Being our neighborhood, we were craving something other than the seemingly dated La Jolla coffee experience. Coincidently an opportunity arose to partner in a new cafe development just a few blocks from Sixteenfifty HQ. It was a blank slate—the only requirement being epic coffee and an organic, healthy menu. Since birds are cool, we decided on Parakeet as the name and concept and ran with it, developing every aspect of what the café would be, how it would operate and how our guests would experience it.