Mäni’s Blog Café

Hollywood & My Job at Mäni’s

This story is one reason why blogging for us at Mäni’s on Fairfax is cool.  Yesterday we got a call from MTV to see if they could shoot a segment of their new series (launching in April) called The Hills.  It's a show starring the leads from Laguna Beach, LC & Jason. Of course they want to shoot right at lunch time.  But it's Hollywood calling, so I work out the details for them to film without impacting our lunch guests....hummmm, that part's not so easy, but we make it happen.

But what I didn't realize would happen, was that so many customers were intrigued by the filming, and some knew the old show, the stars and we're telling me 'what's going on' with this whole Laguna Beach morphed into The Hills story line, about the characters, etc. Others just got to see something different today at Mäni’s.  So a regular Thursday lunch scene was really a scene and added entertainment at Mäni’s today.  The show's debut is April and many of our willing guests can call their friends and family around the country to tell them they'll be on an episode of 'The Hills', providing they signed a release!

Since I was born and raised in L.A., I'm not ususally big into the whole Hollywood scene, but hey afterall I work with aspiring actors and even an opera singer! (Let's see if you can figure out who that is??)

So which ones of you reading this were here having lunch on Thursday February 2, 2006 and can fill us in on more of this show, LC & Jason and what you thought of the filming?  We'd love to hear from you!!

A Favorite Holiday of Mine

As we prepare to have a really fun Valentine's Day, I thought I'd share my thoughts. Perhaps you may identify with my thoughts on the Red Heart holiday just a couple weeks away. Some of the reasons why I enjoy it so much is because it's fun, romantic, red, chocolatety & breaks up the winter days with something special to celebrate.

With warm thoughts of this day on the mind, we've dressed up the restaurant with splashes of red. If you stop by you'll notice just how excited we are about celebrating RED with you! Healthy food, good people & most of all, scrumptious desserts to share with your love, or keep to yourself. However you choose to participate - breakfast, lunch, dinner, a heart-shaped dessert - come to Mäni's and check us out.

Improving Convenience & Service

You may have read the recent article Carl posted regarding the re-programming of our telephone system.  When you call Mäni's on Fairfax at: 323 938-8800  you will now hear more precise options.  You'll be able to get to a team member faster.  Please let us know if you like these changes.

Are there other areas where you'd like to see a change?  Let us know.  We hope you appreciate our new livlier color scheme and new lighting fixtures in the restaurant.  By the time you read this we'll have changed the color again on the south wall where we had and will re-hang our historical photos. We decided to do this because of your feedback.  The new color is deeper and warmer.  We'd like to know how you like this improvement.

Remember there are many ways to contact us as you read our blog.  You can click on the author's name which is hyper-linked.  That will send you email directly to the author here at Mäni's.  You can call us, or of course you can write a comment on the article posted.  Thanks for blogging with us!

Larry

Is Mäni's Santa Monica a real Mäni's or Not?

Recently a customer asked us, what's the difference between the Mäni's on Fairfax and the one on Main Street.  So here's the answer:

In 2000 Mäni's on Fairfax, the original Mäni's, owned and operated by its co-founder, sold the Main Street business to a gentleman who wanted to operate that location as a Mäni's licensee.  He was a qualified food service operator.  However since that time the business was sold two more times.  The current owners are contractually bound to purchase our bakery goods and not sell any other bakery's products in order to use our trade name, Mäni's.  All the food they prepare in their kitchen for their restuarant is un-guided by us.

Besides the above the owners of Mäni's on Fairfax are passionate about delivering food that's good and good for you.  We take the time to work with our Chef and team of bakers to design food that's healthier and then take the time to manage our menus, display cases, run this blog site, re-design our website, etc.  We've been doing so since 1989.

Yes, the biggest single difference is definately the passion.

Pumpkins Really Are Good For U!

I have a subscription to RealAge.  Often they have some good health info.  So I couldn't help but passing this along, since it's about the great healthy properties in pumpkin!  It's actually good for our joints, check it out at their daily tip of the day.

Love those pumpkins!

Larry

PUMPKIN & PUMKINS

Yes, it's pumpkin season again and as in years past, due to popular demand we've brought back our pumpkin pies and pumkin tarts.

This year we'll also have pumpkin soup, which is soooo gooood! 

The daily soups at Mäni’s on Fairfax are now on a two week schedule, so by the end of this week, we'll have our new schedule ready for the next two weeks.  You can bet on pumpkin soup being on it!

And if you have a costume or are just scary, stop by on Halloween day for a Witch's Finger! Oh, and bring the kids too!!

Really Just Out of the Oven

Many of you may have heard that Mäni’s no longer sells wholesale to stores like Mothers Markets and Whole Foods.  While we regret many of our customers no longer have the convenience of buying our products at these fine stores, it has now allowed us to change our production and baking times to better suit our customers here on Fairfax.

Now when you come into Mäni’s on Fairfax in the afternoon and evening, you can ask your counterperson, what's just come out of the oven?  They can simply walk back to the bakery production area and scan our bakers racks for products. Some may still even be warm or hot!  Wow, ever since I was a little kid I loved to eat fresh baked goods right out of the oven.

So whether your fav is a chocolate chip cookie, or a pumpkin cranberry muffin, you can now get one fresher than ever.  So make friends with your favorite counterperson and find out what's available just out of the oven.  Oh yeah, and don't forget about the scones and especially the turnovers!

Larry

Making Lemonade When Life Gives You A Lemon

Well, we got our lemon alright!  We were hit with a maintenance issue that required us to be closed for 3 days.  Since we're open 18 hours a day 7 days a week, we had to close to take care of a much needed issue.  So we decided to close during our slower days, Monday through Wednesday and re-open on Thursday.  We're very sorry to have inconveniced our valued guests and certainly our regulars!

So during that time we've had an entire company meeting at LACMA in the park and came up with some great ideas from staff to better serve our guests.  As soon as they're implemented, we'll let you all know.

We've finalized our new color scheme for retail, finalized our new casual shirts for retail team members, shopped for new chairs for the restaurant and more.

So that's the lemonade we made from the lemon we were dealt.  We also passed out coffee coupons to customers who came by while we were closed.  If you came by and we were closed, just ask us for your complimentary coffee drink, next time you come to visit us for breakfast, lunch, dinner or a snack.

Larry

Fare at Mäni's (on Fairfax of course!)

Many of you may have seen our new menu launched last week.  Although our popular items are still available, many of our new items are either vegan or vegetarian. However all our selections of burgers, tuna sandwiches, turkey chili and more are integral segments of our menu. I'd like to clarify our intents and philosophies on our food items and categories in the restaurant.

Mäni's offers a wide variety of healthier foods made from fresh and wholesome ingredients.  Some of our meal components are organic.  Some are vegetarian.  Some are vegan.  Some are low fat.  Some items traditionally using beef or pork are made Mäni's style with turkey or chicken, like our turkey bacon, turkey burgers, or our club sandwich made with chicken and turkey bacon.  Some are low carb.  All are delicious.  And all items that come forward from one seasonal menu to the next are items that you, our guests, have made popular.

Later today we'll also publish our new soup schedule.  Here again these are items that you've seen before and we have them because you made them popular.  We want to hear from you about what you think of our food and service.  Sure, everyone loves compliments, and we'd like constructive feedback too, if you wouldn't mind telling us. 

Just today Carl and I talked to a customer at the counter for quite awhile.  We'll call her Ms. N.  Ms. N. has been a guest for years.  She loves our products, but was quite annoyed that the serving sizes of our cakes seemed to have shrunk over time.   The issue was that our cakes are supposed to be divided into 8 equal slices, and it seems that's not always the case.  And since the price increased awhile back, it was understandable that the size shouldn't have become smaller.

We almost lost a wonderful patron.  But fortunately she was able to let us know what was wrong so we could rectify that issue.  Now Ms. N. left happy and Carl and I are even more satisfied knowing we solved a situation that could have become a loss for her and us!

So please, let us know if we mess up.  I know we do sometimes; we're certainly not perfect and we want to make things right for YOU!

Thanks for listening.

Larry

By the way....

Here are some faces at Mäni's on Fairfax, with whom you can discuss any issue:

Jose our chef in the kitchen,

with our lead cook, Julio

Carl, Operations, Customer Service and Staff Development

Yours truly, Founder, Larry

Sergio,  Retail Team Leader

Paul, Asst. Retail Team Leader and Trainer

Hurricane Aid at Mäni's

We would like to help raise money for our neighbors on the Gulf coast who've lost so much in the Hurricane last week.  Here's what Mäni's on Fairfax is doing:

Make a donation to the American Red Cross online and let us know via the comment link below, or you can drop off a check or cash at Mäni's on Fairfax, on the counter in the specifically marked container. We will match your donations up to $500 with a contribution from Mäni's.  Or you can mail us a check made payable to the American Red Cross:

Our address is:  519 South Fairfax Avenue  - Los Angeles, CA  90036.  As soon as we reach $500 in your contributions, we'll send $1000 to the American Red Cross in the name of Mäni's Customers helping those who need our help right now.

Let's see if we can reach our goal in the next few days.  As soon as we do, we'll announce it right here on our blog.

Thanks in advance for your support!

Larry