Meet Guillaume Bienaime | Restaurant Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Guillaume Bienaime and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Guillaume, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I found the space first. At a reasonable cost, downtown Palo Alto, with minimal construction needed, I felt confident I could be busy enough to pay the bills with only 42 seats to fill every night. The concept came as I spent time in the space and thought about what the neighborhood needed and what my strengths were.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I think what sets us apart is attention to all facets of the restaurant, food, beverage, customer experience, decor and vibe. Its never easy, but we question ourselves on a daily basis, learn from our mistakes and strive to take care of our customers as if they were family. I got hear by learning from others, taking bits and pieces of other peoples success and applying it to our business. One of the biggest lessons is that you can’t be everything to everyone. Be true to your brand and your spirit, not everyone is going to like it, and thats okay.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I would go up to the Santa Cruz Mountains. Taste some wine at Fogarty, have lunch at Alices, go on a hike and finish with dinner at the Mountain House.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Howard Bulka of Howie’s Artisan Pizza and Geoffroy Raby of Cuisinett are my biggest mentors and sounding board. But I spend a lot of time reading about and studying successful restaurants and business leader. Recently I’m most interested in Ray Dalios work.

Website: https://zolapa.com

Instagram: Zola + BarZola