Today we’d like to introduce you to Sami & Dani Mussman.
Hi Sami & Dani, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Sister Sister Deli & Market is still really new — we’re only about six months in — so we’re very much still building this place with our own hands every day. My sister cooks on the line daily, and I handle prep alongside one prep cook, so most of what people are eating is coming from a very small team.
We grew up in the Pacific Northwest, where hospitality and food were always a huge part of our lives. Our dad restored the historic Marcus Whitman Hotel in Walla Walla, Washington, which had a fine dining restaurant in it, so we were constantly around restaurants, events, service, and people gathering around the table. It all felt very natural to us from a young age.
We’ve both been cooking professionally for over 15 years. Between the two of us, we’ve closed dish pits, opened restaurants, managed dive bars, worked in kitchens that made New York Times best lists, worked on farms, and even traveled to Sweden to learn charcuterie by hand. Sister Sister is really the combination of all of those experiences and the kind of place we always talked about creating together.
The concept is a mix of restaurant, deli, and market. We serve seasonal sandwiches, soups, salads, pastries, and prepared foods out of the kitchen, while the market side focuses on domestically sourced cheeses, charcuterie, wine, and pantry goods from American farmers and producers we genuinely love supporting. We wanted it to be the kind of place where you could stop in for lunch, grab a bottle of wine and cheese for later, or pick up something thoughtful to bring to a dinner party.
Everything coming out of the kitchen is made from scratch in-house — our pickles, jams, sauces, pastries, condiments, desserts, and many of the components that go into the sandwiches and prepared foods. That balance between handmade food and carefully sourced products is really at the center of what we do.
The space itself reflects that same feeling. It’s warm, layered, and welcoming — elevated but not intimidating. There are natural textures, vintage touches, shelves lined with wine and pantry goods, music always playing, and an open kitchen where people can see the work happening. We never wanted it to feel overly polished or pretentious.
We were raised believing the dinner table is one of the most important places for connection and community, and that’s still how we see food. At the end of the day, the thing we care about most is creating a place where people feel welcome and want to gather.
A lot of our growth so far has happened through word of mouth and support from the community, which has honestly been really humbling this early on. We’re still learning as we go, still wearing a hundred hats, but we’re really proud of what Sister Sister is becoming.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Not at all — but I think that’s probably true for most restaurants, especially in the beginning. Opening a business is one thing, but opening a restaurant is a completely different level of intensity. There are constantly moving parts, and because we’re still such a small team, there really isn’t much separation between ownership and day-to-day operations. We’re still the ones cooking, prepping, ordering, cleaning, troubleshooting equipment, managing staff, and doing all the behind-the-scenes work after service ends.
One of the biggest challenges has honestly just been learning how to balance growth while staying true to the kind of business we want this to be. We make almost everything from scratch, source very intentionally, and care a lot about quality and hospitality, which can be difficult to maintain while also trying to operate efficiently and sustainably as a new business.
There have also been a lot of normal growing pains — construction delays, long hours, physical exhaustion — all the things people don’t always see from the outside. And because we’re sisters, there’s the added layer of learning how to separate family from business while still respecting each other’s strengths.
At the same time, those challenges have also made us better and more intentional. We’ve learned to adapt quickly, trust each other more, and stay focused on why we opened Sister Sister in the first place. Seeing the community connect with what we’re building has made the difficult parts feel worth it.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Sister Sister Deli & Market is a restaurant, deli, specialty market, and catering company in Beaufort, South Carolina. We focus on seasonal, scratch-made food alongside a curated market centered around domestically sourced cheeses, charcuterie, wine, and pantry goods.
Our menu changes often and is heavily driven by seasonality and what we’re excited about cooking. We’re probably best known for our sandwiches, house-made pastries and desserts, charcuterie boards, and rotating specials that pull from both fine dining technique and classic deli influences. Everything coming out of the kitchen is made from scratch in-house — from sauces, jams, and pickles to desserts, condiments, and prepared foods.
Our catering program is also steadily growing. We offer curated charcuterie boards, sandwich platters, crudité boards, dessert offerings, and office box lunches, along with larger grazing-style catering. A lot of people come to us when they want something that feels elevated and thoughtful while still being approachable and generous.
I think what sets us apart most is the balance between high-level culinary experience and genuine hospitality. We care deeply about quality and technique, but we also want people to feel comfortable when they walk through the door. Nothing is meant to feel stuffy or exclusive.
Brand-wise, we’re most proud that Sister Sister feels personal and real. It reflects our backgrounds, our style of cooking, and the kind of gathering spaces we personally love.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Opening a restaurant probably looks like a huge risk from the outside, and honestly, it is. Restaurants are hard businesses, and opening one in a small town while trying to do things a little differently definitely came with a lot of uncertainty. We invested a lot of ourselves — financially, physically, and emotionally — into Sister Sister.
That said, I’ve always believed that if you never take risks, you never really give yourself the chance to succeed. I think growth — professionally and personally — almost always comes from being willing to step into something uncertain. Some of the most important experiences we’ve had came from saying yes before we fully knew how everything would work out.
Both of us had spent years working in hospitality before opening Sister Sister, so while opening the business was absolutely a leap, it wasn’t an impulsive one. We understood how demanding the industry can be, but we also believed strongly enough in the concept and in our ability to work hard for it.
A lot of the risks we’ve taken have come from staying committed to our vision, even when it would have been easier to simplify things. Making almost everything from scratch, focusing on domestic sourcing, building a concept that blends restaurant, deli, market, and catering — those choices all come with challenges, but they’re also what make the business feel authentic to us.
I also think risk teaches resilience. Opening Sister Sister has required us to adapt constantly, solve problems quickly, and trust ourselves in ways we probably never had before. There’s always uncertainty in building something from the ground up, but I think there’s a lot of value in being willing to take the leap anyway.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sistersisterdeli.com
- Instagram: sistersister.deli
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Sister-Sister-Deli-61569047032421/
