Lately
Took a little summer break to try and digest everything that’s happened leading up to and since the closure. What a whirlwind. I’ve learned that processing thoughts is both chaotic and a privilege. I’m not fully digested, and that is A-OK.
The last month of operating the store was nuts. After our announcement, we immediately received a tremendous outpouring of love and support. It came as a surprise, honestly. I realize this probably sounds terribly cliche and borderline like a humble brag. Gross. But it is not, we were stunned. People came in flocks to purchase final items. We cleared out of inventory by week two. The kitchen tickets doubled, tripled.
On our final week, we nearly quadrupled our pars. That first and last Thursday, we wiped our 4x par completely mid service, and had to use up our 1x par allocated for Friday. We planned accordingly and prepped an additional 2x par to add to Friday’s existing 5x par, which alarmingly was not enough. By Satuday we upped our volume to 6x pars and cooked it all. Folks waited well over an hour for their food. If we never got a chance to tell you in person that day, we are so very sorry for those obscene wait times. And we are also so, so very grateful for your patience and love and support. It meant the world to us.
Two days later we were back in the kitchen but wearing different hats. Many of you have asked this question, so I thought it might be worth explaining. Yes! We are still producing our line of Queens branded products out of the original Queens kitchen. The back dining room is now a production/packing office. We deep cleaned the entire store, parted ways with a bunch of old furniture and knick knacks, and flipped the space the day after we closed shop. Everything we make and sell is made in the same back kitchen today. Same kitchen crew: John + Auder + Clara + Eddo = team work makes the dream work.
Since the big shift, we are now in an additional 15 specialty markets and groceries across the nation. Hell yea. And we’ve started offering larger format/bulk sizing of our products for restaurants and chefs looking to use our ingredients in their dishes. Very cool.
Much of our brain-space and time is currently being allocated to product r&d, beta testing, sampling new packaging and prototyping packaging (everything from containers to labels to packing tape to shipping boxes), designing assets (for product marketing, social campaigns, logos, label, yada yada), sales and marketing (with existing and prospective vendors, partners), e-commerce, and fundraising. Folks ask us all the time what change has felt like. What’s it like going from running a market and restaurant to running a food company? Dare I say really good? Things are just as busy, if not busier? The hustle is certainly different. We both enjoy exercising a different part of our brain and reapplying skills that were once discontinued.
Also, we’ve got a few really special events coming up. It’s time to reconnect friends. The first one will be our Loquat collab jam release event Saturday, Sep. 9 starting at 8a. Limited Babkas and Gil Geori Toast featuring the special jam. And then two events outside of San Francisco (!!) Our first(s) in a very long time. More details on those soon. Think they’re not the DL for now, but if you see me in person I’ll likely tell you because I’m super excited about them.
This post is crazy. Thanks for reading.