routine

August 2020

rou·tine

/ro͞oˈtēn/

noun

1.) a sequence of actions regularly followed; a fixed program

Routine is surely what has gotten me through this pandemic so far; obviously it’s a different routine than normal…but it’s something.

I so miss seeing our restaurant full of people celebrating life events. You realize that these gatherings are so important. They are the reason we dress up, get a haircut or manicure, save our money, grab a special bottle of wine, etc. So we can meet, catch up with old friends and decompress…

Our “routine” now involves a temperature check every morning when we arrive at work. Covid spray. Plating food in boxes. Just keeping Copine afloat. Shaun and I have also tried to make time (in a schedule that typically allows zero time for self-care) for just that. Reflection, meditation, hikes and deep breaths.

But the brightest part is that our whole team has stayed very connected.

Two of our kitchen staff are working elsewhere for the time being: one is in San Diego, temporarily feeding folks who cannot feed themselves and a second is delivering for one of our purveyors. 

Angela comes on Wednesday to catch up and brainstorm cocktails. Thursdays Amy and Anica stop in. Fridays bring a visit from Jeana and Michael. Jason and Marcie visit when time allows. And every Sunday, one of these fine folks comes in to help me with pick-ups. In each case they sit and catch me up on life and how they are filling their time these days, usually over a glass of wine that we are more than happy to provide.

I cannot explain how much peace this brings me…my team is like a touchstone. Healing and comforting at the same time. A bright spot of routine in a world that has been shaken like a snow globe.

Hang in there. Better times ahead if we all work together to make it happen.

integrity

July 2020

in·teg·ri·ty

/inˈteɡrədē/

noun

1.) the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles.

Please indulge me for this post…

I am disheartened when I see and hear certain things.

Sloppy business/state re-openings where the staff/public seem dispensable.

People complaining about wearing masks.

The casual attitude about the basic and undeniable value of human lives.

Negativity towards each other.

We must have integrity in our daily dealings. Always. There is most definitely a moral compass out there that tells us the difference between right and wrong.

I see people criticizing one another on social media platforms. But guess what? Opinions are less interesting if you can’t demonstrate that you have some integrity. Self promotion and hiding behind a false sense of importance are useless. The fish rots from the head down.

The fact is that we are all in this mess together.

Educate yourself and keep the negativity in your own space.

I do my best to support those around me and to acknowledge their circumstances, as well as my own, while doing so. No one is perfect.

We have nothing else if we do not have integrity.

Stay safe everyone.

trust

June 2020

trust

/trəst/

noun

1. firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.

Trust. Something we all crave in these difficult times. Those of you that receive our newsletter and replied to the survey: thank you for taking the time. We so appreciate your responses.

As we begin to lay out plans for re-opening our doors for dine-in, we acknowledge at the outset that there needs to be trust. Trust on our end, that you will not come to Copine if you are unwell. And trust on your end that we do the same and that we are taking precautions over and above our normal standards.

We can agree that we live in a challenging world at present. Restaurants are a place to appreciate each other’s company and bond over a good meal. To recharge and relax and let the stress melt away…

Our team met as a whole this week and talked about what service will look like in the future. We have reorganized our dining area with the maximum amount of space between tables. We discussed ideas as far as delivering plates to tables. Directional flow in the room. What makes us all feel safe and how we can communicate that to our guests.

Our kitchen staff is on board with ideas to continue our Takeaway Supper Program in tandem with dine-in. A lot of you are uneasy about dining out, and with good reason. The next month or so should tell us a lot about consumer confidence, as well as what is working and what isn’t in the new normal.

There are always going to be things we cannot control. But we all stand together as we navigate the waters. And trust extends a branch that allows us to climb the tree to the next level. Safely.

Be well and we hope to see you in the not-too-distant future.

renewal

May 2020

renewal

/rəˈn(y)o͞oəl/

noun

1. an instance of resuming an activity or state after an interruption
   

Life, especially life in this time on this planet, requires you to stop and renew at various points.

The simple act of a long shower or hot bath. The scent of lemony flowers blooming in our front yard. A walk with our dogs. Going to work. The sound of our restaurant, filled with service noises and happy guests…

All of these are things not to be taken for granted, now more than ever.

As we inch slowly towards the future with this whole pandemic, we have to ask ourselves how we will adapt to the moving target of the new normal?

What will it look like for restaurants?

Shaun and I are preparing for a new beginning in the face of adversity. A rebirth…like the Phoenix. What will rise from the ashes for the hospitality industry? 

For Copine: our Takeaway Suppers will very likely continue in tandem with dine-in. 

Reduced hours. 

Masks in order to protect our team and our guests.

Sanitizer.

Social distancing of tables.

What we do not change are the standards we hold dear. Renewal does not mean re-inventing the wheel. It means keeping what makes Copine so special and adding to it. Our team has remained in close contact with us throughout the past few months. They are eager to get back to work. 

We will need the support of our guests as well as our incredible staff in order to get through this. We are not in a rush to re-open until we feel it’s warranted…in the meantime please be safe and think towards a positive future.

Renewal.

Stay tuned.

perseverance

April 2020

Perseverance

/ˌpərsəˈvirəns/

noun

1. persistence in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success

Day 15 of no Copine…or at least the Copine I know and love. The faces of my staff as they arrive for work each day. Our purveyors when they drop off our orders. The guests who I see on a regular basis and live too far for picking up take-out make sense. I hope you are all well, safe and hanging in there…

One has to adapt to the current climate. We have expanded our Sunday Supper program to Thursday-Sundays for the time being. Orders are placed two days in advance (Tuesday for Thursday pick-up, Wednesday for Friday, etc.) and can be picked up between Noon and 5:00pm. Every order comes with easy re-heat instructions.

We are doing everything we can in order to safely serve folks through the end of this crisis. We limit our meals to 30 per day, as we need room to cool down and store the prep for each day, as well as the completed, packaged and bagged meals. We made the pick-up window long, so our guests rarely arrive more than one at a time. Email reminders are sent and all of guests practice social distancing on pick-up. It’s so odd how much things have changed over the last month? 

Perseverance is the new normal.

A way of thinking.

A state of being in these strange days.

We love you, Seattle. Stay strong and support your small businesses.

We will overcome. 

together

March 2020

/təˈɡeT͟Hər/

adverb

1. with or in proximity to another person or people
   

If ever there was a time to talk togetherness…this is it.

Even as anxiousness and low grade panic seem the order of the day, Seattle and its residents are pulling together in a way that reminds me how grateful I am to live here. We are facing something very real and full of unknowns with grace and a sense of calm that I have come to expect from this little corner of the world.

We cannot know what the fallout of these things will be, but I know that we must remain levelheaded and take one day at a time. 

What else can we do?

A few things come to mind:

Be diligent about cleanliness. We have this culture in our restaurant already, but we have taken extra precautions beyond our normal standards. Deeper cleans, excessive hand washing and daily education are the newer normal. Remember that restaurants have a different set of sanitation requirements already. If you felt safe dining somewhere before, you should feel safer now.

Support your small businesses. Buy their to-go options, like our Sunday Suppers or order Gift Cards to celebrate when this tough time is over.

Be safe. Avoid going out if you feel unwell. Be sure to reach out to your medical professionals.

Treat each other with care and kindness. 

And above all else, know that we are here for you. All of the small business owners I know are pulling together to do the best we can in a very difficult time. Please remember that we cannot work from home…together we can help save the Seattle dining landscape.

Sending you all positive energy…

success

February 2020

suc·cess

/səkˈses/

noun

1.) the accomplishment of an aim or purpose

How do we measure success? Small business ownership in the food industry is hard, no question, but it’s a choice. You have to really love it to succeed. The definition of success is different for everyone, of course, but I think the basis of that thought holds true for most people.

You have to love the job enough to plumb your own sink when you need to, as my husband can tell you. You have to embrace the changes in the industry and take them as they come. You have to stay true to your vision. Consistency is key. It is truly a marathon and not a sprint. When you do the job of three people, it’s important to remember where you came from, what lessons you have learned and why you are doing what you are doing every single day. Sometimes people ask me what I think about what others are doing, but I can’t speak to someone else’s point of view; and I don’t know that anyone can, really? What works for one person, whether it’s experimental or based in classics and foundational systems may not work for another. My business is not quite 4 years old. However, having been in this industry for 25 + years I can speak from my experience - and what I have learned from my mentors:

Treat your guests as you would in your home.

Be gracious. 

Treat your staff the way you would want to be treated. 

Have integrity.

You cannot make everyone happy, but you can try.

Protect yourself and your personal stake in your business.

Surround yourself with like minded people.

There are exceptions to every rule.

Remember that you make your own choices.

Remember to take some time for self care.

What I know to be true is that we get tremendous satisfaction out of making people happy and exceeding their expectations. That’s not to say that doing so is always easy; sometimes you realize that some people are not people you would invite into your home. Awards are lovely and can help increase the bandwidth of your brand. But doing something well…not spreading too thin and really being conscious in my choices is so important to me. Life in any career is full of sacrifices. But at the end of the day I control my own destiny and my own happiness in my career path. When I wake up in the morning I try to think about what things will push me across the finish line for today. And, for me at least, that is the definition of success.

copine

January 2020

copine

[kɔ.pin]

noun 

1.) comrade (pal); petite amie (girlfriend)  [french]

I am often asked where the name for our restaurant came from. Simply put: we spend so much of our time here, Copine is like a best friend or partner.

In 2004 we had an extensive pre-opening training to prepare for Per Se. I was fresh from Maitre d’/Managerial jobs in Manhattan and Shaun was returning to the states after working in Paris for two years. Both creatures of habit, we kept sitting in the same two seats every session. We talked about Paris, New York City and Oregon (where Shaun is from) as well as his love for Seattle, where he attended high school. We bonded over our love for the restaurant industry. After we began dating (and I became the literal “copine”) we realized how closely our visions aligned. Late night planning sessions began. Eventually, in 2008, it was time to move on from New York and our lives there. The pull of exploring life on the West Coast was very strong.

We headed to San Francisco first, to work with our old friend and mentor Chef Christopher L’Hommedieu. Our time in that city was brief, but full of making new friends like Evan and Sarah Rich of Rich Table and Charles Bililies, the visionary behind Souvla. (By the way…if you are in San Francisco do NOT miss either of their restaurants.) 

Then it was off to the Napa Valley where we helped open a new hotel with Sean O’Toole (now Chef/Owner of Torc) and continued to talk out our dreams of what eventually became Copine. It was around this time that a former colleague asked Shaun if he was ready to return to the Pacific Northwest and Chef a place called Book Bindery. It was a great opportunity: our testing ground…our concept to run and operate the way we saw fit. Making that move allowed us to be introduced to the Seattle market and our future guests. But more significant was that we treated that property like it was ours. Spending all of our free time tweaking, honing and streamlining what we thought our eventual restaurant could be. After 4 years there we decided to make our dream happen.

When you take a step like that, you realize the amount of sacrifice you have to make and how much respect you need to have for your vision. Someone once said “treat it like it’s your own and someday it will be.” 

Copine seemed like the perfect name.