February 2015 - Page 2 of 2 - Positively Petaluma

#Petaluma’s Gary & Jennifer Buffo Launch BlinkCar SmartPhone On-Demand Service

At a time when ride-booking companies like Uber are shaking up the taxi industry, Petaluma’s Pure Luxury Transportation is launching its own on-demand car service.

Pure Luxury, which has a fleet of more than 130 chauffeured vehicles, this winter began BlinkCar, one of the nation’s first on-demand services to be offered by a traditional limousine company.

The new business has a smartphone app that allows passengers to request and obtain rides within minutes in either a regular or luxury sedan or an SUV. The driver can take the client across town or across the Bay Area, with payment handled via a credit card registered with the app.

What sets BlinkCar apart from other ride-booking services is that its drivers aren’t independent contractors using their private cars but rather trained, company employees driving Pure Luxury’s own vehicles. The sedans and SUVs are fully insured, regularly inspected and cleaned inside and out each day, said Pure Luxury owners Gary and Jennifer Buffo.

via Petaluma company launches on-demand car service | The Press Democrat.

PCA Releases #Petaluma’s 2014 Veteran’s Day Parade Video

Did you miss this year’s Veteran’s Day Parade? Our previous article #Petaluma’s Veteran’s Day Parade: Schedule, Highlights, History and Video was seen and read by many. It was also shared hundreds of times on social media. We had several requests to share any video we get of this year’s event including a request from Barbara Fanucchi who commented on that article. A lot of people, for any number of reasons, cannot make one of the best Veteran’s Day parades in Northern California but would like to see it. It’s for this reason we share this video.

Yesterday Petaluma Community Access posted a whole length video of the entire parade. So now you don’t have to miss it and you can enjoy watching the parade from the comfort of your home.

Do you know someone who missed this years’ parade or someone who was in the parade that didn’t get video of this event?

Use the share icons below to share this video with your friends and family. We are sure they will appreciate that you did.

Buy Roses Local for Valentines Day! #Petaluma’s Neve Roses On KPIX Channel 5

Click here for more information about Neve Roses on their website. Petaluma’s own local farm fresh flower grower since 1966.

Post by Neve Roses II.

Petaluma Eats! at Secret Kitchen

As the first one to post a Yelp reviewer for Secret Kitchen (back in May 2014), I knew Chef Brenda Anderson’s new restaurant would be popular, even though a bit hard to find. Close to a year later and it comes as no surprise that her incredibly diverse and delicious menu chalked full of healthy, locally sourced ingredients didn’t stayed a secret for long. At a recent fundraiser a “Chef’s Dinner for 6” at the Secret Kitchen blew all the other auction items out of the water even though the high bidder hadn’t tasted the food before. This proves that around Petaluma people fall into one of two camps. Either they have been to Secret Kitchen and loved it OR they have heard about Chef Brenda’s food and are dying to try it for themselves.

… the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. – Roald Dahl

The quick five minute drive west of downtown Petaluma will take you past the very farms and fields where Chef Brenda sources the fresh ingredients for Secret Kitchen’s menu. Primarily Asian-Latin fusion, her cuisine gives all those fancy San Francisco food trucks a run for their money, especially considering Secret Kitchen is a much shorter drive …and doesn’t require a Twitter account to find out where they will be parked that day. Splashed with colors nearly as loud and bold as her flavorful menu, Secret Kitchen is hard to miss, even though it’s tucked in behind Aguis Market (at the corner of Bodega Avenue and Eucalyptus Road/Skillman Lane.) And like so much about Petaluma, your smartphone will only get you so far, so don’t be afraid to ask a local for directions. …that’s kind of the way we like it.

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Introducing Work: Ready Apparel!

Laurie Cameron of Wake Up Enterprises donating blood

Below is a communication we received from Mike Johnson, CEO of COTS. On February 11, we gave a cash donation to COTS for $300 that came from our shirt sales. Thanks goes to Zephyr Pacific Sportswear and all who purchased the shirts and wearing them with pride. Thanks to Laurie Cameron for submitting her photo doing something positive in Petaluma wearing our shirt. She is a with Wake Up! Enterprises.

Dear Friends,

This January, Committee on the Shelterless (COTS) opened the doors of Work: Ready Apparel, a boutique clothing store where COTS Work: Ready clients can find suitable interview and work clothing — for free! A polished and good-quality work outfit is essential to the dignity of those who want to work, and need to work, in order to achieve their dream of moving into a home of their own.

How can you help? We have a growing wish list for volunteer positions and in-kind items — especially gift cards that can be used to purchase items that cannot be worn second-hand.

And, of course, a financial gift to COTS always makes a big difference.

Like many of COTS’ programs, Work: Ready Apparel has been a labor of love. The prime retail location, clothing donations, furniture, wall decor, paint and spackle, have all been donations from companies, service groups, and individuals. Dedicated volunteers have given merchandising expertise, hand pressed clothing, painted walls, mended small holes in clothing, and replaced countless buttons. We are so grateful for your support.

Thank you for embracing Work: Ready Apparel as part of our community!

With gratitude,

Mike Johnson, CEO

Jenna Garcia, Work: Ready Program Manager

Two #Petaluma companies buy 155,000 sq. ft. for expansion

Keith Giusto Bakery Supply (Jeff Quackenbush, The North Bay Business Journal)

Below is an exerpt from the North Bay Business Journal’s article by Jeff Quakenbush that we wish to highlight from this good news. We really need to fill our commercial space in Petaluma. Tom Griffith, President the the Petaluma Area Chamber of Commerce had this to say in the January’s Petaluma Business newsletter “Here in Petaluma, we still have about a fifth of our office space still empty, but there is a high level of optimism that the resurgence of the high-tech industries will help fill in those empty spaces.”

The below is an exerpt from yesterday’s Two Petaluma companies buy 155,000sf for expansion – North Bay Business Journal – North San Francisco Bay Area, Sonoma, Marin, Napa counties – Archive.

“The expansion of Moresco Distributing and Keith Giusto Bakery Supply is a continuation of a trend for expansion of industrial-space users in Petaluma, according to Ingrid Alverde, city economic development manager. Recent examples include the addition of 90 jobs with the forthcoming moves of Revive Drinks from Windsor and wholesale-bakery expansion of Rustic Bakery from Marin County.

“I think it indicates the strength in the local economy and a lot of movement,” she said.

So much such movement that a handful of local companies have been vying for spots in several hundred thousand square feet of approved industrial buildings set to be built in south Petaluma.”

UPDATE: Check it out! Now Open Cocoagraph Confections & Local Pantry

UPDATE February 26, 2015: This morning Petaluma360.com posted this article on Cocoagraphs, Lovely candy, too pretty to eat, by BY KATIE WATTS FOR THE ARGUS-COURIER

Cocoagraphs are artisan chocolate bars printed with edible photo and graphic images

Cocoagraph Store Petaluma California, Photo Ashley Collingwood

Bringing art into a new medium, Cocoagraph founder Rae Vittorelli began making artisanal chocolate photographs and graphics, known as cocoagraphs, in 2011. Cocoagraphs are made with locally produced fair trade chocolate and can be custom ordered with any photograph, graphic, or logo. On February 2, 2015 Vittorelli opened her first retail location for Cocoagraph in Petaluma.

Cocoagraphs Designing Graphics To Be Transferred Onto Chocolate, Photo By Ashley Collingwood

After Vittorelli graduated college with a degree in art, the economy was not doing well, so she worked outside her field and made sculptural cakes on the side. One of her cakes was for an art foundation and Vittorelli hung small chocolate paintings all over the cake using edible printing technology. She had fun with the project and since then she has taken what people do in the cake world and transferred it to chocolate. With time, Vittorelli modified her process and now, rather than transferring the images after printing them, she uses an edible printing system to print images directly on the chocolate.

CLICK PAGE 2 TO SEE PHOTOS AND VIDEO OF THE PROCESS

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