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With Valentine’s Day around the corner, we’re catching up with couples running three local businesses: Timothy Adams Chocolates in Palo Alto, Nudie Records in Half Moon Bay and Groovy Goose Coffee in San Carlos. Read on for their insights into being successful partners at work and home — as well as a few of their sweetest eating, drinking and listening recommendations.
The sweet life: Timothy Woods and Adams Holland of Timothy Adams Chocolates
Since 2014, Timothy Adams Chocolates in downtown Palo Alto has been a dream destination for chocoholics, offering delectable handmade morsels in a variety of rich and interesting flavors that are as pleasing to look at as they are to eat, with an emphasis on high-quality ingredients, carefully developed recipes and eye-catching designs. It also hosts chocolate-making workshops on-site. The couple behind the shop, Timothy Woods and Adams Holland, said they’ve put their hearts and souls into the business.
“It’s a complete lifestyle for us; the business overlaps into every area of our lives,” Woods said. “It takes every bit of our being.”
After 33 years together, they’re secure in their partnership and how to make the relationship flourish both at work and home. At the shop, Woods teaches all the classes, handles product development and quality control, develops the recipes and works in the kitchen and behind the counter.
Holland, meanwhile, oversees the general running of the operation, including making sure everything’s been ordered, managing inventory and packaging, and developing strategies with marketing groups and designers. Basically, “whatever he doesn’t do, I do,” Holland said.
When it comes to their products they have their own personal favorites, with Holland partial to caramels and Woods favoring the fruit flavors. There’s “influence of both of us heavily in that candy case,” Woods said.
Their effective division of labor carries over to their North Bay home, too (Woods handles the cooking and Holland the decorating, for example.)
“All relationships are give and take. We both have really strong personalities,” Woods said. “We’re both used to being managers and bossy, and we’ve arranged it so we’re not bossing each other around.”
It was a crush at first sight for Holland years ago, when he first saw Woods walking down the street while reading a book.
“He looked completely geeky but pretty cute,” Holland recalled fondly. “For some reason he caught my eye.” Eventually they connected at the restaurant where Woods was working and, happily, it turned out Holland had caught his eye as well.
The two share a passion for fashion, art and design in addition to cuisine, and while they love traveling together (Woods is in charge of the itineraries), their dedication to chocolate is always at the forefront of all they do. About a year and a half ago they spent several days touring “all the chocolate shops, basically, in Paris,” Woods said, adding that they visited around 36 within three days.
“Here in Palo Alto we have a clientele that travels heavily and they’re always coming in and telling us, ‘Have you gone to this? Have you gone to that?’” he said. To bring back their Paris goodies, Holland noted, they had to buy “two extra pieces of luggage just to get all the chocolates home.”
A little treat from Timothy Adams to give a sweetheart: Woods recommends a box of six chocolates. “It is the cutest thing in the world,” he said. “It’s just the sweetest little box.”
Timothy Adams Chocolates, 539 Bryant St., Palo Alto; 415-755-8923, Instagram: @timothyadamschocolates.
A sound collaboration: Elise and Luke Gasper of Nudie Records
Nudie Records was founded out of Elise and Luke Gasper’s Half Moon Bay home in 2020 and has taken off since then, championing indie artists, spanning genres including psychedelic, honky tonk and rock ’n’ roll, and releasing more than 20 albums (with 11 released in 2023 alone).
“We spent a couple years saying yes to everything,” Elise said.
The couple also had their second child since starting up the label.
“Having children is a creative project,” Elise noted. “You sort of become partners in a new way when you have kids; you have to strategize, deal with logistics. There’s a lot of moving parts.”
They’ve found that running the label gives them a welcome creative outlet as a couple apart from their busy identities as parents.
“It has been really amazing for us,” Elise said, recalling brainstorming for Nudie Records late at night while the kids were in bed and a hectic recent weekday morning scrambling to get children up, fed, dressed and out the door while also preparing social media posts to get the word out on their latest record.
Working on the label has required them to up their communication game in their relationship, allowing for productive debate and respect for their occasionally differing perspectives.
“We’ve had to learn how to spar from the creative side rather than the marriage side,” Elise said. They also play to each other’s strengths, each spearheading different release projects and working closely with their artists. Luke tends to handle much of the art and design while Elise has a knack for writing copy.
And in recent years, they’ve done “a lot to introduce ourselves to the Coastside,” Luke said, appearing at pop-up events and DJing for pretty much “any business that asks me to.”
Three years in, they’re still figuring things out and starting to put more processes and organization in place. “Ooh, spreadsheets!” Elise joked, “instead of the back of one of our kid’s drawing pads.”
It was music that brought the Gaspers, who’ve been together for a decade, together in the first place. They first met in Wisconsin, when a mutual friend invited Elise to check out a gig by a band Luke was playing in at the time – Disembodied Monks (“We’d all wear monk robes,” he said.) The two hit it off and, after a few months of dating, ended up back in Elise’s Coastside hometown.
Their next release, psych-folk singer Kailey Rocker’s debut album, will be out on Valentine’s Day. “We’re all about romance here at Nudie Records,” Elise said with a laugh.
As a mom-and-pop operation, they said their family feel extends to their roster of musicians. “Sometimes you’re, like, passing them back and forth; sometimes nobody wants mama for a while,” Elise said of working with each artist. “I think they trust us implicitly because we’re married. We are so invested together. I think that makes people feel really good.”
Some favorite Nudie Records songs about love: Luke recommends “A Man in Love” by Mad Max Elliott and “Canvas” by Underground River.
Nudie Records, Instagram: @nudie.records.
A good groove: Nathan and Siera Conte of Groovy Goose Coffee
Downtown San Carlos’ Groovy Goose Coffee just opened this past August, the dream of java-loving spouses Nathan and Siera Conte.
“Nathan and I, through our dating relationship and our marriage, we were always meeting for coffee, always going to coffee shops,” Siera said. They loved the cozy ritual, and the “intentionality of going to get a cup of coffee together.”
With beans roasted on-site, their vision for Groovy Goose is to offer a welcoming gathering place with great coffee and other tasty beverages and bites, designed with their friendly, whimsical vibe (think disco balls, appealing colors and a goose-with-sunglasses logo).
“We just wanted to be authentic and real with people; a safe place for everybody, no matter where you come from, to be a part of the community and enjoy,” Nathan said.
Siera handles most of the front-of-house aspects – training the barista staff, helming the social media and aesthetics, for example – while Nathan concentrates more on the coffee roasting and back-of-house tasks such as payroll.
“The most important thing in any relationship, but especially in a relationship when you’re working together, is trusting each other,” Nathan said. “We try and designate roles for each other and trust each other in those roles.”
With two very young children at home plus running a very new business, pressure is high and free time is scarce, but they’re managing to find ways to try and step back when necessary.
“We have a code word that we’ll sometimes use to say, ‘Hey, I’m done talking about Groovy Goose right now!’” Siera said.
They make an effort to stay connected and find time for things like dates and flowers to keep romance alive, even if it’s not always the top priority when things at work require immediate attention. Nov. 2, for instance, was a typically busy day at the cafe, with meetings to attend and tasks to be managed.
“It wasn’t until well into the morning that Nathan’s mom said, ‘Isn’t it your guys’ anniversary?'” Siera said, laughing. Both spouses had completely forgotten. Luckily, they also share a sense of humor about it.
They’ve been married for four years now and first met at a Christian gap-year program. They credit their faith as a major part of how their relationship survives and thrives despite the stresses that come along with starting a business and early parenthood.
“What we’ve learned through this is, grace is important,” Nathan said. They’re thankful for their families, who’ve stepped up to provide child care, and said they’re both committed to the little things that can add up, like making each other a soothing cup of tea to unwind after a hard day. They take heart “just knowing that at the end of the day we’re just going to support each other,” he said.
What to order on a cozy date at Groovy Goose: Siera and Nathan say they’d split an oat milk cappuccino and a fresh baked, warm chocolate croissant.
Groovy Goose Coffee, 1221 San Carlos Ave., San Carlos; 650-486-0522, Instagram: @groovygoosecoffee.
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