Foodshed Take Away, a family success story
2.5 years into their journey, I check in with the Holmes & Singers to see how it's going so far.
Hello Eaters, Drinkers and Cookers. Here’s my story written this week for the Napa Valley Register and for you. I like the way it turned out. I never really know how it will turn out until it’s done. On that note, my impressions of my stories don’t necessarily line up with the public’s, so I’m interested in your opinion.
The Foodshed story below includes pictures of the Italian wine dinner we co-hosted last Monday. It sold out, and it was a great. Keep eyes out for future dinners in these posts as well as my Events Page. Members, i.e. paid subscribers, get amazing deals on the wine dinners. Monday Tastings and Road Trips (June 1 at Tin Barn, June 14 with Brockmeyer Family) are free for members + 1.
Piedmont Trip 2025, Burgundy Trip 2026
We have two spots left for Piedmont, Italy September 14-22, 2025.
Tastings at GAJA, Paolo Conterno, Luigi Pira and more.
3 nights in Torino. 2 days at Slow Food Cheese Festival.
Truffle hunt, pasta making class with our truffles!
5 & 4 star accommodations. Amazing food and wine every day.
Announcing our trip to Burgundy, September 16-27, 2026.
Burgundy at harvest time! Winery visits are in the works.
Opening up sales soon for Burgundy, which we expect to sell out fast.
Hit the message button below and send me a note regarding either trip.
I am co-hosting these trips with Karen Forster of ENV Travel.
Check out her menu of amazing trips on the horizon.
Foodshed Take Away, a family success story
A young couple who met working at Yountville’s Regiis Ova restaurant and lounge. The patriarch who owned and operated a Dunkin’ Donuts 40 years ago. The matriarch with deli experience as a kid. This is the team that bought Napa’s Foodshed Take Away restaurant 2½ years ago. Not a classic collection of resumés for a team taking over a successful eatery since 2013. So how do you think it’s going so far?
It's going great — as good if not better than expected.
Cathy Holmes, a commercial real estate broker, heard Foodshed (at 3385 Old California Way in Napa) was for sale in summer 2022. The team — Cathy, husband David Holmes, daughter Emma Holmes-Singer and son-in-law Daniel Singer — after much research and discussion purchased the business that October. Since then, it has been a story of learning, growing and evolving while keeping the food and the spirit of Foodshed at the level that’s brought it years of success. The secret to this success isn’t much of a secret, really. It’s the owners’ trust, faith and unity of family that make this locally-supported restaurant go.
You’d be mistaken to think the Holmes/Singer prior ownership experience, or lack thereof, made for an uninformed business purchase. Quite the contrary. Cathy has been privy to countless small business openings and closings, David has a restaurant know-how that I assume was forged into his psyche from “DDs,” and Emily and Daniel soaked in invaluable training from the Thomas Keller Restaurant Group, the owner/operator of Regiis Ova.
While the decision to purchase was a family decision, the research fell mostly on Cathy and David, saying “we crunched the numbers, drew in folks from the restaurant world, other friends in the finance world, asked them, asked ourselves, is there an opportunity here?” Ultimately, while there was a whole lot of learning yet to go, a foundation of understanding was laid, and business expectations have been met.
“I’m surprised that there haven’t been any surprises,” Cathy said.
'We jumped on board a moving train'
The intent and messaging was clear from day one of ownership: Don’t change the menu, keep as much of the staff as possible, keep Foodshed’s loyal, local customers coming in. This clientele included the Holmes, who had enjoyed the food for years. The pizza, lasagna, cacciatore, brownies — they were not going to change.
“We’re in our third year, and folks come in now and ask ‘are there new owners?’ They have no idea, and that’s great,” Emma, the general manager, said. “It’s important that it stays the same.”
While core dishes, including the slightly-famous Foodshed pizza and its crisp and chewy sourdough crust, will last, the Holmes/Singer team leaves ample room for menu and service growth.
“We jumped on board a moving train,” David said, then asked the question, “How do we take what’s good and make it great? How do we expand on this?”
Catering, always in high demand in Napa Valley, is growing. Community outreach is a constant through programs like dine-and-donate and youth sports sponsorships. The menu keeps its core of classics while showing creative chops via specials and more contorni (side dishes, particularly salads). I had the fried cod sandwich, a recent special: delicious.
'We decided I would be the chef'
Wild guess: As Daniel Singer endured COVID lockdown in 2020, he didn’t expect to be chef/co-owner of a cherished Napa restaurant in two years. A restaurant management degree then four years of The French Laundry front-of-house experience gave him more culinary theory than practical experience. When it came time to choose or hire a chef, the decision was easy. Daniel said, “We sat down with Gio (former owner Gio Guerrera) and asked about hiring a chef. Gio advised, ‘one of you needs to be chef, figure it out and make sure everything stays consistent.’ We looked around the kitchen and quickly decided that I would be the chef.”
It's been a crash culinary course for Daniel, and he has taken it in stride. His first two weeks he soaked it all in, CliffsNotes style. Then he started the deep dives. He learned the pizza dough, for example, from Michael Falcon, who’s been at Foodshed for six years. One day Michael couldn’t come in, Daniel made the pizza dough alone and it’s off to the races. (“Our biggest tests come when staff can’t make it to work, and we have to do it,” Daniel remarked.)
Reaching ever-higher levels of culinary expertise is one of his joys. Daniel used risotto for case-in-point. “The theory of how to make risotto is simple, but you have to get in and make it repeatedly to truly understand it. Mastering risotto took a couple months with the guys who have worked at Foodshed for a long time.” He looks forward to expanding Foodshed’s culinary range in the years to come.
Staff, family, community
Many say the restaurant business is as much about the people as the food. Foodshed has 28 employees, a combination of full and part time, many who worked for the previous owners. They are trained on hospitality in conjunction with daily duties. (“I can’t afford to have a staff that doesn’t care about the customer,” David said pragmatically.) As for Cathy, David, Emma and Daniel, it’s enriching to see them interact with each other. The love and devotion is strong all around. They even vacation together. Later this month they travel to Hawaii where the youngsters will run a half marathon, the elders a 15K. Their time together, on and off premise, works well for them and is a formula that seemingly is built to last.
Cultivating the mutual support of community is not only a business decision, it’s who they are. Owning Foodshed and championing community go hand-in-hand.
Emma Holmes-Singer’s story says it all: “Foodshed is ‘that place’ for so many and has touched the community in many ways. We have kids who have to have the Foodshed brownie for their birthday. On the other end, a customer of ours passed away and the family put money aside to make sure Foodshed catered the memorial. Foodshed is not just a restaurant. It’s in that place in someone’s heart. When you take bite, it is familiar, it is tasty, it is comfort food.”
You made it: the end of this week’s Eat Drink Cook: a life-journal from a Napa Valley dad, wine expert and enthusiastic cook. I provide pithy commentary on food and wine, or up to twelve subjects, often intertwined, with an emphasis on food, wine, cooking, being a dad and just a guy enjoying these crazy times the best I can. Read me for food & wine tips, recipes, and stuff I come across that you may find interesting too.