Transcript
[00:00:00]
Leigh: they were like, we’re gonna then end up just closing, Beloved is not making enough, enough , to keep the doors open, it was so sad. Like, I could not believe it. I was like, no, you know, this is a gem We have very loyal customers, and then also the food is so yummy, so healthy, nourishing, and, we were just like so sad. But since we were here since day one, they were like, we might think an option for you guys to take over. And that, that changes everything,
One cafe in San Francisco that’s been serving beautiful plant based fare since 2017 is fighting to survive. And while they’ve been overwhelmed by the outpouring of community support, they still need all the help they can get.
I’m Leigh, founder and chief enthusiast at Healthy Anywhere. And today
I’m joined by Jennifer Yaquian,
one of the original employees of Beloved,
who stepped up recently along with her two sisters to save the cafe from closing. And they’re [00:01:00] now taking the reins, taking it into the next year and hopefully beyond. I hope you enjoy the show. Oh, cool. You’re wonderful. Oh, what a treat. Oh, it’s so beautiful. Thank you. Well, and so you’re Jennifer. Yes. And then you’ve got 2 sisters. Exactly.
Evelyn and Anna. Evelyn and Ana and Jennifer. Okay. And you ladies have just taken over as of when? September 1st. Okay. Wow. So you’re, you’re already a month in though. So congratulations. Thank you so much. But you’ve been with, Beloved for years.
Jennifer: Yes, since day one.
Leigh: Oh, I did not realize that.
When did Beloved open?
Was it 2019?
Jennifer: Uh, it was a long ago,
Leigh: seven,
Jennifer: [00:02:00] seven, 17, I think
Leigh: 17. Okay was there anything that attracted you to beloved in particular?
Jennifer: When I came in, like it was a sign saying that they were looking for people, so I knocked on the door and I was just like, Amazed by, the design, I don’t know if you’ve ever been here, inside the cafe, but it’s so beautiful, like every little detail, A lot of plants, I love plants, so she’s like, this is a beautiful little cafe.
I was not familiar with anything. Anything, like with a lot of teas that we have, you know, all the ingredients. So everything was new to me. Everything, in the beginning, I didn’t like nothing, like I was always having lunch outside, outside of work, and maybe I choose that will make myself, but, you know, like, little by little your palate and you start like, just learning and oh, that’s
Leigh: fascinating do you feel like your. eating habits have changed or evolved because of your work at Beloved Cafe? Like how, and how, [00:03:00] I mean, did you change to be full on vegan or, just more vegetables or?
Jennifer: None of us are vegan.
Leigh: Yeah,
Jennifer: none of us. Yeah, but we for sure try to, if we get like cheese or if we get milk or we try to get always the best, For sure, more veggies, more fruit, you know, and when you become a mom also, like something changes, for your kids too.
Leigh: Yeah, you want only the best.
Jennifer: Exactly.
Leigh: That’s cool. Yeah. So personally I’m not a vegan, but I am such a champion for a whole food plant based diet, right? That’s got to be the foundation of any healthy, sustainable diet. I might eat a little bit of fish or a little bit of meat, but the majority of
the focus is going to be, vegetables and fruits and nuts, legumes, all the, those wonderful, healthy plant [00:04:00] foods. So I can appreciate that. And what a funny story about coming in and not knowing and like developing a taste for it. That’s really cool.
Jennifer: Oh, no, there’s nothing on the menu that I haven’t tried or that I don’t like, I have my favorites,
Leigh: and I should ask, what are your favorites? On the menu. So
Jennifer: the juices, I like the green detox that has kale, celery, cucumber, cilantro, pear, ginger, and lime. And like on the hot drink, I like the mushroom tonic latte that we have is just so good. It’s a little earthy, but the flavor changes a lot because I put a splash of maple syrup and a splash of fresh ginger.
Very nice flavor. Also on the food, I’ll say the rainbow nori wrap is one of my favorites. It’s a tempeh, carrot, cabbage, cucumber, avocado, [00:05:00] microgreens, cilantro, mint, and we make the teriyaki sauce in house. So that’s a yummy sauce too. A lot of flavor.
Leigh: That sounds wonderful. Yeah.
And that tempeh is really good for your gut as well, along with all those beautiful, colorful vegetables. Um, just wonderful. So you mentioned Beloved is Plant based?
Jennifer: Plant based, yes. 100
Leigh: percent
Jennifer: Organic, plant based, gluten free.
All the healthy stuff that you can imagine. And
Leigh: So how are you sourcing all of this wonderful, fresh produce?
Jennifer: For the majority of the fruit and vegetables, we get them from the company named Variable Vegetable.
It’s a local, company, and also, the sprouts, we get it also from a local, small business, woman that she’s working with us.
Leigh: Wonderful. Yeah, I’m familiar with the ladies of, [00:06:00] Veritable Vegetable. I need to connect with them because I know, they supply a lot of really great places around the Bay. That’s great. So could you talk to me a little bit about when you were changing hands, like, how was it that you decided, you all decided you wanted to keep Beloved going?
And how did that play out?
Jennifer: They told us, at the end of, June, we had a meeting and they were like, they wanted us to like, cut the hours because they were saying that everything is very expensive, business is not at the greatest right now, even though there’s already the pandemic like times right now are very challenging and they were like can we cut hours And they were like maybe work one people in the cafe and we were like that’s not an option like you gotta be You know, taking orders, making the dishes, prepping, washing the dishes, like welcoming people.
It’s like, one person cannot do that. And [00:07:00] they were like, we’re gonna then end it up just closing, Beloved is not making enough to keep the doors open, it was so sad. Like, I could not believe it. I was like, no, you know, this is a gem We have very loyal customers, and then also like, oh, the food is so yummy, so healthy, nourishing, and, we were just like so sad. But since we were here since day one, they were like, we might think an option for you guys to take over. And that, that changes everything,
and it was a challenge to, to put like money together, get the permit, we got to move like quick in three weeks, we had to just a lot of stress, but, we knew we didn’t want to, we didn’t want Beloved to close the doors, and we open a Go-Fund-ME and we’re so grateful with the community and with the people, we’re raising by now we’re raising about, about 20, 000.
People knocking at the door, you know, giving us cash, bringing flowers. And some people, like the ladies, when the door was already closed. They will knock at the door and say, we’re praying for you guys. It was, [00:08:00] she was like so beautiful, it was so touching and it was one day that we thought, like we were having like issues with the landlord, we thought we were not going to be able to take the place.
And one day I just told my sister, I was like, if this doesn’t happen, I’m okay with it. My heart is filled with so much love, so much, so much from the community that I’m like, I’m okay with it, if it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen, but. If it does, more than grateful, yeah, everything ended up working out and we’re very happy and glad to be here.
That
Leigh: gives me chills. I’m wow. That’s incredible. There are so many of us that are so thankful that you were able to work it out with the landlord and hopefully will be around for a very long time to come. Talk to me a little bit about the challenges that you’re facing now and what you really need in terms of community support.
Jennifer: Yeah. So right now the challenges are, cause we know [00:09:00] how to work, like placing orders, like everything in the cafe, we know how to run the cafe. We’re learning now about, Money finances, because we had no idea, before it was just like, I make a phone call, everything will come to us, but we didn’t know nothing about, like money or nothing.
And now it’s just we got to, you know, like, try to see how can we spend less on certain things, always get the best, quality. Uh, because it’s also, balance, but yeah, we were for sure, like trying to learn, about finances, mostly,
Try to be more present also, because we also believe.
The social media has a lot to do, with the, businesses and being a little more successful.
Leigh: And is your GoFundMe still happening right now? It’s still open. So what is your goal? Do you have a goal to hit?
Jennifer: It’s 50, 000.
Leigh: Okay. Got it. So your goal is 50, 000 and [00:10:00] you are sitting at.
I’d love to get the link so we can share it out when we put this piece out. Yeah, absolutely so I guess I, one of the questions I had would be what are the top lessons that you’re learning? I know you’re like rapid fire one month in. It sounds like the financial side is a big lesson is there anything else that you would, point to is maybe something that’s been surprising, or a top lesson coming through this,
Jennifer: I didn’t thought the community.
We’re just so grateful with the people, how they, wrap us up with so much love, like the kindness, even just to talk about it, you know, my, my eyes get all watery, but we’re, we’re just grateful, very happy and grateful for the community and for all the love,
Leigh: that’s wonderful. That is so beautiful. Is there any one thing that you wish more people knew about your restaurant [00:11:00] or your business? And what would that be? What would you want to tell everyone?
Jennifer: I think they need it. They need to try it out, because sometimes people don’t think that we have such a great menu, such a great food, we’re a little place, but with so much, to offer. And I really would love for them to give it a try, give it a chance.
Leigh: It’s so true. I was, so I was just talking with a vegan restaurant owner yesterday in Morgan Hill. And he said, because their restaurant is vegan, It almost feels like there’s a whole subset of people that will just never come because it’s labeled vegan. But, again, going back to the point about this needs to be like, this is the basis of a beautiful, sustainable, healthy diet for anyone.
And it shouldn’t be exclusive.
You’re tapping into something and you’re running this [00:12:00] beautiful restaurant. . This is like food that nourishes us all. I’m glad that you bring that up. That, you wish more people would realize that and give it a try.
Jennifer: Yes.
Leigh: I’m hearing that. I’m hearing that from a lot of other vegan restaurants, but they’re whole food plant based.
It’s kind of like interesting to, to think about how. how we can elevate, this segment of really special cafes and restaurants and try to differentiate and not be pigeonholed into oh, it’s just like a funky vegan place.
Right.
Jennifer: they think. There’s no flavor and there’s so much.
Leigh: Oh yeah. So, do you have like fermented elements on your dishes?
Jennifer: The fermented soybean that we have, the tempeh. Oh,
Leigh: yes, yes, wonderful. And you’ve got house made yogurt, yes?
Jennifer: Yes, the coconut, house made yogurt.
Leigh: Yeah, that’s super special.
Jennifer: Yes, also like [00:13:00] the nut hummus, we think that the nut hummus that we have is just another thing, you know? So it’s everything, but except the chickpeas, we put because we make the nut milk in the jar. They’re homemade every day. So whatever is on the bag, that’s what we use for our nut hummus.
Same for the
Leigh: chocolate
Jennifer: nut brownies. So we don’t have any flour in the house. So , we use whatever is left and make our dessert.
Leigh: Okay, that’s really cool. And what I love about that is you’re reducing food waste too, because you’re Using like you’re using everything you’re saying, okay, we’re making our nut milk and now the, this leftover is going to go into our hummus or our brownies.
Wow. That’s awesome. Thank you for doing that.
Jennifer: Yeah. Yeah. And people love it,
Leigh: yeah. It’s tasty. Oh, wow. Well, Jennifer, thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate [00:14:00] it. And, goodness, wish you all the best with beloved cafe.
Jennifer: I’ll keep in touch and look forward to watching you ladies. You three shine. Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Leigh: Okay.
Jennifer: Bye bye. Bye bye.
