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Wine, cheese at your doorstep
Entrepreneur partners with local businesses to deliver specialty products COURTESY PHOTO
Westerlay Orchids has donated more than 92,000 orchids across the state in the past few months.
Westerlay donates thousands of orchids to frontline works By JORGE MERCADO NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
The simplest acts can create the biggest smiles. And, since the beginning of this COVID-19 shutdown, Westerlay Orchids has been doing everything it can to put a smile on the faces of those who need it most — frontline workers. In mid-March, Westerlay Orchids partnered with two of the industries largest organizations, The Fresh Produce & Floral Council, and the Produce Marketing Association and began running the 100,000 Orchid Challenge. “We haven’t worked with them as a company for quite some time, but on this particular project which was the 100,000 Orchid Challenge, we worked
RAFAEL MALDONADO / NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS
Guy Solan launched “Landed Home Delivery” which delivers specialty products and perishables to customers’ doorsteps. Here, he delivers fresh bread, tarts and wine to Noelle Strogoff’s home in Montecito.
By GRAYCE MCCORMICK NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
When COVID-19 hit, a Montecito resident saw the heavy blows to small, local businesses — and with it, an opportunity to help. Guy Solan moved to the city in 2012 and started a wine delivery business. He said selling wine online allows for shoppers to choose from many more products than they would in a store, but delivering the wine is challenging due to high shipping costs, fragility, packaging and an inconsistent delivery window. He wanted to be able to provide customers with a specific day and time they would receive their order. Once the city locked down because of the global pandemic, online retail skyrocketed for chain grocery stores, but Mr. Solan saw local businesses still struggling to stay afloat. “There were a lot of small food businesses that were really getting hammered or closing completely,” he said. “I thought, maybe there’s an opportunity there to connect these small food businesses with people.” He noticed that the delivery of specialty foods faced a logistical problem — for example, there’s only so much fresh bread someone can buy at once. However, Mr. Solan decided to bring multiple specialty food businesses together to create the perfect combinations. Now he has launched “Landed Home Delivery,” which offers home delivery of artisan breads and pastries, fresh produce, grass-fed meats and other perishables. His local partners include California Juice Co., Bread Bar, Centri Coffee, Ventura Meat Co., Calioh Coffee and Landed Wine. Customers log on to the website and create
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with them from pretty much the very beginning,” Director of Sales and Marketing for Westerlay Orchids, Jeffrey Karpman, said. Mr. Karpman knew March 14, his birthday, was a celebration. But, in 2020, March 14 marked what he described as “D-day” as COVID hit and suddenly there was a major disruption with supply chains that Westerlay shipped too. “We just thought we could take it on the chin and ride it out or we could turn lemons into lemonade,” Mr. Karpman said. From that day forward, Westerlay began working with its partners and got things prepared to ship out orchids to frontline workers. Not even a month later, on Please see ORCHIDs on A10
Zoom benefit to help sister city’s festival By JOSH GREGA NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
Mr. Solan delivers all products himself, with the help of one other delivery driver.
their fresh order from the following categories: bakery, dairy, fruit, vegetables, flowers, juice bar, butcher, coffee and wine. Then they can choose from scheduled delivery windows starting from the next day to a week in advance, availability dependent. From there, Mr. Solan and one other individual assisting him pick up the products in the morning and deliver them in the
afternoon. “My role in the delivery is really the connection between small businesses and customers,” he said. “I don’t look at myself as a retailer with their products. I’m offering their items and able to deliver them.” He added that Santa Barbara is a city that he thinks could benefit from a service like this. Please see delivery on A9
The Santa Barbara-Kotor Sister City Committee is holding a fundraiser via Zoom on Sunday to support the KotorArt International Music Festival. For the past two years, UCSB students have gone over to the coastal town of Kotor, Montenegro, to play in its classical music festival, which like many arts and entertainment events, has been impacted financially by the COVID-19 pandemic. Montenegro is located on the coast of the Balkans in southern Europe. Santa Barbara-Kotor Sister City Committee chairman George Lilly told the News-Press that he hopes the digital event will raise between $15,000 and $25,000. The KotorArt International Music Festival is entirely funded by government money, according to Mr. Lilly. Public funding has diminished since COVID-19 significantly impacted tourism for Montenegro. Santa Barbara musicians performing in the Montenegrin town and music students from the Balkans attending the Music Academy of the West Summer
COURTESY PHOTO
UCSB graduate student and cellist Katrina Agate will be among those performing live during a Zoom fundraiser Sunday. She performed at the KotorArt International Music Festival in the summer of 2019.
Fellows Program have created a strong musical bond between this town and Kotor. Because of this connection, the Santa Barbara-Kotor Sister City Committee felt a need to help the festival. Please see SISTER on A2
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