I Helped Them Buy The Building

 

Hi Folks: I met Jordan Champagne in the late 1990s when she and her husband, Todd, literally pitched their tent along the edge of a field I was farming near Aromas. Today, I am happy to lend my support to Jordan and the team at Happy Girl Kitchen as they make a serious effort to purchase the building in Pacific Grove that houses their restaurant and cannery. There are a lot of sad stories out there about the dashed hopes of idealistic kids, the lost years of misspent youth, and the brutal realities of bad luck, but this is not one of them. Let me tell you Happy Girl Kitchen’s “Happy” story from my perspective, and let’s see if together we can help them write another happy chapter.

I had been a founding partner of Happy Boy Farm, and when I left that partnership to start Mariquita Farm with my late wife, Julia, she and I chose to focus our efforts on building a “CSA program.” “CSA” is just a fancy acronym for “Community Supported Agriculture.” The idea wasn’t new, but it was exciting to us. We’d learned that in Japan there was a movement among frustrated consumers who wanted more choices of organically grown food available in their stores so that they didn’t have to rely on conventionally grown produce imported from abroad. Instead of merely complaining about how big corporations rule the world, some Japanese consumers chose to band together and support their remaining local farms by stepping in where big banks fear to lend. The people joined together with their neighbors to pay the few remaining small-scale local farmers in their communities to grow the traditional, heirloom vegetables in the natural way that they wanted – Community Supported Agriculture! Of course, the truth is that all farms are supported by some community or other; it could be a “community” of bankers, lobbyists, petrochemical companies, major chain retailers, and the politicians that do the bidding of their corporate sponsors, or it could be a community of you and I and our friends who want to preserve a local food system that works for our local interests. As we grew our little CSA farm Jordan was our first delivery driver. She was passionate about building community around food, she was excited to work with organic farms, and she had a valid driver’s license. As a former employer I KNOW how hard she works.

Meanwhile, over at Happy Boy Farms, Jordan worked with my former partner and managed his growing farmers market operation. When she noticed how much food waste seems inevitable on farms she thought to take advantage of all the cull produce and unsold veggies by preserving and canning the produce as pickles and sauces. So she and Todd learned how to do all that. And they learned about the permitting and the legal ramifications of preserving and selling food. Soon the jars of preserved foods were available to sell at Happy Boy Farm’s market stalls and a separate entity emerged- Happy Girl Kitchen. It was nice to see Jordan’s idea develop and take off. When she and Todd were able to successfully spin the Happy Boy kitchen effort off as their own company, Happy Girl Kitchen, I was happy to be able to turn to them and have them can the tomatoes that I grew, or make marmalades from the citrus I was growing.

Besides running a CSA program, Julia and I sold produce in San Francisco’s Ferry Plaza Farmers Market. When Happy Girl Kitchen got their own stall there, so we were “neighbors” again and we would each pitch our tents near to each other. It was fun to watch their progress. Eventually, as our children got older, it was difficult to always be busy on a Saturday morning, so after 18 years in the farmers market we dropped out to create a more amenable family schedule. In the meantime Todd and Jordan had started a family. I wasn’t surprised when, years later, they too eventually chose to drop out of regular attendance at the farmers market to better manage their family life. I was happy to learn that they had opted to move away from a life on the road serving farmers markets to open up a little cannery and cafe in the nearby town of Pacific Grove. I was worried a bit about the challenge they’d face running a restaurant as well as managing a cannery, but they did it!  That was 15 years ago now< And they’ve done it well. Happy Girl Kitchen has become a hub for farms all around our area. Not only have they preserved produce for a wide range of our local growers, they have taught classes, organized events, served as a venue, and cooked a million great meals. I’m so proud of them and it’s fun to have a “I knew them when” story.

Besides operating a Community Supported AG program for many years and working in farmers markets I’ve served the restaurant trade, especially in San Francisco and Berkeley. In fact, the first vegetable farm I ever worked on back in 1980 was a garden that was in the service of Berkeley’s Chez Panisse and at this point in my life the ups and downs of the restaurant industry are in my DNA. With over 45 years in the service of kitchens I’ve learned a thing or two.

I can think back on so many warm, inviting restaurants with great food that I worked with over the years and that are no longer with us. I know that running a restaurant is a hard and demanding task. I have respect for any restaurant that can survive the initial period of being the exciting new place in town and mature into being a timeless destination. It’s not enough to serve good food in a warm and inviting environment. It’s not always even enough to be a really WELL RUN place with happy, dedicated employees, dishing out thoughtful service along with the great food! What I observe is that it’s the restaurants that can do all of that and who OWN THEIR BUILDINGS that thrive over the long haul.

Happy Girl Kitchen has survived the ups and downs of the economy because they do a good job, they assiduously court and support local growers in the service of their community and their customers, and they work hard. I trust them.

As a farmer I want places like Happy Girl Kitchen in the neighborhood to buy the herbs, veggies, fruits and flowers that I grow.As a food producer with too much to do already I depend on canneries like Happy Girl Kitchen because I need a licensed, permitted facility with a skilled staff to preserve the tomatoes I grow or make marmalade from the citrus I’ve produced. 

As a consumer and resident of the Monterey Bay Area I enjoy restaurants like Happy Girl Kitchen. When I find myself on the Monterey Peninsula and I want a great sandwich or a savory hot soup, or a cup aromatic chai, HGK is always inviting, dependable and satisfying and I always direct all my friends who are checking out the Monterey Bay Aquarium to drop in there after visiting the otters and octopi.

And as a hopeful person I need places like Happy Girl Kitchen to thrive; their success validates my own dreams about the healing effects of warm, positive, flavorful community spirit. Join me, and let’s all say, “We helped them buy the building!”

Links Below

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