Network.
In 1998 Lana decided to create a business that would combine her background in customer education and her professional chef training with her passion for cooking, teaching and gardening. In 1999, she opened her B&B, CasaLana, in Napa Valley where she hosts and teaches the Gourmet Retreats.