Aubrie Therrien, co-owner of Vineapple Cafe since February 2020, transformed the establishment from a local coffee shop into a full-service, community-oriented restaurant with her husband, Zac Rubin, after the previous owner's departure. Influenced by her nonprofit work as Founder and Artistic Director at EPIC Players and her family's background in the hospitality industry, Therrien fosters a creative environment where all team members can shine. She draws inspiration from resilient women in her life, highlighting the importance of family, friendship, and collaboration. Through her ventures, Therrien has learned the value of stepping back and leveraging strengths to build dynamic teams.
Her responses have been edited for length and clarity. Check out the short video clip from the interview on Instagram and TikTok by clicking the hyperlinks.
Purchase the only print signed by the owner to support a worthy cause. 100% of the proceeds of the signed print benefit the Brooklyn Community Services’ Transitional Living Community women's shelter.
What inspired you to take over the Vineapple in February 2020?
Therrien: We would come to Vineapple, the local coffee shop, prior to us taking it over, as loyal followers, just like our other neighbors. That was when it only had coffee, no food. My husband, Zac Rubin, and I would always say, “Wouldn’t it be great if they had food and wine with a name like Vineapple.” One day, the owner put up a sign saying they were going away for the summer and never came back. Weeks later my husband said, “Were you serious about what you said we could do for Vineapple?” I said, “No!” Running a restaurant is hard. My family used to run Giambone in Little Italy for 75 years. I've always worked in the hospitality industry and I know how hard it is. He said, “Well, I found the owners and I started talking to them, I think we should meet.” We met and talked about what we thought could be Vineapple 2.0, if you will. They had decided to move on from the business anyway, so it was a perfect match.
We took it over in February 2020. Then March hit, so we spent time putting love into the restaurant deciding what the identity was, and then opened in July 2020. We had some wonderful people on board helping us decide what Vineapple is. It's a very community-oriented restaurant. Our regulars give us feedback and let us know what works and what doesn't. We’re also a community within our staff and our team. We opened with my mother and I in the kitchen, a friend of ours making homemade bread, cutting up cheese, handing out wine, and then we moved on to brunch. Now we have breakfast, lunch, dinner, brunch and aperitivo. We are always reinventing ourselves and how we can be a part of the community. That's most important to us.
How has your experience with EPIC Players (Empower, Perform, Include, Create) influenced how you run Vineapple?
Therrien: I founded EPIC Players and I'm the Executive Director. EPIC is a nonprofit focused on elevating Neurodivergent and Disabled artists. We help by amplifying their voice and bridging professional performance opportunities, as they have historically lacked accessible pathways to that. EPIC is a much bigger organization than it was seven years ago. We have over 100 members who identify as Autistic or Disabled. Some of our players just made their Broadway debut, others are going on to film and TV.
In terms of DEIJ (Disability Equity Inclusion and Justice), it’s about creating invisible pathways for people; what we like to call invisible ramps. Figuring out ways for our artists to get into a room assuming competence and capability in our partnerships. How can I build an invisible ramp to make sure everyone shines even further?
That seeps into what we do at Vineapple in the community experience that we have with our team, and ensuring everybody can put their best foot forward to shine, be creative, and collaborative. This is an extremely collaborative restaurant, more so than any other place I've ever worked at. That's really important to our ethos.
Nonprofits are really important to the social fabric of this country. We elevate nonprofits every Monday with our Dine-Out For a Cause, to amplify the voices of local nonprofits. We donate proceeds from that night's dinner and we also donate our space for them to use as they please.
Who are the women throughout your life that have inspired you?
Therrien: My nana was an extremely resilient woman. She was also disabled with polio at a young age. She was a very hard worker, dedicated to her family and the culinary arts. Her husband died, so she had four kids that she raised by herself. I always think about her and how what she was able to do translates into our life and also the love of food and family that she instilled in me. My mother also loves to cook and to be at a table with our family and friends, eating, drinking wine, and talking about our lives.
My sister-in-law, Cynthia Therrien, designed this whole mural and logo for our merchandise. She's an extremely talented artist. My mother helped paint it and put her touches on the design, along with my father. In the summer of 2020, they were all here on scaffolding, painting the mural and making it a part of the Vineapple brand, which is lovely. Zac's family came and planted this entire garden and built things we needed to build. Vineapple is very much a labor of love and a family effort.
I'm really lucky to have amazing friends who are really amazing, powerful women doing incredible things. It's wonderful to have women in your life that you can call and say, “You are amazing. I love you. Thank you for being in my life.” It's important to have a network like that, especially in New York.
What have you learned about yourself from all of your personal and business ventures?
Therrien: I've learned to step back, process, and allow other people to step in and take ownership of things. I've learned how to be truly collaborative in all of my endeavors, especially at EPIC and here at Vineapple. My husband and I are running Vineapple together. Working with your husband is a blessing and has its challenges. Learning what my strengths are, what his strengths are, and figuring out how to make that into a dynamic team that helps run the restaurant is valuable. It's something we're always learning.
Vineapple Cafe is located at 71 Pineapple St, Brooklyn, NY 11201 and is currently open on Monday to Thursday from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., Saturday from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., and Sunday from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., with happy hour from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. and brunch on the weekends from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (347) 799-1035.
One of my proudest accomplishments was securing the contract for BCS to work on The NYC Mural Arts Project, which aimed to destigmatize mental health issues. I'm a sincere believer in the power of art to help in that matter. Throughout my tenure at BCS, my art practice was instrumental in helping me think and apply my writing skills to help others. I'm so grateful for the support I received from the executive staff during my time there.
One of the things I was sad to miss out on (despite repeated attempts) was securing funding for a greenhouse in the garden at BCS's Transitional Living Community. TLC is a 30-bed women's shelter in East New York that works with those who have mental illness and are dealing with domestic violence, sexual assault, or trauma. BCS provides counseling, temporary shelter, and assistance to secure permanent housing, an essential step in any new beginning.
In honor of Women's History Month, I'm thrilled to announce a special initiative to support BCS's vital work. I'm offering a limited edition print signed by me and renowned women-run restaurant owners from Fish Cheeks, Vineapple Cafe, Lovely Day, and Librae Bakery. This exclusive 9x12 print on premium Innova Etching Cotton Rag IFA-22 paper is a true collector's item. And the best part? 100% of the proceeds from this print will benefit BCS's TLC.
Won't you join me in helping their garden grow?
]]>Her responses have been edited for length and clarity. Check out the interviews with owner Jenn Saesue and managers Aditi Sonajirao and Christina Stopielo by clicking on the hyperlinks.
Purchase the only print signed by the owner to support a worthy cause. 100% of the proceeds of the signed print benefit the Brooklyn Community Service's Transitional Living Community women's shelter.
What does it feel like to work at Fish Cheeks?
Dechkla: Fish Cheeks is friendly, challenging, and fun. I love working here because I'm able to show my culture and our traditions. In the restaurant, we do family style, but typically Americans do individual plates. We want to pass this experience to them. It's an honor to work in a competitive environment, especially as a woman working with somebody like Jenn. She's very great and brings me a lot of pride.
Talk me through how having a women-dominated staff impacts the flow of the restaurant.
Dechkla: I started as a server, so it was already tough for me. Moving up to this position was not easy at all. Getting acceptance and respect, especially from male staff, was challenging. One day I’m a server and the next day I’m their boss. Little by little they notice how capable I am as the manager.I’m happy that I can see how Jenn works and replicate her management style in my own way.
Women employees bring a lot to the table. In general, they pay more attention to the details, provide attentive services, and foster a welcoming atmosphere. Male employees also bring other qualities to the restaurant, but the nature of the woman is generally more empathetic and patient. When de-escalating situations, I have found myself empathizing with customers and resolving issues quickly.
Who are the elders that have influenced your work ethic?
Dechkla: My parents have a lot of influence for who I am today. They are very strict teachers who had high expectations for me. I grew up following their work ethic. I also pick up qualities that I see from people at my workplace, especially Jenn. She is a big inspiration for me. She is someone who I look up to as a smart, talented, and hardworking woman. Fish Cheeks started as an idea for her. Being able to witness that the idea go and keep going to a level that no one ever thought of is something I cannot put into words. It means so much to me watching a fellow woman from Thailand grow our culture more than anybody in New York. People know Pad Thai and Thai curry. On our menu, she doesn't even have to sell Pad Thai or the more common dishes that foreigners or American people know as Thai food. She showed our customer that Thai food and our culture has more to offer.
How proud are you of yourself?
Dechkla: I am so proud of myself. It was challenging for me because I'm not a native and I didn’t speak English out loud too much before I moved here. I learned how to navigate life in New York by myself alone because all my family is in Thailand. In Thailand, I worked as an event planner and it feels similar to the restaurant – keep moving and being productive. Working here, you see different people every day, and encounter different situations every day. I am happy to improve myself to be here as much as I can. I'm so proud that I can be a successful part of the management team at Fish Cheeks.
Fish Cheeks is located at 55 Bond St,. New York, NY 10012 and is currently open on Sunday through Thursday from 12:00 p.m. to 10:15 p.m, and on Friday and Saturday from 12 p.m. to 11:15 p.m., with happy hour from 12:00 p.m. to 6:00pm. (212) 677-2223
]]>Her responses have been edited for length and clarity. Check out the interviews with owner Jenn Saesue and managers Aditi Sonajirao and Pud Dechkla by clicking on the hyperlinks.
Purchase the only print signed by the owner to support a worthy cause. 100% of the proceeds of the signed print benefit the Brooklyn Community Service's Transitional Living Community women's shelter.
What does it feel like to work at Fish Cheeks?
Stopielo: This is like a family, I felt that almost immediately. We seem to always find great people that just help with the environment and vibe that we want to have. Everybody works hard and has the same motives. It's been a pleasure to work here.
Talk me through how having a women-dominated staff impacts the flow of the restaurant.
Stopielo: I've been in the restaurant industry for over 20 years and managing for about half that. It’s not that male-dominated manager teams don’t do a great job; I just feel that as women, we pay a bit more attention to each person. We think of a team atmosphere, but also individualize everyone. You can't be the same kind of manager for every person. I’m able to see that everyone is a person trying to make it in this world and in New York City, which is not an easy place to make it in.
Most of our team is all women, our head chef is the only one, as far as the management team is concerned, who is a man. A woman's intuition is something that is privy to just women. Having staff that is able to anticipate people's needs and multitask during rush times has really been helpful. When hiring, Aditi tends to look at – how can we make you the best Fish Cheek's employee? I'm more on the training side – how can I get to know you, so I can get the best out of you? Then Pita, being Thai, encompasses what the culture is here. For example, teaching why we serve everything family style. We all have different ways of tapping into everyone that's working here to pull the best out of them.
As far as the guests' experience, I love connecting with people. I make it a part of my day to get to know every detail that people are willing to share, so that I can do a better job.
Who are the elders that have influenced your work ethic?
Stopielo: Both of my parents had a very strong work ethic. They did not work in this industry, but they just showed me what it is to get up every day and go to work, regardless of what's going on in your life. In this neighborhood, I have befriended other managers of restaurants local to us that are also mostly women. It's good to talk to somebody who you don’t work with, so that you can get the most cut and dry perspective.
From Aditi, I'm learning from her how to regulate my emotions, look at things analytically, and be the devil's advocate. I see things with rose colored glasses, as they say. She pulls me back down into the real world and breaks it down for me, so that I can handle every situation the most professionally.
How proud are you of yourself?
Stopielo: I am extremely proud of myself. As a woman, it's hard to say that you're proud of yourself. You saw the Barbie movie, that whole monologue about how we can only do this and we can't be that. I came into this restaurant, with management experience, wanting to be a server, but I’m so grateful that I said yes to being a manager because I've grown as a person and a woman since that day.
The first six months that I was here, I lost my mother, so I changed completely after that. They didn't even know me, but they carried me through all that. They gave me a lot of grace because, for about a year, I was in the dark. That kind of situation brought us closer. It showed me that this world can be tough, but there are people that care. I learned that I'm in the right place and I’m proud to be here.
Fish Cheeks is located at 55 Bond St,. New York, NY 10012 and is currently open on Sunday through Thursday from 12:00 p.m. to 10:15 p.m, and on Friday and Saturday from 12 p.m. to 11:15 p.m., with happy hour from 12:00 p.m. to 6:00pm. (212) 677-2223
]]>Her responses have been edited for length and clarity. Check out the interviews with owner Jenn Saesue and managers Christina Stopielo and Pud Dechkla by clicking on the hyperlinks.
Purchase the only print signed by the owner to support a worthy cause. 100% of the proceeds of the signed print benefit the Brooklyn Community Service's Transitional Living Community women's shelter.
What does it feel like to work at Fish Cheeks?
Sonajirao: We've curated a strong team of managers with a similar goal – we want to make sure that our guests are getting the best experience possible. We work hard to train the team towards the same goal and the food speaks for itself. Every day is a little bit different. We get to meet some great people. A lot of wonderful regulars come through, so I’ve made a lot of connections and had the chance to make some new friends along the way.
Talk me through how having a women-dominated staff impacts the flow of the restaurant.
Sonajirao: I've been in the industry for over seven years; back and front of house. Understanding the effort that goes into making the food makes it easier to support the kitchen. One thing I would love to kind of see more of is more support systems for females in management. It's great that we have each other here, but it'd be great to see more of that. There are generally a lot of groups out there for career improvement, but I don't see many for women in the culinary world.
It was extremely difficult being a two person team, but also very fortunate to get to work with our owner Jenn. Two years in, I was able to hire Christina, and then the next year after, we promoted our other restaurant manager Pita [Pad] from a server. They've been able to bring their valuable experience and different perspectives. We all come from different backgrounds – cultures, ages, and experiences. You don't necessarily need gender diversity to have a good team. Having a team with diverse personal experiences is really important.
We've all had our hard days, but we're at a really strong point where we're able to support each other. I would say it’s a deeper understanding than family.
But being in an industry where we're dealing with guest’s needs and employee’s needs, that high emotional IQ is extremely important. And I know that my team has that. Working for a woman like Jenn, who has been able to be our Guiding Light in what she wants out of her restaurant, she always gives great advice and she's a badass business person. We get to kind of see both sides of it. How do we manage the business and the money, as well as take care of our team and guests?
Christina is usually the person that I go to when I don't know what to do. We balance each other out very well. I play devil's advocate, seeing the worst case scenario because I have to prepare for that. She helps me be a realist. Christina’s a great person to practice difficult conversations with.
Pita is very direct. She wants and is not afraid to ask for it from our staff. We hold our team at a high standard. For example, if Christina and I are not seeing where that employee needs to improve with a checklist of what needs to happen, or what they're doing well, Pita’s already got that covered.
Who are the elders that have influenced your work ethic?
Sonajirao: I’ve had good managers and not great managers in the past that I've been lucky enough to learn from. I’ve learned what I do and don’t want to do.
As for my family, definitely my parents. My parents have worked hard to make my life easier. Modeling after them has always been important. More recently, they've gotten to see the person I've become and their biggest concern with me is to focus on what's going to make me happy.
How proud are you of yourself?
Sonajirao: Women are expected to be humble and, since we are celebrating Women's History, I'm choosing not to be humble. I'm really proud of myself and what I've accomplished. It was just me and Jenn here through COVID. Every week felt like two months of time with the amount of changes that were going on. Considering what we had to go through and that we’re still here four years later, I just take it in stride. There's a place to be humble, but today's definitely a day I feel proud that we're here.
Fish Cheeks is located at 55 Bond St,. New York, NY 10012 and is currently open on Sunday through Thursday from 12:00 p.m. to 10:15 p.m, and on Friday and Saturday from 12 p.m. to 11:15 p.m., with happy hour from 12:00 p.m. to 6:00pm. (212) 677-2223
]]>Her responses have been edited for length and clarity. Check out the interviews with managers Aditi Sonajirao, Christina Stopielo, and Pud Dechkla by clicking on the hyperlinks.
Purchase the only print signed by the owner to support a worthy cause. 100% of the proceeds of the signed print benefit the Brooklyn Community Service's Transitional Living Community women's shelter.
How does the food in Thailand influence how you run Fish Cheeks?
Saesue: Fish Cheeks is an authentic Thai restaurant with a focus on seafood. A lot of the influences are the food that I grew up eating in Thailand. For the longest time, Thai food in New York City has had this similar menu: Pad Thai, Pad See Ew, and curries. When we opened in 2021, I think we were the first ones to target that. We didn’t do any noodles or Pad Thai. We just want to educate people that there’s more to Thai food than just Pad Thai.
What’s your favorite Thai dish?
Saesue: It’s so hard to pick one dish! There’s 100 ways to go about cooking things, so you never really get bored.
In Thailand, seafood is incredible, so any time that my mom cooked prawns or fish was amazing and so delicious. I also love Mango sticky rice and I know that’s cliche, but it's delicious. Mango in Thailand is out of the world because it’s so sweet.
What’s something you’ve learned that influenced the operations at Fish Cheeks?
Saesue: I believe in clarity. I believe in strong communication either good or bad. When you’re direct, you get more things done, and you can expect more from people.
Who are the elders that have influenced your work ethic?
Saesue: My dad’s work ethic influenced me. He’s the type of person who gives 100%. He would always say, “It doesn't matter what you do if you are putting your 110% in. Whether you fail or succeed, it doesn’t matter. You have to give it a fighting chance.”
How did you know that this building was “The One”?
Saesue: We got a call from our broker, saying that this building is available. It’s Bond St. I was like, “What are you talking about? There’s no way that I can afford this!” She said, “I got a deal,” and when we saw it, we loved it right away. The cobblestone street – it’s one of the most iconic streets in New York City.
We put the awning on and it was controversial. Some of the neighbors didn't like it because it was too colorful, but I think it’s a nice look. I know that most of the buildings on the street are very serious and it's beautiful. We're just bringing a little playfulness into the street.
The color scheme and the airiness of the interior help bring what we're trying to serve and support the food. A lot of the design is very Thai – the tiles are inspired by the roofs from the temples in Thailand, the color scheme, the wallpaper is extreme, like the plastic tablecloths that you can find in Southeast Asia. We played around with a lot of colors and textures, but also, kept it very light and airy and inviting in here.
Talk me through how the women staff impact the flow of the restaurant.
Saesue: We have a very big female team here. All of my managers and my floor managers are women. My sous chef is a woman. I believe in inclusion and equality for all, but it worked out that a lot of them are women. They give it that extra love, care, and attention to detail.
How proud are you of yourself?
Saesue: I'm very proud of myself at the moment. I have a very thriving business. We've been open since 2016. I can't ask for more. The customers are amazing. The neighbors are amazing. The industry is amazing. We have a lot of love and support from everyone.
Fish Cheeks is located at 55 Bond St,. New York, NY 10012 and is currently open on Sunday through Thursday from 12:00 p.m. to 10:15 p.m, and on Friday and Saturday from 12 p.m. to 11:15 p.m., with happy hour from 12:00 p.m. to 6:00pm. (212) 677-2223
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