As they say, in 2001 a piece of France landed in Portland, Oregon. Cheryl Wakerhauser, who had given up a career as an astronaut to train at the prestigious pâtisserie of MOF
Philippe URRACA, started her authentic French dessert restaurant, Pix Pâtisserie. There she served up  both innovative and traditional French desserts, chocolates and house made ice creams along side a plethora of top notch beverages. As her website says, “Some women buy shoes, Cheryl buys Champagne”. The walls held over 700 cuvées, including vintage and large format, with a focus on small grower producers. Cheryl wanted quality wine to be affordable while providing a relaxed, fun environment in which to enjoy it. People noticed. Her offering was awarded World's
Best Champagne and Sparkling Wine List every year from 2014 - 2020 by London's World of Fine Wine Magazine. Her creativity didn’t stop there. In the same space, Cheryl also housed a proper Spanish tapas bar named Bar
Vivant. Amazing bar food with a quality selection of wine, beer, cider, Sherry and tasty cocktails. The atmosphere was pure fun and patrons were even encouraged to throw their napkins on the floor and not be afraid to “get a bit rowdy”. You may have noticed the use of past tense, because COVID came along and put the brakes on all of it. Hopefully those days will be back but that formula is out for now. However, Cheryl thinks outside the box. Out of necessity she developed a non-contact, incredible new vending machine with a wistful name typical of Cheryl, the Pix-O-Matic. It’s a 24-hour vending machine holding Pix desserts, macarons, conservas from Bar Vivant and other random stuff to make you smile. The machine is thoroughly cleaned and restocked each day at 10AM. Selections can be purchased with the contactless credit card reader. At first, it was a Hail Mary experiment, but it made $100 the first day. Then $400. The $4,000! Before COVID, Cheryl had a staff of 20+, was trying to find employees and all the other headaches of a restaurant owner. Suddenly, she was making as much money as the restaurant would make on a busy Saturday, with one and half employees. Hmmmm, life suddenly got easier. She has now recreated the previous whimsical experience around a couple of vending machines and a superbly fun room in which to enjoy your food and beverage. In an almost Disco-like atmosphere, individuals and families can enjoy themselves all hours of the day. Her story was not missed by Business Bites podcast as a brilliant way to create a revenue stream in the lockdown era. Fall down seven times, get up eight.

"Masoni and Marshall the meaningful Marketplace" with your hosts Sarah Masoni and Sarah Marshall

We record the "the Meaningful Marketplace" inside NedSpace in the Bigfoot Podcast Studio in beautiful downtown Portland.

Audio engineer, mixer and podcast editor is Allon Beausoleil

Show logo was designed by  Anton Kimball of Kimball Design

Website was designed by Cameron Grimes

Production assistant is Chelsea Lancaster

10% of gross revenue at Startup Radio Network goes to support women entrepreneurs in developing countries thru kiva.org/lender/markgrimes

#93 COVID Can't Stop Her - Cheryl Wakerhauser, Pix Patisserie

Meaningful Marketplace Podcast