ESO Entrepreneur Spotlight: Marisa Gittens
Written by Cecilia Seiter
ESO Entrepreneur Spotlight is a series dedicated to highlighting the achievements of our incredible entrepreneurs. From accessory design to insurance firms, restaurants to creative production studios, our entrepreneurs have launched businesses that embody true grit, perseverance, and community engagement. Keep reading to discover how ESO is helping entrepreneurs build where they are—and how those entrepreneurs are driving economic prosperity in their own backyards.
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If you ever find yourself at the intersection of Coolidge Avenue and MacArthur Boulevard in Oakland, look for the black building on the corner. You’ll see the side of the building is painted with a mural of people gathered around a table sharing a meal. That’s Café Noir, the brick and mortar space where chef Marisa Gittens is taking her culinary businesses to new heights.
Café Noir is a gourmet take on pick-up and to-go food. It’s also the sister restaurant of Cook and Run, a private chef and catering services business. Both are Marisa’s projects—and both have tapped into ESO’s Capital in the Community Fund (CICF) to take off running.
Marisa launched Cook and Run in 2016. She worked as a quasi-freelancer leading up to the pandemic, managing a few private chef events on her own. But with COVID, Cook and Run hit a growth spurt. Suddenly, the company was working hard to create emergency meals for at-risk or underserved individuals under government contracts. By 2022, Cook and Run was a million-dollar business.
Eager to keep her momentum going, Marisa joined ESO Venture’s cohort five in early 2023. ESO, she said, helped her refocus her business so it could expand sustainably.
“I’d already landed some large government contracts, but I was struggling with figuring out where to move from there,” she said. She’d hit walls when it came to securing funding for a brick and mortar space and new cafe concept. But once Marisa had completed her incubator program, ESO Ventures stepped in to be her first yes.
“I felt really supported throughout my experience,” she added. So much so that she became a part of the ESO team—Marisa served as the community manager for ESO cohorts six and eight.
Café Noir: the embodiment of Build Where You Are
The CICF was key to getting Café Noir up and running. With an influx of $100,000, Marisa could bring her vision to life: giving Oakland’s familiar flavors an upscale twist.
Marisa said the investment has enabled her to focus on quality and provide her customers with excellent products and service. It also helped sharpen her business chops.
“I think ESO is a great introduction to getting knowledgeable about starting your business, but also how to maintain it,” she said. “And these kinds of incubators and accelerators are important for people of color because we don't really have access to the same kind of wealth that other people have.”
The investment also helped bring the mural to life. Marisa was able to repaint the building to give it a signature look and feel that was authentic to her businesses. She said she’s felt the business has been on an upward trajectory, and that in the future, the funds will go into other investments for her community, such as extending their opening hours and purchasing outdoor seating. Marisa also plans to use the funding to get a reception desk for the front where customers can place orders.
Thanks to Marisa’s perseverance and incredible drive, Cook and Run and Café Noir are serving the Oakland and greater Bay Area communities unparalleled culinary experiences. Through several trials and challenges, Marisa has found the key to entrepreneurship is to look forward and keep pushing.
“Taking the leap, you can only mitigate your risk, but you can't stop yourself from failing,” she said during an interview for our podcast, Build Where You Are. “If you never take the risk, you'll never move forward, nothing will ever happen, you'll just stay where you are."
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