Staff, floorplan shakeup seen at Centrally Grown
Customers who wander in to Centrally Grown in Cambria may wonder what’s going on there, with some obvious and potentially dramatic changes going on Dec. 1 in the arrangement of the downstairs market/deli/wine/bakery/coffee areas.
What’s not so obvious at first blush are the reported, significant changes recently in Centrally Grown’s management staff. According to one employee who was laid off via email on Thanksgiving Day, those “reductions in positions” included a number of people in prominent positions.
Among the positions affected, the employee said, were the general manager, assistant general manager, director of food and beverage, assistant market manager, director of purchasing and Centrally Grown’s bakery department staff.
Dave Robertson, Centrally Grown founder and member of the investment group that owns the business, buildings and property, reportedly has returned to the Central Coast to reassume the leadership role at the ocean-view property at 7432 Exotic Garden Drive. He had hired Todd Maurer as general manager last spring, recruiting the longtime family friend from St. Louis.
Attempts to talk to Robertson before deadline were unsuccessful.
El Colibri
Management and ownership have changed at El Colibri Hotel & Spa. Pacifica Hotels bought the 34-room lodging in late October, according to Allison Doerfler, El Colibri’s new general manager.
“We are going to ramp up the spa and look at offering some fun new services,” Doerfler said. For instance, Pacifica Hotels is considering adding a café for food and beverage service, she said.
The plan is to continue offering “live music every Saturday night,” Doerfler said, and the wine bar is to be open from 3 to 11 p.m. nightly. “We’re redoing the wine list with local wines, so after we serve a guest a glass of wine, we can direct them to that winery” not far away.
Pacifica Hotels also owns Cambria’s Fireside Inn, Cambria Landing Inn & Suites, Pelican Inn & Suites and Fogcatcher Inn, all on Moonstone Beach Drive, plus hotels in San Luis Obispo, Pismo Beach, Santa Barbara, Half Moon Bay, the Los Angeles and San Diego areas, in Florida and Hawaii.
According to the firm’s website www.pacificahotels.com, Pacifica formed in 1995 to offer “high quality properties in premier coastal destinations.”
Kathe Tanner
This story was originally published December 2, 2015 at 10:27 AM with the headline "Staff, floorplan shakeup seen at Centrally Grown."