Happy Birthday to us...

We opened our doors for the first time on November 1st, 2006...Today we are celebrating our five year anniversary with a free Rubber Boots Buffet, and an open stage/ jam session with my band of pals which is loosely referred to as the Burning Sensations. We opened on November 1st because it was two weeks after we got the keys, and that was how much time it took to paint, clean, set up and cook. We've kept it running by keeping running for the better part of five years, and I am proud to say that it is still, by far, the best job I have ever had. I am not saying it is the easiest, or even always the most fun, that would be disingenuous. It is hard work, but it is good work, when I look out at the community we have joined/helped to build, I am always filled with a sense of pride combined with an even bigger sense of responsibility. When we opened the branch, I promised to do my best, to serve local and organic food to a mass audience, to support our community and to try to build something that mattered. To make a job that was more than a job, a business that was also a vision, a culture. Some days, I think that may be exactly what we have accomplished here, at the branch; most days, however, I know that we still have a long way to go...cultures do not happen in five years, they happen in lifetimes, and that is exactly what I am hoping to give. Thank you for five years to all of our friends, family, customers, community...and thank you for the lifetime yet to come!