April Update

Architecture and Brand Design

The shop is taking form! Joe and I were able to "walk" through the space in VR to understand the customer experience, butcher experience, and overall feeling of the shop.

Last week we also had the pleasure of hosting the architect Seth Boor for a design collaboration meeting along with the Michael Hsu team. Seth was the lead architect behind many iconic San Francisco shops — Tartine Bakery, Sightglass Coffee, Four Barrel Coffee, and many more. His architecture style blends utilitarianism and beauty, which we hope to bring to the Radius aesthetic. He's a consultant on our project and has already given a bunch of helpful design nudges.

The floor plan is now nearly complete and we'll start moving from two dimensions into three. That means selecting finishes and fixtures, laying out plumbing, electrical, and mechanical, and getting construction documents prepared for permitting. We still have several months of design ahead of us, but the work so far is very promising!

Brand design is moving forward nicely as well — the first draft of the design kit was shared last week and we're now going through revisions. Once the brand kit is in a good place, we'll start working the type and color palette into the 3D renderings of the shop too.

Sourcing

The farm visits are ramping up! In April we visited Broken Arrow Ranch, Dos Lunas Cheese, Dean & Peeler, and Heritage Seafood. Dos Lunas was a particularly memorable visit — the cheeses are made exclusively with raw milk from pastured Texas cows. The depth of flavor is amazing. Joaquin's passion for righteous cheesemaking is contagious!

In addition to farm visits, we went to Force of Nature's What Good Shall I Do conference on regenerative agriculture. We listened to amazing talks and panels with Alejandro Carrillo, Fred Provenza, Kate Kavanaugh, Bill Schindler, and many more. Amazing community of folks working to spread knowledge on regenerative ag.

Growing the team

We just posted job openings for a senior butcher, butchers, a grocery category manager, and cashier/stockers. If you or anyone you know might be interested in a role, reach out to jobs@eatradius.com.

Location

Our verbal agreement to buy an existing restaurant still stands, and we are still waiting to meet with the landlords to discuss lease terms. This is taking longer than we would like, but we're still confident it will get done.

Please forward this newsletter to friends who are passionate about local food ecosystems and live in the Austin area! You can also follow us on Instagram @eatRadius for more frequent updates.