Malibu and Pacific Palisades Restaurants Face Uncertain Future Amid 2025 LA Wildfires | Eater LA
"Co-founder Mark Wain learned the Palisades cafe had burned down after seeing the building aflame on a local newscast and has been prioritizing team safety, temporarily closing about half of the company’s Los Angeles cafes in evacuation areas or impacted by bad air quality. He plans to rebuild in the Palisades but is "still assessing that impulse day by day — sometimes hour by hour," and hasn’t yet had a chance to survey the damage. Because there are currently two- to three-hour-long waits to get into the area, he wants to allow residents who have lost their homes to take priority in returning, and plans to temporarily move employees at the Palisades cafe to other locations while affected employees continue to get paid. "We want to do right by our employees," Wain says. "We want to do right by our customers. We want to do right by our community." He encourages people to show up to the company’s other locations for respite or coffee, notes the roastery in Gardena remains unaffected and beans are available to purchase online for shipping, and emphasizes that "We’re more than just a coffee shop," adding, "The company is more about our people, the connections that we make with our customers, and the deep connections that we have in our communities." He’s already seen regulars at an open Brentwood cafe check in on staff and neighbors; "The best way to help us is to stop in and say hi to let us know how you are," he says. "We’re bent, but not broken," Wain says. "We will rebuild." - Rebecca Roland
