#7 Sustainable Success: Inside Gather’s 15-Year Journey with Eric Fenster

In this episode of Restaurant Leaders Unplugged, join Sebastian Stahl as he interviews Eric Fenster, co-founder of Gather Restaurant in Berkeley, CA. Eric shares his journey from outdoor education to sustainable dining, discussing Gather's unique 50/50 vegan-omnivore menu balance, their award-winning vegan charcuterie, and navigating the challenges of the pandemic. 

Learn how Gather's commitment to sustainability and community has driven its success for 15 years, and get a glimpse into Eric's exciting vision for the future of hospitality. 

This episode offers invaluable insights for restaurateurs on menu innovation, sustainability, creating meaningful dining experiences, and building a resilient business through challenging times.

Chapters with Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction to Eric Fenster and Gather Restaurant 

2:51 - Eric's journey from outdoor education to hospitality 

5:36 - The concept and philosophy behind Gather Restaurant 

9:52 - Balancing sustainability, creativity, and business success 

15:29 - The story of Gather's award-winning vegan charcuterie 

19:11 - Pandemic pivots: Creating an innovative outdoor dining space 

22:02 - Overcoming challenges during the pandemic 

26:30 - The current state of the restaurant industry and Gather's approach 

28:43 - Eric's proudest moments with Gather 

30:25 - Lessons learned from working with Highwind One Hospitality 

32:47 - Future plans for Gather and community engagement 

34:37 - Eric's vision for integrating hospitality, agriculture, and community 

38:00 - Closing thoughts and the importance of bringing people together

Restaurant Leaders Unplugged with Sebastian Stahl

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Transcript

Sebastian Stahl (00:00.544)

All right, Eric, it's great to have you on the show. Thank you again for being here and you know, it's really good to have you.

Eric Fenster (00:08.477)

Great to be here, thanks for having me.

Sebastian Stahl (00:11.619)

All right, so for those who may not know you, let's start at the beginning. Can you share a little bit about your background and what was your journey from growing up in New York to eventually founding Gather, the Gather restaurant in Berkeley? Because that's quite a transition.

Eric Fenster (00:29.918)

Yeah, it's been quite an adventure, let's say. Yeah, so I grew up in New York, about 25 miles outside of the city with my folks there and sister. And I think at a very young age, we had a part of our family that was in California. And I had a very young age, toe -head blonde kid. And they're like, when are you going to move to California?

Sebastian Stahl (00:35.511)

Yeah.

Sebastian Stahl (00:42.348)

Mm -hmm.

Eric Fenster (00:58.152)

And I had this vision of this place that was going to, you know, just this magical paradise called California in the back of my head. So I think I was always from a young age destined to be out on the West coast. And as I was nearing completion with high school, I was like, I'm going to try my hand at getting to California. And I attempted, but I made it halfway and took a four year stop.

Sebastian Stahl (00:59.355)

Hahaha

Sebastian Stahl (01:11.593)

Mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (01:22.605)

Mm.

Sebastian Stahl (01:26.575)

Ha ha ha.

Eric Fenster (01:27.012)

at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and spent time there. I found my way into conservation biology and environmental science and really started learning a lot, opening my eyes to what's happening on the planet, what impacts humans are having and saw that as a path.

Sebastian Stahl (01:31.428)

-huh.

Eric Fenster (01:56.766)

to a contribution in my own way to protect this beautiful planet that we live on. And that took me to Costa Rica in the jungle, studying various endangered species, high in the Rockies. And in 1999, I finally had the opportunity to make my move to Berkeley, California.

Sebastian Stahl (02:04.642)

Mm. Mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (02:17.741)

Mm.

Sebastian Stahl (02:26.59)

Mm -hmm. Yeah.

Eric Fenster (02:27.262)

and settled in here. I've been here about half my life now and love it. Let's see, so my journey when I got here, my first real job that I took in 1999 was at the Edible Schoolyard, which is an Alice Waters inspired youth garden program with both garden and

culinary. It was really inspiring and I just felt very lucky to have found that. And so I was juggling, playing music and being outdoors and teaching outdoor ed and started guiding mountain journeys and outfitting trips for youth and adults up in the mountains. And at the end of 2000, I

Sebastian Stahl (02:59.117)

Mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (03:04.49)

Mm.

Sebastian Stahl (03:19.778)

Mm

Eric Fenster (03:26.298)

went on a trip and had just to really think about where I wanted to focus my life. And I had this vision of a number of different businesses that I was going to launch, one of which was going to be this restaurant at the heart of a community center in downtown Berkeley. And eight, I had this in the back of my mind, this big vision of an outdoor adventure program.

Sebastian Stahl (03:42.914)

Hmm. Hmm. So you already had this spot on everything in your mind when you decided that.

Eric Fenster (03:54.59)

a restaurant and a retreat center for these three connected businesses that I was one day going to work on. I launched the outdoor program in 2001 and it's still running today. It's called Back to Earth and launched. then we had this, you know, kept talking about how are we ever going to get to this restaurant? couple of guys had a business partner at the time, a couple of guys limited experience and no money.

Sebastian Stahl (03:58.712)

Mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (04:05.186)

Mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (04:12.962)

Mm -hmm.

Eric Fenster (04:23.582)

And this light bulb went off and we got into catering and we started a catering and events company and ran that. was called Dovetail and ran that until 2016. that helped us build the experience to open Gather in 2009. And that was a very exciting and difficult time to open a restaurant. Raise funds during the great recession.

Sebastian Stahl (04:24.536)

Yep.

Sebastian Stahl (04:38.188)

Mm

Sebastian Stahl (04:45.058)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (04:52.84)

yeah. Yeah.

Eric Fenster (04:54.558)

But quite an experience and very excited that we're going to cross the 15 year threshold this year.

Sebastian Stahl (05:05.08)

That's amazing, That's amazing. how did I mean transitioning from outdoor education, know, mountain guiding and doing all the stuff you were doing before and going into hospitality. Of course, you get a little bit of a taste for it when you started the catering company. I'm for sure you did. But, you know, going from there and then transitioning to the restaurant world, you know, and opening up an ambitious project like Gather, you know, must have been personally challenging. How was that experience?

Eric Fenster (05:34.27)

The experience was humbling and exciting all at the same time, right? So yeah, there was a, interestingly guiding mountain trips. know, we got pretty inspired around our menus. So we'd be 10 miles from a vehicle and we'd be making, you know, three course meals on little camping stoves, back country style.

Sebastian Stahl (05:38.198)

Yeah.

Sebastian Stahl (05:53.313)

Mm

Eric Fenster (06:04.286)

And so there's an interesting bridge there where you're really calculating a lot of food quantities and intriguing menu items for people and you can only carry so much. So it actually was in many ways catering and food costing and some of the

Sebastian Stahl (06:23.373)

Mm.

Sebastian Stahl (06:28.075)

Hmm.

Eric Fenster (06:31.004)

business elements of running a restaurant or catering operation were embedded in running this outdoor business. So that was kind of a launch into it. But probably a couple of the elements that are most interesting were just, have this deep love for the natural world and this desire to protect it in some way. But I felt like this small experiences or studying, you know,

Sebastian Stahl (06:38.498)

Hmm.

Eric Fenster (07:01.042)

field biology wasn't the contribution that was meant for, for my life at the time. And that I felt I could have more of an impact bringing, bringing to life a restaurant, supporting, you know, these farmers and ranchers who are stewarding the planet themselves and bringing their regeneratively grown food into the restaurant and sharing that in a meaningful space with people.

Sebastian Stahl (07:23.306)

Mm

Mmm.

Sebastian Stahl (07:30.804)

Mm -hmm, right.

Eric Fenster (07:31.686)

And then, you know, the magic of what happened with all that, all those years spent, you know, in nature was when we were concepting Gather, I was really looking at the nature's ability to create a living palette with communities of plants and animals that are perfectly adapted to a place. And so while I'm visiting the concept for Gather,

Sebastian Stahl (07:44.107)

Mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (07:51.943)

Hmm.

Eric Fenster (07:59.602)

I really wanted to create that sense of place for Berkeley and have the design, the vibe, the offerings be crafted to fit this community and this location. was a, you know, in many ways people like have trouble seeing the bridge, but you know, it actually really connected very well for me.

Sebastian Stahl (08:04.203)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (08:12.406)

Yeah. Yeah.

Sebastian Stahl (08:21.686)

Hmm. And I'm assuming, of course, the name has a story behind it, which is a little bit of what you're talking about, right?

Eric Fenster (08:30.34)

Absolutely. Yeah. In many ways when people ask me about gather, say a lot, know, the majority of the place is embedded in the name. one, we're gathering ingredients for, you know, for our offerings, but not just any ingredients, right? We're looking for the highest quality, most carefully sourced and grown ingredients around.

Sebastian Stahl (08:40.429)

Mm.

Sebastian Stahl (08:48.962)

Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.

Eric Fenster (08:59.036)

So quality, the sustainability behind them, whether not just produce, but the meats, the fish, the oils, the spices, right? Going as far as we possibly can go. We then, when we were building and designing the place, our goal was to gather as many reused and reclaimed materials as we could to design, build a meaningful space in a more modern.

Sebastian Stahl (08:59.619)

Mm.

Sebastian Stahl (09:07.65)

Mm

Sebastian Stahl (09:12.429)

Right.

Sebastian Stahl (09:23.308)

Mm.

Eric Fenster (09:27.582)

context, right? So we took, you know, one fun little tidbit as we collected 600 used brown and black leather belts and we handcrafted the banquette cushions around the entire arc of the restaurant. It's got a rounded nose. So things like that. Everywhere you look in the restaurant, there's a story of the Keith Kiln shelves that are now the tiles on the wall and

Sebastian Stahl (09:29.987)

Right.

Sebastian Stahl (09:48.6)

Yeah.

Eric Fenster (09:57.426)

the lighting fixtures that are reclaimed glass from bottles and all the woods that are in the place. And I think the last puzzle piece is just gathering this incredible team together in a familial environment, but really gathering people to break bread and share meaningful moments in a convivial environment around the table.

Sebastian Stahl (09:57.891)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (10:06.848)

Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (10:23.0)

Hmm.

Right, right. That's beautiful, man. And that's an ambitious project, especially for 2009. I would say very ambitious. You know, that's amazing that you guys been around for 15 years and are still going strong. It's fantastic.

Eric Fenster (10:37.446)

Yeah. And we're grateful to still be there. And it's just a different phase, right? Everyone's like, you're an institution now. it's hard to have people understand. I I think conceptual people know, like, what a challenging business, right? But on the inside of it, it's never running itself. And it always requires that labor of love and the heart and soul and the hard sweat and hard work.

Sebastian Stahl (10:48.941)

Yeah.

Sebastian Stahl (10:55.4)

yeah.

Sebastian Stahl (10:59.053)

Right.

Yeah. yeah.

Right.

Eric Fenster (11:06.578)

to keep the doors open and keep everyone pleased.

Sebastian Stahl (11:10.145)

Yeah. 100%. And, you know, talking about the challenges of running a business like the other, like, you know, how do you strike the balance between sustainability, creativity, right? And then running a successful business because like doing all of those things, you know, can get pricey, right? And it's also like that balance is, it's hard to find.

Eric Fenster (11:30.126)

It is, know, balance is always a funny word. I've said it for years, like, I'm striving for a balance between life and life and work. know, what, what is that balance really? I say it's, I'd say for us, it's like a seesaw in a park, right? We, we are, we're, we flip back and forth between the elements, you know, some oftentimes we're, we're

Sebastian Stahl (11:39.621)

Mmm.

Sebastian Stahl (11:50.077)

Mm, mm.

Sebastian Stahl (11:57.538)

Mm.

Eric Fenster (11:59.166)

sharpening our focus on operations, finance, marketing, training, and all the business details. And then we find ourselves having conversations about being in the grind and now we're just a restaurant operation or restaurant business and we created the place to be something meaningful and purposeful. And so then we'll find ourselves like swinging, seesawing back.

Sebastian Stahl (12:07.234)

Mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (12:22.389)

Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.

Eric Fenster (12:29.086)

to flip into innovation, the energetic aspects of the guest experience and leaning back into that side to regain the stability between the different aspects of running a place and ensuring that we're also upholding our ethos and values while keeping an eye on the bottom line, right?

Sebastian Stahl (12:30.179)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (12:35.912)

Mm. Mm -hmm. Mm

Sebastian Stahl (12:44.664)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (12:54.55)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's a tough one. I mean, you guys done a great job and it's definitely not easy.

Eric Fenster (12:58.364)

You

Sebastian Stahl (13:02.03)

And you know, I know you guys over the past, you know, 15 years, you've built a reputation for, you know, innovation, and especially with your approach to balancing your menu, right? When it comes to vegan vegetarian options at meat based dishes as well. That's, you know, there's a lot of restaurants out there that say, yeah, we have some vegetarian options or vegan options. And when you see it's like 3 % of the menu or less, you know, like, there's one dish that I can get. Right. So how do you

Eric Fenster (13:23.655)

Right, right.

Sebastian Stahl (13:30.016)

What are some of the challenges you face in creating a menu like this? And what's the response been like?

Eric Fenster (13:36.774)

Yeah, think, you know, I think the reality is that people get into the restaurant industry for a variety of reasons, but really underneath it, it's an attempt to offer things that will meet the needs of the guests or, you know, or just or fill a niche in an area where something wasn't existing.

Sebastian Stahl (13:56.749)

Hmm.

Eric Fenster (14:05.52)

and to make people happy. We're in a fairly saturated area of food options here in the Bay Area. There's a lot of incredible places. Interestingly, we did see that there were vegetarian restaurants. There's a gourmet vegan restaurant like Millennium that's just doing a fabulous job and has been around a lot longer than us. They've got their niche that they're filling.

Sebastian Stahl (14:18.307)

Mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (14:31.299)

Mm -hmm.

Eric Fenster (14:34.526)

very little balance in the casual fine dining or casual fun dining concept where there was a real balance and that was our commitment was 50 -50. never, speaking of the balance, we never go too far into veg, we never go too far into meat and we have a template for that. it's something that we sit down and we...

Sebastian Stahl (14:44.812)

Mm -hmm, mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (14:54.124)

Right.

Sebastian Stahl (14:59.224)

Hmm.

Eric Fenster (15:03.922)

we wipe word out and we're like, okay, we're in the template, do we need some new innovation? Where do we focus attention? Interestingly, we've always found that the vegetarian and vegan cookery requires more nuanced flavor and brain power, creative power to make those dishes meet the quality of a

Sebastian Stahl (15:10.904)

Mm

Sebastian Stahl (15:22.979)

Yeah.

Sebastian Stahl (15:26.326)

Hmm. Mm -hmm.

Eric Fenster (15:33.978)

a beautiful protein dish that frankly might just be a little easier to spice and flavor and design. so we're always working on, that's another place where we're always kind of looking at our menu template and where's our offerings. And back in the early days, we put a lot of innovation.

into the cutting edge side of vegan cookery and all the dishes. There were a lot of composed dishes back then. It was pretty stressful for the team to keep up with a daily changing menu. We tried our hand at molecular gastronomy and made caviar out of watermelon droplets and just unbelievable creative and interesting stuff. think at this moment we've found a nicer

Sebastian Stahl (16:01.902)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (16:09.292)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (16:17.901)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (16:23.817)

Yeah.

Sebastian Stahl (16:27.298)

Mm -hmm.

Eric Fenster (16:31.326)

balance that we've been striking between the sort of comfort, the innovation, the simplicity and the variety of options to meet the needs of varied preferences.

Sebastian Stahl (16:38.796)

Hmm

Sebastian Stahl (16:49.164)

Right, right. mean, especially during those times that you're talking about when you guys were being very, very highly creative with these things. I know you guys also won an award for one of your vegan dishes and it became quite popular. Tell me a little bit about the story of this dish and also take me through the process of creating something like this and being able to sustain it for a while.

Eric Fenster (17:02.631)

Yes.

Eric Fenster (17:13.368)

Absolutely. The vegan charcuterie was a fascinating chapter of Gather. So when we launched, we wanted something that would elevate vegan cookery to a level where meat -focused diners or omnivores would be as intrigued to order this dish. It was definitely not just

Sebastian Stahl (17:17.675)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (17:24.248)

Yeah.

Eric Fenster (17:43.24)

for a vegetarian or vegan, that was the goal, was how do we put the innovation in that a charcuterie board would have, but do that with composed vegetables, mushrooms, and all kinds of things. And so at that time when we launched Gather, we worked with a very creative chef named Sean Baker. And I give him the...

Sebastian Stahl (17:52.524)

Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (17:58.669)

Right.

Eric Fenster (18:11.23)

mad credit behind his genius of that dish. It did win a lot of awards, including, I think, a top 10 food and wine dish of the year, and other publications covered that. It was in the New York Times. So was exciting, right? And yet it took so much incredible effort. mean, he was in the back kitchen designing

Sebastian Stahl (18:15.18)

Mm

Sebastian Stahl (18:22.764)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (18:29.698)

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Eric Fenster (18:41.252)

You know, one composed element on a platter that was going to have four of them. He would spend sometimes a day on just one part of the dish. And that dish was so popular back in the day. We ran it for about the first six years, I think. And it was so popular that we had two cooks every night of the week, seven nights a week, just plating the dish, layering. There was some tweezer work. was, know,

Sebastian Stahl (18:51.967)

Mm. Mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (19:05.55)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (19:08.898)

No.

Eric Fenster (19:12.198)

sauces and you know it was it was absolutely beautiful and a fun phase people are still you know still ask us if we're ever gonna have that dish or if they haven't been in in years and years they're like where is that I want to order that dish and we're like yeah it's been a while and those are hard decisions when running a restaurant right it's the creative power to keep up with changing that and the plating power the human power to just you know

Sebastian Stahl (19:27.18)

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yep.

Mm

Eric Fenster (19:41.746)

get that dish to the table was so intense that we came to this realization that we can have a variety of other dishes that are also excellent. But we concluded that that dish just didn't fit the model, right? The balance between innovation and business, that was a hard one.

Sebastian Stahl (19:45.475)

Right.

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (19:58.882)

Yeah. Right. Mm -hmm.

For sure. For sure. mean, finding that balance between those two things are not easy, right? And it's like, yeah, let me make this item and bring three new products in the kitchen and make one thing and it's not the best move, even though it can be great.

Eric Fenster (20:20.368)

Yeah, and sometimes we, you and sometimes you have to make those sacrifices and try to explain to the community. But, you know, we still, have probably at least once a year since that dish has gone sat down and said, is there any way we could relaunch the dish? And, you know, it's always come back around to there's, it would have to be a different iteration of it that would never meet the original.

Sebastian Stahl (20:39.704)

Right, right, right, right.

Sebastian Stahl (20:48.13)

Hmm.

Eric Fenster (20:50.01)

And so we said, no, it's going to sacrifice too much.

Sebastian Stahl (20:51.116)

Right. Right.

No, yeah, no, for sure. I mean, and I know that you guys are.

Eric Fenster (20:56.338)

And I think the last piece on that is, we were proud of the recognition and it was exciting to draw that attention, but really it wasn't our main goal for existing. We didn't set out to win awards and have complex and composed dishes. We set out to bring people together and support farmers and ranchers. And so sometimes it actually, that level of innovation and complexity was,

Sebastian Stahl (21:05.794)

Mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (21:11.501)

Right.

Sebastian Stahl (21:17.88)

Hmm.

Right.

Sebastian Stahl (21:25.046)

Mm. Mm -hmm.

Eric Fenster (21:26.32)

was intriguing but not aligned to all of the goals.

Sebastian Stahl (21:33.314)

Right, right. Well, I know that innovation is at the basis of a lot of the things that you guys do and I know that during the pandemic, you took on the project of basically redesigning your space and adding a thousand square foot patio to it. A customized greenhouse basically. Tell me about that experience because I mean, doing that stuff during the pandemic, of course, it made sense for the outdoor space, but it's quite an undertaking.

Eric Fenster (21:56.434)

Yes.

Eric Fenster (21:59.738)

Yeah, I mean, it's one of the elements that I'm most excited about at Gather at this time is this outdoor space is, you know, I believe is an incredibly vibrant oasis that we created that unlike a lot of our friends in the industry who just didn't have a courtyard, you know, an interior courtyard to play with.

Sebastian Stahl (22:09.784)

Mm

Eric Fenster (22:28.134)

And they, you know, we're out on the sidewalk or the street front and got very creative and built incredible spaces. We had this uncovered outdoor patio space and we had been dreaming for years of how do we better utilize that spot? And I really came to this conclusion that I wanted it to feel as indoor outdoor as possible and be as alive as possible. And so instead of covering it with.

Sebastian Stahl (22:29.506)

Right.

Sebastian Stahl (22:43.171)

Mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (22:47.644)

Mm

Sebastian Stahl (22:56.653)

Mm

Eric Fenster (22:57.882)

a fully enclosed roof element, which probably would have been maybe easier. Or just dropping a prefab greenhouse, we integrated custom materials that use the puzzle pieces of a greenhouse, but it's a customized steel structure that achieved this outdoor dining

Sebastian Stahl (23:12.268)

Mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (23:17.812)

Mm. Mm -hmm.

Eric Fenster (23:28.57)

experience with healthier air during that very critical time. And it created an event space that we never had, right? So everything was, well, we have one very large dining space on the interior and then a bar tucked back. But here now is this year round separated space, you know, drop down screen for presentations, movie nights.

Sebastian Stahl (23:34.435)

Mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (23:41.602)

Mm.

Sebastian Stahl (23:46.648)

Sure.

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (23:57.411)

Hmm.

Eric Fenster (23:58.184)

game nights, great sound, a small pond. I built by hand my first little pond with fish in it. And so it's been this, you know, it's been, I think, probably the best iteration. And part of WhereGather is continuing to go as it continues in its journey into the future.

Sebastian Stahl (24:01.09)

Yeah.

Sebastian Stahl (24:05.058)

That's beautiful,

Sebastian Stahl (24:11.276)

Mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (24:18.562)

Right? Right. No, that's fantastic. And especially, I suppose, with the industry, like where it's at with all the changes and everything, raising costs and all those things, you know what I mean? I know that a lot of restaurants are kind of going that route as way of just doing more private events, right? Because it's cost for more controllable, different things. it definitely plays to your advantage.

Eric Fenster (24:43.834)

Absolutely. Yeah. And we can do a lot of programming in there. And that's, I think, part of what's going to be in the next chapter of Gather is, you know.

Sebastian Stahl (24:56.091)

Right, right. No. Yeah, yeah. So, Eric, tell me a little bit about, you know, your experience. know everybody went through a tough time during the, you know, during the recession, of course, during the pandemic. Tell me how you guys, of course, this is how you

kind of pivoted into the outdoor space. What were some of your most difficult moments during your 15 years of experience in gathering, especially through the pandemic and leading a team through all these challenges? What was your experience with that?

Eric Fenster (25:30.014)

Yeah, well, 15 year journey. We could spend a few hours talking about all the fun bumps in the road and the obstacles and the giant climbs and the divots. I think in our 15 year run, the hardest moment of all of them was on March 15th when I picked up the phone and I, you know, and

Sebastian Stahl (25:35.148)

Hmm. Yeah.

Sebastian Stahl (25:44.579)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (25:56.408)

Mm.

Eric Fenster (25:58.366)

called the better part of our 50 person team. And that was built to many extents like a family, a family with its functions and dysfunctions, but a family in and of itself. And I called to share that we're taking a pause and we're heading into uncertainty. appreciate every single one of you. And I don't know what's gonna happen.

Sebastian Stahl (26:03.65)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (26:21.923)

Hmm.

Eric Fenster (26:28.038)

And it was like, you know, it mind blowing that moment, right? We were all in like scatter brain. and, and so I'd say that that was probably like the hardest, like recording a video to the community. And, and, you know, I remember those, that was like, that was a, that was a wild time. but you know, we, we washed over six months, we closed for six months.

Sebastian Stahl (26:28.854)

Mm.

Sebastian Stahl (26:35.19)

Yeah. Yeah.

Sebastian Stahl (26:44.866)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (26:51.148)

Mm.

Eric Fenster (26:57.214)

And during that time, I was surrounded by caring and supportive people, family, friends, and then had this driving inspiration, especially during that time, to get back to nourishing people. We're all sitting in our house and ordering food or racing around and we were lacking that.

Sebastian Stahl (26:58.669)

Yeah.

Sebastian Stahl (27:14.68)

Hmm.

Eric Fenster (27:26.002)

the live human experience of interacting and being in person and gathering, right? I I remember that moment when I was like, wow, we are not allowed to gather. And how hard is that for a place that's called Gather? so, you know, we, at six months to the day later on my birthday, we relaunched and...

Sebastian Stahl (27:31.296)

Mmm. Mm -hmm.

Right.

Sebastian Stahl (27:40.556)

Mm. Mm -hmm.

Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.

Eric Fenster (27:56.554)

And then, you know, went through every iteration of pivoting and, you know, built a small market inside the restaurant. And we tried our hand at everything. And it was interesting. The thread through the whole thing was this consistent message that we were not a place that people, you know, are ordering a ton of food to eat at their house. not a place, we're not in the right location for a market spot.

Sebastian Stahl (28:05.805)

Yeah.

Sebastian Stahl (28:22.764)

Hmm.

Eric Fenster (28:25.458)

What we are is an experience. We're a place where people gather to share food and be together. And that really carried us right back to where we are. And I'm grateful that we're...

Sebastian Stahl (28:26.782)

Mm

Sebastian Stahl (28:31.66)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (28:35.17)

Hmm.

Right.

Sebastian Stahl (28:44.46)

Right, right.

No, you guys are pretty unique.

Eric Fenster (28:50.716)

Yeah, I mean the English

Sebastian Stahl (28:51.616)

No, for say, mean, you know, go ahead. Go ahead.

Eric Fenster (28:55.43)

I just, you know, we were watching the industry shift in so many different ways and the interesting feedback we were getting, it's just like, just miss like coming in sharing a, you know, a salad and a pizza with my friends. Like, can we have that amazing, you know, spicy tomato pizza back on the menu? And can I come and sit out and sit and, you know, and the outdoor space back to that. mean,

Sebastian Stahl (29:01.491)

Mm

Sebastian Stahl (29:07.468)

Mm. Mm.

Sebastian Stahl (29:16.648)

Mm -hmm. -hmm. Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.

Eric Fenster (29:23.646)

Berkeley's been a sensitive place during this time and still is. And a lot of people now have sort of anchored themselves to our patio. We're like, love being in here. We don't even want to dine inside anymore, even though it's really beautiful. yeah, we went down into the depths of the challenges and...

Sebastian Stahl (29:29.453)

Yeah.

Sebastian Stahl (29:34.988)

Mm. Mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (29:41.484)

Right, right, no, for sure not. Yeah, no, it's great, it's great. But you know it.

Eric Fenster (29:49.63)

And realistically, it's taken the better part of the last four years to get back to stability. You know, it's been uncertain and ups, downs and all arounds and we're feeling our footing again, which is exciting as we head into our 15 year celebration. It's December 15th. This year is our 15 year marker.

Sebastian Stahl (30:09.058)

Mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (30:17.932)

Yeah, no, that's amazing. Again, I think you guys are pretty very unique because, you know, as we see and as I know, you know, as the industry is shifting.

even more now with all the raising costs, everything, labor challenges, all those things. what we're seeing, and I'm sure you've seen the same, it's like that shift between where restaurants are going either very streamlined, simple menus, kind of going the fast cash flow route, and then the restaurants that are staying with providing the experience, right? But that experience needs to be providing enough value. So

Eric Fenster (30:27.869)

Yeah.

Sebastian Stahl (30:51.362)

people will still come and want to have that experience, right? And spend their money there because they're still going to go out. They're still going to want to have these experiences. know, so what's your view on all of this that's happening in the restaurant world these days?

Eric Fenster (31:07.626)

I think you put it right. You're seeing a lot of people are either trying to save dollars, so you're seeing that proliferation of the faster, casual, lower price point. And then people who want the fuller dining experience, you're seeing the escalation, the gap is going wider. The higher -end restaurants are charging even more because it is

Sebastian Stahl (31:24.3)

Mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (31:31.96)

Hmm.

Eric Fenster (31:36.71)

It's expensive. The people power is expensive. The plateware, everything, the food. There's this middle ground where you need the value. You still want the experience. You still have something to celebrate in life. You want a special place to go and do that or just to go out with your family for a nice dinner on a Thursday night.

Sebastian Stahl (31:41.25)

Right.

Sebastian Stahl (31:52.29)

Mm -hmm.

Eric Fenster (32:06.59)

And our goal, like what's dangerous in that middle ground is you have the expenses of the higher end restaurant a lot of times, but you're actually anchoring, you're just anchoring your pricing lower for a bit of a simpler approach. But it is, it tends to be one of the hardest categories to operate is this, know, fun casual is a lot of what we call it.

Sebastian Stahl (32:08.12)

Right? Right.

Sebastian Stahl (32:18.35)

Mm

Sebastian Stahl (32:21.698)

Mm

Sebastian Stahl (32:29.452)

Mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (32:33.912)

Yeah.

Eric Fenster (32:36.898)

And it's seated and live experience. part of our ethos is not to be high end. We want to serve the community. right across from Cal. We want students and staff to pop in. We want the community to come on down. So again, striving for that balance of we do have to charge for the right price.

Sebastian Stahl (32:46.145)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (32:54.914)

Mm

Eric Fenster (33:05.608)

for the ingredients and the people power and all the elements that make the place stay open and special and meet our values. But what we don't want to do is stretch that to where all of a sudden there's only a selection of people that can actually afford to commit. And so yeah, I think we're trying to find that ability to keep.

Sebastian Stahl (33:14.7)

Yeah.

Sebastian Stahl (33:25.944)

Hmm. No, for sure. And Eric.

Eric Fenster (33:33.726)

keep going, keep that special place alive and keep anchored that price point reasonably.

Sebastian Stahl (33:41.666)

Yeah, yeah, no, right, right, definitely. Now you just, can't raise prices on definitely. That's not gonna happen. It's just about value. But again, with the, I think with the experience that you guys are providing and you you're offering it, you're definitely providing that. So looking back Eric, what would you say is, has been your proudest moment since opening Gather?

Eric Fenster (34:02.942)

That's a great question. Our opening moment was incredible. So we're inside of a building called the David Brower Center that has 200 seat theater and event spaces. And we took over the theater and brought our investors, friends, family, vendors, farmers and like.

Sebastian Stahl (34:12.39)

Yeah.

Sebastian Stahl (34:20.408)

Mm

Eric Fenster (34:30.59)

We just had this vibrant community that all came around and we celebrated the launch of this incredible place. Our 10 year anniversary was unbelievable. It was like right before the pandemic hit, we celebrated this incredible milestone. I remember a moment there with maybe 180 people where we all closed our eyes and we envisioned this future for this sustained, you know.

Sebastian Stahl (34:36.18)

Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (34:45.528)

Yeah.

Eric Fenster (34:58.558)

gathering space for the community. And then boom, were, everything changed. know, yeah, I know that this year's 15 year anniversary is going to be special. But really, one of my proudest moments is it's going to be a funny one. But when my 12 year old son came in, he started getting pretty interested in what was happening.

Sebastian Stahl (35:00.539)

Mm hmm. Shut down. Yeah. Yep.

Sebastian Stahl (35:12.012)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (35:21.953)

Hmm.

Eric Fenster (35:26.81)

at Gather and he asked me if he could work in the space. And so he was assisting the host, he was running food, and one of his favorite things was acting as barista for brunches. And dropping him off and having him work a shift and then coming at the end, we did this a number of times where we would then share a meal on his choice of what he wanted to eat.

Sebastian Stahl (35:27.159)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (35:41.92)

Mm -hmm.

Eric Fenster (35:56.816)

And we chide our way through the whole menu in these moments. Something about that hit me in a beautiful way. We're seeing that familial connection and him being connected to the place and then being of service there.

Sebastian Stahl (36:02.668)

Right. Yeah.

Hmm. yeah.

Sebastian Stahl (36:17.058)

Right? That's beautiful, Eric. I also, well, I have a four -year -old, but I do dream about that, that she will at some point jump into our business, you know, get involved. That would be great, for sure. And Eric...

Eric Fenster (36:26.598)

Yes. Yeah, it's a beautiful, what a beautiful legacy, right?

Sebastian Stahl (36:32.426)

It really is. really is. Eric, I know you've also, you know, during some time, you also worked as a COO of Hywin One Hospitality. And that was like a complete different shift there. And I know you undertook some interesting projects and, you know, how did you experience their influence, approach to running gathered? Like what did that contribute, you know, during your career?

Eric Fenster (36:54.236)

Yeah, that was a good chapter that I spent a couple of years during the working with this, you know, really fascinating group that owned and operated a number of destination hospitality spaces and wine projects, including one of my favorite places, which is called Nix Cove on Tamales Bay.

Sebastian Stahl (37:03.415)

Mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (37:16.312)

Hmm.

Eric Fenster (37:23.998)

It's an inn with 12 cottages that are half of which are right there on pilings over Tomales Bay and there's a restaurant, oyster bar, this pier that goes out over the water. think that, I'd say what I really saw there, it affirmed my sense that independent one -off

Sebastian Stahl (37:24.845)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (37:39.063)

Hmm.

Eric Fenster (37:53.094)

restaurants are just a very tricky enterprise because you've got all of the leadership elements concentrated in one team that's also operating your business every day. And I think what I saw that a hospitality group unlocks is an expanded leadership team.

Sebastian Stahl (38:01.036)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (38:12.334)

Hmph.

Sebastian Stahl (38:23.65)

Mm -hmm.

Eric Fenster (38:24.082)

And, you know, and it affirms my, my sense of, know, that collaboration is really everything. you can, you can only put so much weight on, on, on a day to day operating team. And you can only accomplish so much, but if you actually have the sounding board of that wider leadership group in a bigger huddle that you can share tasks and dream bigger and.

Sebastian Stahl (38:32.099)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (38:47.128)

Hmm.

Yeah.

Hmm.

Eric Fenster (38:53.414)

And so we've been bringing, you know, I've been bringing some of those elements and trying to keep myself a little bit more in the wide and big picture with the team and holding that same higher leadership position to sort of guide and hold concept, vision, commitment, ethos, and not just hold a team accountable to achieving those, but actually

Sebastian Stahl (39:04.803)

Mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (39:11.842)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (39:17.25)

Right.

Eric Fenster (39:22.142)

support the team in achieving those. And then continue our wider collaborations with some strategic partners.

Sebastian Stahl (39:25.41)

Right, no, that's true.

Sebastian Stahl (39:32.841)

Right, right. And so what's next for you Eric? Do you have any upcoming projects and any new concepts? What are you excited about now?

Eric Fenster (39:42.982)

Yeah. Well, I gather specifically, you know, again, so this goes back to right there's two, there's so many elements to running a day to day place. have, I have so many, I have so many ideas always popping. One of, one of the things when I, when I covered the patio and we had this amazing space, I had this whole vision of a calendar of events that were happening all the time in the space that were, you know, everything from, you know, meaningful talks.

Sebastian Stahl (39:57.749)

Mm -hmm. Yeah.

Sebastian Stahl (40:06.41)

Mm -hmm. Mm. Mm.

Eric Fenster (40:11.496)

during the day, brown bag lunch style, the ticketed music events and a farm dinner series that we've done on and off over the years. And that you can actually pull up Gather and go to our calendar and you would see all these interesting different events, a movie and a dinner pairing.

Sebastian Stahl (40:15.18)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (40:28.141)

Yeah.

Eric Fenster (40:40.254)

So you'd totally play a specific film and we would pair dinner to what we're watching. So at Gata specifically, think creating this intriguing community event calendar of internally driven programming is exciting for me. So think that's coming up.

Sebastian Stahl (40:41.687)

Mm. Mm

Sebastian Stahl (40:49.261)

Right.

Sebastian Stahl (41:01.869)

Mm -hmm.

Eric Fenster (41:09.342)

on that side. For me personally, I'm drawing off of what we just talked about with Highway 1. I've been working on projects at the intersection of land use, food and community. so, you know, Gather being really more the food and community side, I've been working on projects on larger land, larger acreage with

Sebastian Stahl (41:17.389)

Yeah.

Sebastian Stahl (41:24.876)

Hmm.

Eric Fenster (41:38.014)

some agriculture elements or farm elements, nature. And with NixCove as an example, we were right on the bay, we had paddling, we had overnight accommodations. And some of the projects I've been working on have residential components to them. So I'm truly loving the interface of destinations that combine visitation or lodging.

food and farm or nature experiences. And so I think, you know, I believe if I look farther in the future, my opus is it will one day be crafting a community that models all of these elements, know, harmonious to nature, healthy food, healthy communities.

Sebastian Stahl (42:06.434)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (42:09.9)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (42:22.114)

Hmm.

Eric Fenster (42:29.444)

in a beautiful destination, also connected to urban hub and culture. But I think that that's where I'm pointing my sail. I also see what unlocks when have multiple revenue streams. So just running a restaurant's pretty tricky. You layer in catering events or to -go programs.

Sebastian Stahl (42:37.047)

Mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (42:42.434)

No.

Sebastian Stahl (42:52.27)

Hmm.

Yeah.

Eric Fenster (42:58.844)

And now you've got multiple revenue streams. You put that restaurant in a, in a lodging, you know, facility of some sort. Now you've got revenue that has oftentimes a higher profit margin. You know, you expand that and you build a really meaningful community and you have residential and real estate added to it. You know, and you've got some really powerful elements coming together that.

Sebastian Stahl (43:02.104)

Mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (43:15.895)

Yeah.

Sebastian Stahl (43:22.808)

Hmm.

Eric Fenster (43:29.18)

you know, that are how we spend our days, right? You know, every day, week up and you know, there's a trail and there's your food growing and there's a beautiful restaurant you can walk into with your friends and your family and the community. So that's, that's the dream, I think. And

Sebastian Stahl (43:34.2)

Mm.

Sebastian Stahl (43:40.856)

Hmm. Yeah. Yep.

Sebastian Stahl (43:49.344)

Yeah, yeah that sounds like a dream spot man let me know when you open because I'll definitely visit.

Eric Fenster (43:54.704)

Yes, we will.

Sebastian Stahl (43:59.232)

Yeah man, who knows? You're gonna do it, you're thinking in California, you're still thinking in California or somewhere else?

Eric Fenster (44:04.254)

I love California. I've been working on some of these destinations across the country. There's a special one up in the Lake Erie area that I've been working on, kind of a regenerative farm lab, restaurant, like boutique hotel lodging, farm market, and there's stuff in the southeast. And there's one that I worked on in Encinitas, California that

Sebastian Stahl (44:20.365)

Hmm.

Eric Fenster (44:34.174)

really exciting that just launched called Fox Point Farms. And they've got the restaurant, the market, five acre farm, brewery, and 120 residential units. So it's this living, breathing community connected to all of these elements with a trail out the back door and a beautiful community, you know, and downtown area and the ocean, right? It's the dream. So.

Sebastian Stahl (44:39.35)

Mm

Sebastian Stahl (44:59.693)

Yeah.

Wow, it really is.

Eric Fenster (45:03.838)

So doing that with all the commitments and with the accessibility element, so it's not just a high -end community experience or a high -end restaurant that people can't afford to come to. It's a place that you just want to pop in and get inspired and dream of the future. I we should be living in closer community and sharing and closer to nature.

Sebastian Stahl (45:12.984)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (45:17.635)

Mm

Sebastian Stahl (45:24.312)

Hmm. Yeah.

Sebastian Stahl (45:31.218)

man, yeah. Yep. I completely agree with you, especially during these times. I think it's beautiful what you're doing. think your project is fantastic, especially what you're describing for your future project. think it's great because especially now when we're living in such a divided society in so many ways, you know what mean?

Eric Fenster (45:34.078)

So.

Sebastian Stahl (45:57.056)

I think hospitality will always play this role of bringing people together and I think your concept gatherer is just a perfect reflection of that. You know what I mean?

Eric Fenster (46:07.058)

so much and we just want to be that sanctuary where people can come, know, wherever you are, wherever you're coming from, come on in, get nourished, you know, and enjoy yourself and hopefully you leave just feeling a little brighter and a little, you know, more energized to meet whatever moment's coming next.

Sebastian Stahl (46:12.288)

Hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (46:28.844)

Yeah. Yep.

Right, right. That's great, Eric. Well, thank you again, Eric, so much for this conversation and for your time. It was awesome and enlightening actually to learn about your business and how you get where you are after 15 years because it's definitely no easy feat, especially in, you know, in any market whatsoever. of course, especially in ours, it's just, you know, not easy. So.

Eric Fenster (46:51.037)

Yeah.

Eric Fenster (46:55.133)

That's right.

Sebastian Stahl (46:55.512)

Definitely congratulations and I really wish you the best in your future projects, especially this one you're talking about. Definitely let me know when you start working on it.

Eric Fenster (47:04.035)

I will. Thank you so much for having me on and look forward to staying in touch.

Sebastian Stahl (47:11.886)

All right, well thank you so much Eric. All right.

Eric Fenster (47:14.256)

Absolutely, we'll be in touch soon.