# Chez Panisse: Alice Waters

- Show: [How I Built This](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this)
- Published: 2019-04-08
- Length: 59m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2019-04-08-chez-panisse-alice-waters

## Summary

Alice Waters, founder of Chez Panisse, explains how her 1960s study abroad in France inspired a culinary revolution focused on local, seasonal ingredients, leading to the 1971 opening of her Berkeley restaurant. She details the bootstrap financing involving her parents' mortgage and friends, the decision to remain a single location to preserve values, and the creation of the farm-to-table movement. In a postscript, Piersten Gaines describes founding Pressed Roots, a salon chain for women with highly textured hair, after experiencing hair loss from chemical treatments and validating the concept through profitable pop-up events.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2019-04-08-chez-panisse-alice-waters#t=0) Introduction: Alice Waters and Chez Panisse
- [3:55](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2019-04-08-chez-panisse-alice-waters#t=235) Alice Waters' Early Life and Food Awakening in France
- [14:16](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2019-04-08-chez-panisse-alice-waters#t=856) Finding the Location and Financing Chez Panisse
- [24:19](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2019-04-08-chez-panisse-alice-waters#t=1459) Opening Night and Early Operations
- [35:50](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2019-04-08-chez-panisse-alice-waters#t=2150) James Beard Recognition and the Farm-to-Table Movement
- [46:56](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2019-04-08-chez-panisse-alice-waters#t=2816) Criticism, Organic Labeling, and Affordable Food
- [55:37](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2019-04-08-chez-panisse-alice-waters#t=3337) Postscript: Piersten Gaines and Pressed Roots
- [58:12](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2019-04-08-chez-panisse-alice-waters#t=3492) Validating Pressed Roots with Pop-Up Salons

## Topics

- [Starting a product company](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/starting-a-company)
- [Validation & product-market fit](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/validation-and-product-market-fit)
- [Marketing & brand](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/marketing-and-brand)
- [Pricing, margins & unit economics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/pricing-and-unit-economics)
- [Leadership, teams & culture](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/leadership-and-culture)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- Chez Panisse (product)
- Pressed Roots (product)
- U.S. Bank (other)
- Brahmen PR (other)
- Michelin guide (other)
- The San Francisco Express Times (other)
- Edible Schoolyard Project (other)
- Dry Bar (product)

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- [Dip Into Paradise with Founder Emily Edwards](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast/2021-03-01-dip-into-paradise-with-founder-emily-edwards) (The Startup CPG Podcast)
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- [#179 - Bootstrap Heroes: Hazard's Hop Water, SWAIR, Gourmend Foods](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast/2025-01-21-179-bootstrap-heroes-hazards-hop-water-swair-gourmend-foods) (The Startup CPG Podcast)
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## Citing this page

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