01/13/2023
Friends,
I hope this email finds you well, recovered from holiday travel and madness and looking ahead to your year to come. We’ve got a few important and exciting things to share with you. December was a whirlwind and I haven’t really had the opportunity to write to you, to really thank you one last time from the bottom of our hearts for all that you have done to support our little mission of a shop. You’ve kept us smiling, in business, and striving to take good care of you. We made it through the pandemic together as a team, taking orders through plexiglass glass and masks. We’ve loved seeing your families grow. The personal relationships that some of you have with Zarco. Just thank you, thank you, thank you for helping us make this place more than a typical concession. I do hope that you continue to develop relationships with the small businesses that you love. That’s what keeps them/us going. Thank you also to those that came to the party even though we got hit with quite a bout of ice and it was so bloody cold! It was wonderful to fill the space with open hearted humans and delicious vittles one last time. We closed on a truly high note. SO THANK YOU!
Let’s start with some good news: Poffertjes are staying in Seattle! The cart as well as the electric pan were purchased by Genevieve who has been quietly building her poffertjes side hustle over the last year. She’s got Dutch lineage and also just returned from a stint with the Out Standing in a Field folks. I know she intends to maintain a relationship with some Seattle Farmers Markets, and I’ll be sure to let you know when she pops up. Undoubtedly she’ll do things a little differently than we did, but I have faith that she’s gonna make some deelish tiny pancakes. You can follow her on instagram .wa and to be clear she is not taking over the space at Golden Gardens, just the poffertjes equipment.
Many of you have asked what will be happening with the concession next. The City uses something called an RFP process to find its applicants. It’s A VERY extensive application, each step takes many months first for the city to prepare the application, open the application process and advertise it in an equitable way and then choose the applicant…and then for the applicant to receive the keys. For reference, we applied in the fall of 2016, received notice that we had been awarded the contract in January, received the keys in September of 2017, and of course had to remodel and we opened in May of 2018. (Basically 1.5 years after I applied) With that in mind, The City is offering the space as a seasonal concession for this year, I believe in order to buy themselves time to open the RFP process up and find a full time concessionaire for the following year. (2024) Here is the link for the application for the seasonal concession for this summer. I tried to convince the City to buy my appliances so that the this summers seasonal concessionaire doesn’t have to make such an enormous up front investment to outfit the space for only one season. They of course rejected my offer and said that I was welcome to “donate” the equipment to the space. . Maybe there is someone who already has a nice stash of equipment that can swoop right in. Otherwise you’re looking at a long summer of canned bevies and granola bars.
This brings us to equipment. We are very close to being completely out of our shop. We have our walk through on Tuesday 1/17 at 4pm. (We’re leaving for a two week grand adventure to Tahiti and New Zealand on Wednesday, complete with Elton John tickets in New Zealand!!!!) Gabe has spackled and painted. We’ve managed to consolidate the bulk of the small wares that matter as well the totality of our pantry into our own kitchen. However we are STILL sitting on quite a few large appliances which is very annoying. Tragically and incredibly our walkin refrigerator died Christmas weekend. (Tragically because we now have to fix it before we can sell it which is expensive, and incredibly because the beast managed to give us five soldiering years of consistently cold food. As though the walk-in was energetically connected to us, she held out until after our last service to gasp its last breath!) We’ve been scrambling to get it fixed, parts finally arrived today and the repair person is fixing it on Monday. For someone looking for a used walkin, this baby is a sure thing, because it’s getting a NEW COMPRESSOR on Monday. After it is fixed we will break it down and either deliver it up to our home on Whidbey, or happily deliver her straight to a new owner. (Please help us find this person!)
Ok so just in case you know someone who might be interested in our appliances below is a list of what is left. I will also be posting the whole lot on instagram and if you’d be willing please share. We’ll be at the shop all day Saturday(1/14), and it’s the last day that these items will be for sale until later in the season. Prices are negotiable, that being said, we will store these things in the garage and wait until spring to get a reasonable price for them. Restaurant owners and farmers-I am open to some of the payment being in the form of gift card or exchange at your establishment…
Kolpak self-contained walk-in with floor. This is getting a BRAND NEW compressor on Monday, and will be moved to Whidbey on Tuesday. External dimensions: 4x6x8(height) Internal Dimentions:6x3x5.5 $6000.00 (for reference, the closest new version is 11k)
Atosa propane grill $600
Atosa Refrigerator Drawers (purchased in 2021) $1100
Atosa upright freezer $1100
Moffat 32 Convection Oven $1000
Bunn Slushee machine $1700 Outfitted with brand new seals just before we tucked her away for winter. (We are willing to also share recipes)
Crathco refrigerated beverage dispenser $750(also, willing to share recipes)
Arctic Air Bar back refrigerator $1100 with stainless steel countertop and glass doors.
Waring panini press $400
Globe Food chopper $800
Lastly, many of you have asked about whether I plan to keep this newsletter going. I would like to, but I am unclear what the angle will be. Recovering food business owner/advocacy for restaurants and restaurant workers? Reclaiming my health? Making restaurant recipes work at home/how to build out your pantry? Anyway, if you would like to receive a newsletter maybe once a month, please let me know and what you would find worthy of adding clutter to your inbox.
With love and gratitude,
Miri (and Gabe) (and Zarco!)
Click here for an update from Miri's at Golden Gardens!
