Zinc owner’s recipe for success

Anyone who was in Berkeley in the 1970s would have been exposed to great coffee and great food served in a casual atmosphere. While John Secretan was studying landscape architecture at UC Berkeley, he frequented the ubiquitous coffee shops on every corner (with nary a Starbucks in sight) and developed a taste ? nay passion ? for really good coffee. He also was able to dine out in some of the cutting-edge, but affordable, restaurants in Berkeley’s “gourmet ghetto”; places like Chez Panisse that emphasized using the freshest local produce and artisanal products. After graduation, Secretan, originally from Tustin, worked in San Francisco at the prestigious landscaping firm of EDAW for four years and then started his own landscaping business, which, though successful, left him feeling unchallenged.

Lucky for us, he was bitten by the coffee bug and thought, at first, to open a coffee roasting company, but wisely realized that “he was too much of a coward” to face the stiff competition in the Berkeley-San Francisco area. Laguna Beach however, was essentially virgin territory. When a used-clothing store behind the post office became available, John, only 27 years of age, took the plunge. The concept had now evolved into a small café ? however not just a café, but rather a place for people to gather. His mother, Rosemary, always a fabulous cook, took responsibility for the recipes. With some help from his partner Tim, an architect, John designed and landscaped the original café and outdoor eating area. He and his father also did a lot of the work themselves.

One of the most interesting things John learned in school was how design affected people and created community. Studies showed that three things were necessary to ensure a people-pleasing place: water, food and movable chairs. If customers can re-arrange a chair even a little bit, they feel the space is now their own.

Inspired by Café Fanny, Alice Waters’ café in Berkeley, John felt strongly about a place that would be unpretentious and comfortable, but still have an urban vibe with high-quality food and really good coffee. Because of his hands-on approach, attention to detail and high standards, he created an extremely attractive and inviting environment, surrounded by plants. The original café had a tiny kitchen space in which they created little pizzas, poached eggs, granola, muffins, scones and sandwiches and later added some desserts. John is a third-generation vegetarian on both sides of his family, so Rosemary’s food is obviously vegetarian, but as John says, “few people even notice” because of the tastiness and variety of the menu.

The café was an instant success and began to be a gathering place for the community. Three years later, the knitting store next door became available, and John was eager to expand. However, parking regulations prohibited the expansion of the café, and so he decided to create Zinc Market, because a market required many fewer parking spaces. He was now able to build a large commercial kitchen, giving Rosemary room to create the expanded menu that his many repeat customers were requesting. There was no seating possible at the market in the beginning because he needed the two spaces in front for parking.

Shortly thereafter, the building next door became available, so he took another giant step and leased it, sublet it and used the additional parking spaces for Zinc. This allowed him to expand the outdoor patio in front of the market, creating a happening place for the Laguna Beach scene. Everybody in town ? local literati, layabouts and ladies who lunch, activists and inactivists, joggers and bloggers, business folk and retirees, babes in arms and just plain babes ? seem to show up here for coffee, food and conversation. It is very gratifying to John that the community has responded to his vision of diversity and hip, unpretentious urbanity. He says his motto is, “Zinc is for people.” Good for John but bad for us, the tourists have discovered the place as well, moving the chairs around at will to make a bit of the O.C. their own.

As with almost all successful businesses, dreams of a second location are inevitable but often turn out to be more difficult than any nightmare. Zinc now has two other locations ? one in Solana Beach and one in Corona del Mar. These took much more of an effort to get off the ground, but now both are finally prospering. In retrospect, John says they taught him some valuable lessons about letting go, trusting your employees and a variety of other management skills. However, his skills couldn’t have been too bad to begin with, since some of his employees have been with him for as long as 18 years.

In addition to having Rosemary as executive chef, John’s work ethic, high standards and perfectionism ? as well as his innate charm and easy laugh ? have made Zinc a Laguna landmark.