InBerkeley

For Caroline and Renee Thomas  Jacobs, the family dinner has always been one of the most important parts of the day, the one place where they and their two young sons could sit down together around the table to share food and conversation, and just reconnect and enjoy each other’s company. But as two busy professionals – Caroline working in operations at Apple and Renee working for a high-end kitchen supply retailer – they were finding these dinners were becoming harder and harder to do. Then, about three years ago, they realized that pretty soon they were never going to be able to have their family dinners at all, and that this was not the kind life they wanted. They decided they needed a change, and so Caroline left her job to become an at-home mother.

Caroline and Renee had also always wanted to start their own business together, but again, with two crazy jobs they had talked about it, but never really had the time to do anything. Once Caroline was home, however, they started thinking about what they wanted to do and what their passions were, and decided they wanted to find a way to make it easier for busy couples like themselves to have the family dinners they had struggled to maintain.

The result is ReneeGourmet™, a small, family-run business managed from their home in El Cerrito, practically in the shadow of FatApple’s restaurant, and just a stone’s throw from Berkeley’s infamous gourmet ghetto. As their web site states: We seek to “feed family time” with wholesome, ready-to-bake meals proven to bring the family to the table.

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Caroline around their kitchen table and talk about their new four-month-old business. I also got to sample some of their homemade pizzas.

“Renee’s always been the chef in the family, and she’s a big foodie and all that, and she came upon the idea of family dinners,” Caroline explained. “Technology has also played a major role in allowing us to do this with me at home, our web site, email, a Facebook page and a mobile phone. Without all this technology, it would have taken a lot more capital to get this off the ground.”

For now, the 12-inch homemade pizza is ReneeGourmet’s flagship dish, and they offer several interesting varieties as well as custom combinations. I tasted both the pepperoni pizza and the Mediterranean Madness, which includes sun-dried tomatoes, Kalamata olives, feta cheese, red onion, fresh basil and pine nuts, and both were delicious and truly looked homemade. The pizzas can be ordered with either regular or whole wheat crusts, and Renee also offers a unique gluten-free crust. Renee is also looking to expand their offering, and is testing new recipes for lasagna and macaroni and cheese, but these are not yet generally available to all customers.

A basic 12-inch cheese pizza – called Sonny’s – costs $14, while the combination pizzas will set you back $16, and discounts are available if you order more than 5 or 10 at a time. A wide variety of toppings, fresh herbs and cheeses are available for you to make your own custom pizzas, too. Or, you can join the Pizza Club and Renee will design a unique pizza just for you each month based on seasonal ingredients, your order history and stated likes and dislikes. They’ll even accommodate food allergies. Orders can be placed by email or phone, and Caroline recommends ordering all pizzas at least two days in advance (custom pizzas require it).

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Business, Food, General, People Pizza