Laina McFerren
Co-Founder, Wolf Creek Restaurant & Brewery
Laina McFerren founded Wolf Creek Restaurant & Brewing Co. with her husband in 1997. Laina moved to Southern California in 1984 to attend UCLA, majoring in communications. After working in restaurants to help pay for college, she decided she loved the fast pace of the restaurant world and wanted to open her own business.
After moving to Santa Clarita, Rob and Laina used an SBA loan and put together a business plan with friends and family as investors and opened Wolf Creek Restaurant & Brewing Co. on April 1st, 1997. Through hard work, an amazing staff, and not a little bit of luck, they were able to pay off the initial investors after 4 years.
Laina and Rob’s business philosophy focused on community involvement to build business, rather than advertising. As a result, Laina has served on several non-profit boards, volunteered for many organizations and was named SCV Woman of the Year in 2017 for her community service.
In 2007, Laina and her husband partnered with local businessman John Maly to expand the business. They opened the production brewery in 2011 with a full tasting room and distribution.
In 2018, Laina negotiated the contract with Scorpion Enterprises to run their corporate kitchen in the brand new Santa Clarita Building. The team there served breakfast and lunch to over 400 employees for over 2 years until Covid closed the building.
While navigating the shut downs and ever-changing rules during the pandemic, Rob was diagnosed with Cancer and passed away in December of 2020. Laina made the difficult decision to sell the brewing operations and focus on the restaurant after Rob’s death.
In 2022 Laina oversaw a remodel of the banquet facility in the restaurant and turned it into a second catering kitchen with a separate take out area.
She is looking towards focusing on that growth over the next several years.
