 After selling my business in the spring of 2005, Moni & I were looking for a business that we could operate as a husband and wife team that also had a lot of contact with the community. We were also looking for one that would resonate with the environmental ideals that we hold dear. Moni has studied permaculture and we have both been on an organic food path for many years. When we saw that Grilla Bites was coming to Medford, we were curious about it and thought it would be a great place to eat.
A short while later, we saw the ad looking for a partner for the Ashland Grilla Bites Restaurant, and we became very curious, so we contacted Fred. After a meeting in Medford and subsequent visits to Chico, we signed on as the start-up managing team at the new Grilla Bites on the Plaza in downtown Ashland at the former Plaza Cafe. We had to spend a lot of time and effort de-greasing, scraping, painting, cleaning and remodelling the formerly tired old place, but our efforts paid off! We opened on May the 17th with a sparkling clean, well lighted and inviting eating environment that served delicious and healthy organic and natural food.
As newcomers to running a restaurant, especially a start-up, there was lots of room for improvement and making mistakes. Learning the menu, ordering produce, food, making soups, managing bread, etc. was an eye opener for us, but we learned quickly from errors, and improved our service rapidly. Opening at the beginning of the busiest part of our season gave us little time to see the big picture, but we found that our customers were responding to our concept and returning! Some would come to us every day during their four or five day visit to our lovely town and the Shakespeare Festival.
As time has gone forward, we have come to see many things about this exciting, never-a- dull-moment business. Sure, there are long days, and there are times when we’re tired beyond belief. But all that evaporates when a customer turns to us and says “Thanks for being here!” or “The food is Great!”, or “Nummy Nummy!” We are most honored to serve our customers delicious and affordable organic food, and truly blessed by the response we have gotten from both short term visitors and long time locals.
Thanks,
Tom & Monika DuBois
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