For Mervin and Sharon Brooks, cooking has always been a big part of their lives. Mervin started baking in his parent's café out of necessity. Family illness forced him to fill in. At first he dreaded the thought, but soon found that he loved it and was quite good at it. He learned the trade from his mother and grandmother. Sharon grew up cooking for her family and also learned from her mother and grandmother, especially how to cook for large crowds of people. Her life experiences have helped her with the catering end of the business as well. They formerly operated the Chuckwagon Café and Sunflour Bakery in Coffeyville , Kansas where their biscuits and gravy were mentioned as the best in the country in The Chicago Tribune. The chicken fried steak, French toast and meringue pies have won acclaim of the Kansas Explorers Club, a project of the Kansas Sampler Foundation with is dedicated to the promotion and appreciation of all things in Kansas.