Palandech: Jen and I met at a fundraiser in San Francisco over five years ago. Three months prior to our meeting, my best friend came over to my house, and told me all about this amazing woman she had met the night before at the Lexington Club. My friend was convinced that this women was “the One” for me. At the time, I was in a relationship and was unwilling to hear anymore about it. A few months later, this same friend and I went to a fundraiser and met Jen. Jen and I immediately connected in an intense way. At the end of the night, my friend remembered where she had met Jen before -- and we realized that Jen was “the One” she had met months ago. My friend was right -- she was the One for me. I went home from that night, broke up with the person I was with, and we were engaged three months later.

We have been married for four years and had our daughter, Rubyrose, almost three years ago. After we moved from San Francisco to our lovely little farm in Sebastopol, we started Hip Chick Farms. We wanted to live our beliefs about sustainable food systems and make a line of products from Jen’s amazing recipes made with impeccable ingredients. We love working together. It is intense and amazing and really hard work. But we are really proud of what we have built together in the past year and a half.

Serafina Palandech, Jennifer Johnson and their daughter Rubyrose at Hip Chick Farms. Photo courtesy of Hip Chick Farms.

Bay Area Bites: How do you support each other at home and in life?

Palandech: Gosh, I’m Jen’s biggest fan. I just think that she’s amazing and such a creative talented person and she works so hard. We have this shared vision of what we want our lives to be like and we’re taking this big risk together. It’s really stressful and we just try to support each other through this -- she’s commuting and working a full-time job while we have Hip Chick Farms. We try to take care of each others’ strengths and weaknesses. When I get stressed out, she calms me down and I do the same for her. Our ultimate goal is that we’re all together.

Bay Area Bites: You two are building a business together and recently traveled to tradeshows. What is it like to market and promote yourselves and your product?

Palandech: We really believe in transparency with our business. It’s important to us for people to know that we are a family business. It’s not like it’s a priority to be a "gay business" but it’s the truth that that’s what we are.

We’ve gotten really positive feedback. With Jen’s amazing background people are impressed. It’s important for them to know where the product is sourced. Having Hip Chick Farms has really been positive experience. For us, that’s been wonderful.

We went to the UNFI tradeshow in Portland for a major natural food distributor. People love it and get what we’re about there. The other show was for Tony’s Fine Foods, which was different and more mainstream, and interesting. People like that Hip Chick Farms has a natural product and seem to respond really well to the fact that there’s real people behind it. We haven’t really gotten anything negative around it -- and we’re promoting it as a family business.

Bay Area Bites: What is a typical week like for you with Hip Chick Farms?

Palandech: I work from home and for a typical week, I am managing the manufacturing and work really closely with the factory as well as the people providing the ingredients. There’s a lot of selling in my job: talking to stores, and doing product demos, which are a very important part of our business right now. We have to meet and educate our consumers and tell people our story. I’m doing sales calls, and on the manufacturing side, I’m working with our distributors.

Bay Area Bites: You two have a young daughter and are still building a business. What’s that like?

Palandech: I have a lot of meetings while I’m holding her in my lap. I’ve had potential investors come in since we’re trying to raise capital. As a startup, we’ve bootstrapped our financing to date so now we’re trying to generate investors. We place so much value on being together as a family. I think it’s hard to do it all and it’s really important to me for our daughter to be a part of this as much as possible. My mom was just here for a week visiting from up North. For the Tony show, my Mom stayed with Rubyrose, our biggest fan.

Bay Area Bites: What was it like for you coming out professionally? When did you do it? What was your job at the time? Have you noticed a change over time?

Johnson: I basically came out when I started working at Chez Panisse in 1991 at age 24. As you can imagine, I was met with open, loving arms at work. At home, coming out to my family was definitely more challenging and terrifying. I think working in the Bay Area and working with people who really believe in sustainable cooking and living -- they tend to be a lot more open-minded then maybe other restaurant cooks that are less about the food and more about the show...in more macho kitchens is where I saw a lot more homophobia. So, I basically knew in my gut to stay far away from those kitchens and restaurants. I truly feel that when chefs are connected to their food and where it was raised or grown they just naturally tend to be more open-minded and welcoming -- "family table," come one, come all. Since 1991, the changes have been mind-blowing and yet there still needs to be more change, more awareness, and more tolerance!

Bay Area Bites: What are your favorite places to eat and drink?

Johnson: We live In such a glorious bubble that I feel like most or all restaurants are very open and welcoming of all clientele. I tend to eat at the same places (which is not often): Zuni, Chez Panisse, Tosca for drinks, and Tomasso's. I also seek out hole-in-the-wall dive bars and am always trying to find the best pho and spring rolls in town!

My gorgeous wife and our adorable three-year-old daughter just celebrated Pride in Guerneville by walking in the parade with a bunch of queer families. I had to laugh and reminisce that prior to being a “wusband” and parent, gay Pride weekend was always a blast and ended with a pretty good hangover! I love my life and I love how I've been able to celebrate my life in so many different wonderful crazy ways. Professionally, me being present and being my authentic self is my way of celebrating my gay Pride every day!

Here’s The Story of Hip Chick Farms

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LGBT Pride Profile: Jennifer Johnson & Serafina Palandech of Hip Chick Farms