Welcome to Partner Provisions, where we introduce you to the incredible people and stories behind the restaurants, food trucks and caterers helping Zerocater feed the workforce – breakfast, lunch, dinner and every meal in between.
- Name: Arnaud Goethals and Julie Vandermeersch
- Restaurant: Vive la Tarte
- City: San Francisco
- Website: https://www.vivelatarte.com
- Instagram: @vivelatarte
What is Vive la Tarte?
Vive la Tarte is a neighborhood bakery focused on artisan brunch. It’s a place where we come together to pursue our wildest ideas with a single intention in mind: bringing meaningful and nourishing food to our guests.
Tell us Vive la Tarte’s Story.
We landed in San Francisco in 2012 and originally started selling our pastries out of a Volkswagen Bus. In 2015, we opened our first brick and mortar in a former printing house in Western Soma, where we handcraft food every day in the form of specialty croissants and creative brunch fare.
What’s your dream for Vive la Tarte?
We’re living the dream with the opening of two new locations later this year in Noe Valley and Silverlake (L.A.).
What was the very first menu item at Vive la Tarte?
We started with our take on the cheesecake, appropriately named the ‘S.F. Cheesecake’. Brighter and fluffier than its East Coast counterpart.
Tell us about one of your signature dishes?
At Vive, we like to start from a staple product and make it our own. We also try to integrate California’s ‘sense of place’ in the process. An example is our popular smashed avocado toast, with a poached egg, local Achadinha feta, pickled tomatillo, grape tomato, and sumac. We also bake a specific loaf of bread for it, in traditional cast-iron pans. For catering, we make it available in a ‘make your own toast’ format.
What’s your favorite thing about bringing Vive la Tarte to offices?
Seeing people’s faces light up when they know they’re about to enjoy something special.
What is one thing not many know about Vive la Tarte?
Our founders, Julie and Arnaud, both have their roots in Bruges, Belgium and Julie’s great-grandfather owned windmills on the edge of the city.
What is your biggest challenge as a restaurateur?
Keeping up with the rising costs of operating in San Francisco.
What piece of advice would you offer to a new restaurateur or someone starting out in the food business?
Make it your own and push the boundaries; it’s the most rewarding job in the world.
Tell us about a time where Vive la Tarte played a role in bringing people together or helped to foster community.
‘Vive la Tarte’ [literally translated: ‘celebrate the pie’] invites people to come together and celebrate everyday moments with delicious handcrafted food. It’s in our DNA. Our locations also reflect this ambition and are designed to initiate conversations, to encourage connections.
We love neighborhood projects; our latest was a participation in the ‘Walk of Happiness’, positive messages hand-painted on storefronts in the neighborhood. Over the years, we have partnered with SF Foodbank, Foodrunners, ACLU and we look forward to building new partnerships.
How has office catering helped your business grow?
We have been working with Zerocater since the early days. Our partnership has helped introduce Vive la Tarte in many start-ups and larger tech companies.
What do you like most about partnering with Zerocater?
We enjoy the overall friendly culture at Zerocater and believe it’s the cornerstone of our great partnership. We’d love to grow that partnership even bigger!
