About French Magnolia
Food, Home, and the People We Welcome In
When I think about a beautiful evening, I think about all the things that come together to make people feel welcome. Something wonderful cooking. A room that feels comfortable. A thoughtfully chosen bottle of wine. Time to sit down and enjoy one another.
That is the world Thomas and I share through French Magnolia.
We are Thomas and Mary Catherine Fraley, though you’ll usually hear us called Tom and Missy. We founded French Magnolia in 2016, bringing together our experience in food, wine, design, and hospitality—and a shared love of caring for people.
Today, that work takes us into homes, around dining tables, and in front of the camera. Wherever we are, the hope is much the same: to help you make room for beauty, pleasure, and connection in your own life.
A Little About My Story
I grew up in Atlanta, with Southern hospitality as part of the world around me. At twenty-three, I moved to New York City with an interior design degree, determination, and a love of food that would become a lifelong pursuit.
In professional kitchens, I learned by doing. I began with prep work and worked my way toward leading a kitchen, learning the importance of each person’s role along the way. Those years taught me to pay attention—to ingredients, to timing, and to the many small decisions that shape someone’s experience.
Design remained an equally important part of my life. Through my business, MC Interiors, I spent more than a decade working in New York City, Atlanta, and Charleston, helping people bring their homes into focus.
I have always been interested in what makes a place feel right. Where you put a chair. How the light falls across a table. Whether a room invites you to stay a little longer. Those questions have followed me through every chapter of my work.
From the Kitchen to the Whole Home
My degree in Architecture and Interior Design helped shape the way I see a home: its proportions, the relationship between rooms, the movement of light, and how people use the space. That education gave me a foundation I carried into more than a decade of work through MC Interiors—and continue to draw on today.
I love beautiful fabrics, old furniture, and the details that give a room its character. I also think about why an arrangement works, how materials belong together, and whether the space supports the life you want to live there.
In 2007, I pursued formal study in holistic nutrition, deepening my interest in ingredients and the relationship between food and how people feel. My culinary work later brought me through Charleston’s fine-dining kitchens and into an Executive Chef role at a Relais & Châteaux property in Blowing Rock, North Carolina.
French cooking, interiors, and culture have been a lasting influence throughout those years. I am drawn to the care given to everyday pleasures: good ingredients, useful and beautiful objects, a table worth sitting down to. That sensibility feels very much at home with my Southern roots.
Whether I am considering a menu or a room, I think about the people who will enjoy it. How do they live? What makes them comfortable? What would make this occasion—or an ordinary Tuesday—a little more wonderful?
French Magnolia gives those interests a home together.
And Then There Is Thomas
If you have spent an evening with us, you know how much Thomas brings to the table.
He loves the story behind a bottle of wine and the pleasure of helping someone discover something they enjoy. He also notices the practical things that allow an evening to unfold comfortably: the pace of service, what a guest might need, and when to give a conversation room to breathe.
His career spans more than thirty years in fine dining and hospitality, including work at the Four Seasons in Atlanta and Relais & Châteaux–affiliated properties. He has led wine programs, trained service teams, and helped restaurants and hospitality businesses think carefully about the experience they offer.
At French Magnolia, he brings that knowledge to wine, service, and the organization behind our work. He is also my partner in producing and sharing our stories on screen.
We bring different strengths to what we do, and we share the pleasure of seeing people feel at ease.
What the Table Has Taught Us
Together, we have welcomed more than 10,000 guests through our private dining work. We have also designed, owned and operated French Magnolia Brasserie & Wine Bar in Bristol, Virginia.
Those experiences have given us so much to draw from. We have cooked for celebrations, helped families mark important occasions, introduced guests to wines they had never tried, and watched strangers become friends over dinner.
Again and again, we return to the same lesson: preparation and care create room for people to enjoy themselves.
That understanding informs everything we share through French Magnolia, from a private dinner to a design consultation or an idea you try in your own kitchen.
Sharing the Story on Screen
In 2022, an invitation to develop a culinary television series gave us an opportunity to share more of the world behind the table.
I wanted to follow the story of food beyond the finished plate—to the people who grow, gather, hunt, and prepare it, and to the places that give it character.
That vision became French Magnolia Cooks, our PBS television series. Across twenty-two episodes, we explore ingredients, French-inspired cooking, and the work and care that bring a meal together. The series has received six Emmy nominations and three Emmy Awards.
Television has given us another way to welcome people in. My hope is that you come away curious, encouraged, and ready to try something yourself—whether that is a cooking technique, an unfamiliar ingredient, or a different way of thinking about what you serve.
Find Your Place in French Magnolia
Perhaps you first found us through the show. Perhaps you are planning a dinner, considering a change at home, or looking for an idea to make your next gathering feel special.
Through French Magnolia Cooks, Thomas and I bring private dining, wine, and hospitality to your table.
Through French Magnolia Interiors, I help shape homes and boutique hospitality spaces around the people who use them.
Our Watch and Read pages offer stories and ideas to spend time with, learn from, and bring into your own life. Our Shop is taking shape as another way to share pieces for the kitchen, table, and home.
However you arrived, I’m glad you’re here. I hope you find something that makes you want to cook, create, pull up another chair, or invite someone over.
There is always room for another story around the table.