Cape Cod native Kayla Crosby has quietly become the force behind some of the Cape’s most photographed moments: engagements, anniversaries, bachelorette parties, and sunset gatherings.
While friends and family settle into the sand to toast the view, Crosby is the one making the magic happen. She hauls in the linens, glassware, umbrella, name cards, flowers, and everything else needed to turn a patch of beach into a coastal tablescape that blends seamlessly into the backdrop.
Through her business, Coastal Picnic Cape Cod, she’s bringing a touch of luxury to the casual beach outing by handling setup, décor, games, and even photos so guests can simply show up and enjoy. Oh, and she’s doing all of this while juggling a full-time job in marketing along with other freelance work on the side. Such is the life of a year-round Cape Codder.
Crosby grew up in Wellfleet and attended Nauset High School in Eastham. During the summers, she helped her parents run Hatch’s Fish Market in Wellfleet, worked at an ice cream shop, and as a waitress at a local restaurant. Watching her parents run their own business made her realize that it was possible to survive by running a seasonal business on the Cape. That belief stuck with her, even as she headed off Cape briefly to attend the University of South Florida, where she stayed after college and pursued a marketing career.
She returned to the Cape during the pandemic and landed a full-time marketing job here. When Covid hit, she said, “I wanted to bring something to the Cape so that people were able to gather still, but gather outdoors.” During the pandemic, Crosby remembers people didn’t want to go to restaurants, but they still wanted to get together safely.
A friend of hers started a picnic company in Florida, and she thought it would be a good idea to emulate it here on the Cape. At the time, there weren’t any picnic companies here. Her first picnic was in the summer of 2021, and she thought, “It’ll be fun for some extra money.”
It started with a few picnics in the summer, which quickly blossomed into almost 100 picnics crammed into the four months of last summer. “So, it’s pretty much taken over my life and grown wildly,” Crosby said. Even during the off-season, Crosby fields emails, updates social media, puts in orders, and prepares for the coming summer season.
Currently, she is a one-person show. But she admits she gets help from her family who all still live on the Cape, and from her husband, with whom she lives in Harwich. At times, she’s recruited her two younger sisters and has even had her grandma chip in. “It’s become a full family affair,” Crosby said.
During the summer, she is running to set up picnics, often after work, from Wednesdays through Sunday. Sometimes she even offers to pick up food deliveries for customers, with some ordering lobster dinners from her step-dad at Hatch’s. “It’s no days off in the summer,” she said. The area that should be extra office space in her home has become a staging area for the company, where she stores the supplies on organized shelves.
So many of her events are proposals, often on the bayside beaches during sunset. “It’s just magical,” says Harwich native Jessica LaRocco, who hired Crosby to cater a bridesmaid party for LaRocco’s cousin. There are many events she can host, from a tea party for young girls to a wine-and-cheese night for adults. “She’s really taken this idea and run with it,” said LaRocco.
In the future, she would love to do it full-time so she can focus on getting more involved in the community and on creating tablescapes for holidays. Every year, the business has grown, Crosby shared, adding that she has already doubled the number of bookings from last year. “Which is so incredible,” Crosby said.
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