1.6.25 | New Year's Note

Opening Zunzun has been quite the experience!

I know what you're thinking: “How hard could it be to slap a coat of paint on the walls of The Red Hen and change the name on the front door?” The answer is, “A lot harder than any of us anticipated.”

The Hen was a place Becca and I poured ourselves into for ten years. But change, at least for us, is inevitable. Our goal is to be the change we want to see in this industry. Livable wages, positive life-work balance, quality food and ingredients, more personal feeling in the dining room. We had put so much of ourselves into The Red Hen, and we really wanted Zunzun to be even more expressive of who we are.

We tried a lot of different things at Zunzun this year. We didn't know if people would be interested in benefit dinners like our Noodles for Poodles or our Biskers for Whiskers events. But they were! Not only were these events so much fun to do, we were able to donate a good chunk of money to some local charities. Our Latin dance classes and our Spin your Own Vinyl Night were definitely not something you would have seen at The Red Hen, but they have all been smashing successes.

We tried a few things that didn’t stick, too. So we added back reservations and table service. Things started to really click. Over the course of the year, we saw a lot of new faces and more and more familiar ones coming back through the doors.

It’s great to see the message hitting home: At the core of Zunzun are all the most important qualities that made The Red Hen special. Classic techniques with fun new flavors. A warm and welcoming environment, ramped up a notch. When you’re at Zunzun, we try to make you feel like you're in our home, in our living room, enjoying an excellent meal.

So my New Year's resolutions for Zunzun are to find some new cooking technique to learn, some new flavors to play with. For the business as a whole, my resolution is to find new events to host, new and fun wine dinner themes to offer, and to get to know our newer guests as well as I know the guests we've had for years.

Thank you to everyone who’s joined us this year. I wish you all a great new year to do wonderful, new and exciting things.

Becca and I hope to see you soon.

Matthew Adams

“If you're a dreamer, come in” ~Shel Silverstein~