21 February, 2019: See that amazing picture of me? Yeah. Well obviously I’m joking. It’s a terrible picture of me. But it’s here because of the other guy in the shot. That’s Joseph. We just hired him for a tech role. He’s a computer programmer. We have more programming roles open, if you’re interested please reach out. But that pic?… Read More
19 February, 2019: I can’t remember when we first started using A-frames. These are the signs that restaurants and other put out on the sidewalk to attract customer attention. I think I’d seen other trucks doing it. And when we tried they were crazy successful for us. I think the A-frames in those early days drove 10% increase in sales.… Read More
18 February, 2019: I was working on menu stuff over at CloverKND the other day. We’re working on new menu designs. More on that later. A customer came over and said: “Are you the owner? They told me you are the owner.” She was mad about a napkin holder insert card. Lucia, who designed the card, was there. And after… Read More
5 December, 2008: There are a few things you don’t know about the master plan. One is fresh juice. Someday juice will be as important as our fries and soups and sandwiches. I’ve listened patiently while many have told me why the juice vision will never work, but I remain entirely convinced it will be very very important. We’re talking… Read More
16 February, 2019: We added a hearty soup to our menu a few weeks ago. It’s selling bonkers. One of those items that is quickly becoming this cult favorite. And I was looking around at the table I was sitting at earlier today and wondering, wow, that’s a lot of people with soup. So I ran some analysis. And guess… Read More
15 February, 2019: Tomatoes are a nightmare right now. For years we’ve bought from Backyard Farms up in Maine. They were sold and are growing terrible tomatoes now. The Canadian greenhouse tomatoes are terrible. The VT greenhouse we like is in the middle of a mid-winter clean-out. We tasted some OK heirloom tomatoes from Mexico, but they were just OK… Read More
14 February, 2019: I’m going to give you the whole story here. This bowl has been in the works for a while and there are a lot of inspirations. Read on to learn about all the things kicking around in my head as I was dreaming this one up. And come taste it at CloverKND. We’re in testing. But come… Read More
31 January, 2019: Get ready to be confused. Hasty Pudding is a porridge, and it is a play. Today we’ll be giving out free samples of Clover Hasty Pudding all morning at CloverHSQ (1326 Mass Ave.) Hasty Pudding (the food item) is a term for a porridge. Jasper’s making up a wheat porridge using Maine Grains wheat, leeks, onions, cream… Read More
5 August, 2008: I scribbled down my goals for the brand a few months ago. Here they are: Long-term aspiration: Clover comes to define a lifestyle centered around a new cuisine and positive conscientious relationship to food Make Clover first place that comes to mind when people think of light/healthy/conscientious/organic food Allow consideration more broadly (e.g., squeeze into their minds… Read More
17 January, 2019: Hey, that’s not my family! But I can write this post because I too have sampled the magical tomato mashed potato of Rome. Martina has a list of recommendations for what to do in Rome. If you’re lucky, maybe she’ll share it with you. One of the stops is a restaurant called Pecorino. She sent Ayr’s family… Read More
17 January, 2019: (This survey is now closed – we hold these surveys about once a month, so if you’re lucky you’ll come to Clover during a future survey day!) — If you received a survey card in line today, please click on this post to get to the survey link. A huge thanks for helping us improve!! Click here… Read More
8 January, 2019: The other day Fabricio (DTX) told me that over the weekend he popped his head into one of our competitors and watched the staff defrosting a giant frozen popsicle. That frozen popsicle? Soup. Rolando was our chef when we first started. He learned soup when working at the French Laundry with Thomas Keller. He taught us about… Read More
8 January, 2019: We hired a design consultancy the other week. We love the C L O V E R logo that we’ve evolved over the years. It looks awesome large. Reflects transparency we care so much about. Reflects our history of the trucks (stencil) and contributions of our staff (Mary traced the current outline). But it doesn’t work small.… Read More
5 August, 2008: This is the second part of the homework assignment Brian gave me. Here are a bunch of magazine ads. I’ve grouped them in two categories: “More of” – the ads that have something to contribute to the process of developing the Clover identity “Less of” – ads with elements we must avoid Read More
7 January, 2019: You might remember Amy (customer) who heard we were interested in olive oil cake, and baked us 2! She told Lucia about an Armenian salad she loves called “eech,” made with fine bulghur, which is actually “cooked” overnight using the vinaigrette of the salad. The next day there was a cup of bulgher waiting for Lucia! We’re… Read More