A Trillium Picnic

Perfectly charming and creatively fresh

Where the fun begins…

We gazed down at the hand-drawn map in our hands as we stood outside Trillium Café in Mendocino.  In true North Coast summer style, the sky was overcast and there was a bit of a cool breeze, yet we could feel the warmth of the hidden sun slowly seeping into the tops of our heads. The picnic box that we had just been handed by the busily cheerful waiter running between kitchen and garden was heavy in our arms with tasty things, and we wanted to pick the perfect spot to enjoy our lunch al fresco. I pointed at the Ford House picnic bench marked on the map. “We could go there, although it might be a bit breezy today…” Guy perused some of the other highlighted picnic spots. “Why don’t we go to the bench up on the Kelly House lawn?” he asked. “That should be nice and sunny right now.”

With the aid of Trillium’s custom-made map, we were on the hunt for the best picnic spot in town.

Agreed, we walked up Main Street, some of the other pedestrians commenting on the beautiful wooden box in our hands that obviously held a picnic lunch ready to be enjoyed. Once at the bench, we shook out the sweet red and white checked tablecloth and laid out our lunch break spread. “This is great!” we both commented as we settled in to our food. We got to be outdoors in the fresh air and safely distanced from pretty much every other person in the village that afternoon as we enjoyed a freshly-prepared lunch from one of our favorite restaurants in town, and with real utensils and napkins too! Sure, we’re always suckers for a good picnic, but still, we couldn’t believe that no one had thought of providing an experience as charming as this before COVID hit and demanded new and creative ways to do business of everybody. It was genius. We loved it so much that we determined to get the story from the Café’s owner, Sandra, later that day.

A colorful spread

L: How did you come up with this beautifully creative, fresh idea?

S: I came up with the idea for several reasons. First, takeout is never as good as enjoying the whole experience of eating in a restaurant - nothing tastes as good in a paper box - so I thought this would make takeout much more of an experience, an adventure! It’s a way to make takeout romantic and an extension of the experience that we are used to offering here at the Café. Second, takeout creates so much trash and waste. It’s not the trees’ fault this virus is ruining everything. Plus, I predicted when all this started that town would be overflowing with trash, which is now the case. This is my way of eliminating at least part of the waste – everything in the picnic boxes gets returned to be washed. Finally, with all the newly imposed restrictions, we thought these picnic boxes could serve as a replacement for the tables we had to eliminate at the cafe.

L: I don’t think I’ve seen a similar idea anywhere before, so this seems almost like some kind of fun experiment for you, right? How has it been going so far?

S: It has been working great! Everyone so far has really enjoyed the experience! It’s special, it’s well thought-out, it’s memorable. The only difficult part is that because it’s such a new thing I have to sell people on the idea, which means me being here a lot to execute it. The idea has been catching on though, and we’ve been selling quite a few more of late than when we started.

L: Are these picnic boxes a lot of work? Do they cost a lot?

S: On our end, it isn’t any more work to put together a table than a takeout order or picnic box. And for clients, there’s no extra charge, in fact, we even offer a 40% discount on any wine ordered for the box as an added benefit.

L: What’s the best way to order a picnic box?

S: They can be ordered on the online ordering platform on our website – you just need to note in the comments section that you would like it as a picnic box rather than regular takeout.

L: And finally, who made those lovely maps for you with all the best picnic spots in town? They’re so sweet!

S: The map was painted by a local high school girl, Meili. She’s really talented! She did have a few misspellings, but they are kind of cute, so we left them in. We include a copy of the map in every picnic box, and so far, we’ve received a lot of positive feedback on it!

Mmmmmm…..

And all we have to say to that is, “Here’s to many more such creative, fresh solutions to the challenges we are all facing right now! And may they all turn out as wonderfully as Trillium’s picnic boxes!”

The photographer getting photographed. Photo by Guy.

Words & pictures by Laura Hockett, unless otherwise specified, of course!