How to Prune HQ
Plant nursery · Laguna Beach ·
Celebrated chef's single-location restaurant, feminist icon, modest profit
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668 N Pacific Coast Hwy, Laguna Beach, CA 92651 Get directions
Celebrated chef's single-location restaurant, feminist icon, modest profit
668 N Pacific Coast Hwy, Laguna Beach, CA 92651 Get directions
"Chefs Gabrielle Hamilton and Ashley Merriman abandoned plans to partner with disgraced restaurateur Ken Friedman after he refused to give up a manager's salary despite being effectively barred from physically coming to the restaurant; they were reportedly surprised and unsettled by the intense backlash when many people turned against them for the association." - Amanda Kludt
"Operated by a celebrated chef and memoirist, this single-location, beloved restaurant helped secure her status as a feminist icon; it reportedly generates modest weekly profit (about $1,112), supplements income through book royalties, and brings in paid writing at roughly $3 a word. The chef has turned down some commercial deals to preserve authenticity, favoring reputation and cultural influence over rapid financial expansion." - Meghan McCarron
"The chefs' primary restaurant is run according to a codified staff manual of five core values — including disarming honesty, servant leadership (the head chef prefers to be called “G.H.” and deliberately reverses traditional hierarchies by doing tasks like taking out the trash and making coffee for staff), and an emphasis on avoiding rhetorical questions so only real inquiries drive action — which they planned to transplant to the partner restaurant. Despite its influence, the business does not make its owners wealthy: one chef reportedly earns about $1,112 per week after taxes from the restaurant, supplemented occasionally by book royalties, column fees and television work, and lives modestly with family." - Monica Burton
