Michelle and Mike DiGiovanni have created a happy, welcoming place for residents of Running Springs and anyone traveling along the Rim of the World Highway. A picnic table in the middle of the café encourages patrons to rub elbows and get to know each other while enjoying coffee, pastries, or a variety of brunch menu items. The regulars know and start preparing their standard orders when they see them driving. It’s a daily meet and greet.
On June 12, LuluBelle’s Coffee House and Bakery hosted an Italian take-out party just for fun with Blue Jay’s Chef Sam Perry at Stone Creek Bistro. Tickets sold out quickly for the event. Two tents were pitched outside and about 64 people gathered to celebrate the camaraderie of two mountain companies that work together. The seven-course Italian meal was equally prepared by Chef Sam and Mike of Lulubel, Michelle and Aaron Velasco, and Ronnie McCaslin. A picture of Mike’s grandfather slinging pizza dough hangs on the wall of LuluBelle’s. He sure was smiling at the event. He owned two Italian restaurants in Washington, D.C., one on Capitol Hill, and Mike said DiGiovanni’s family lasagna recipe was served at the party. Waiters serve the guests, and the seating was family style, so people got to know each other. Everyone had a great time, and the event all the restaurant owners hoped it would be.
LuluBelle bakers arrive at 4:00 AM to start baking fresh pastries for the day. Our organic fair trade coffee from thanksgiving coffee is served in mendocino. Thorough research has been done by Michelle and Michael. They’ve spent time with Paul and Joan Katzeff, owners of Certified B, which partners with small family farms and Fair-Trade coffee cooperatives on five continents. They learned about coffee cooperatives providing better prices to buyers and better wages to workers. They explained that coffee is the second largest traded commodity in the world (after oil).
How did LuluBelle originate and who is LuluBelle? The couple quickly replied that LuluBelle was their dog. They purchased the building, then a real estate office, in 2019 and began retrofitting it into a restaurant. Their goal was to live and work on the mountain and not have to commute. Mike worked in the film industry in Los Angeles Monday through Friday (and still would have done so had it not been for the writers’ strike). Michelle has been a medical doctor for 18 years. She was qualified for many of the jobs she applied for, and eventually landed a job as a teacher’s assistant with medical experience for special education classes in San Bernardino City Schools. The transition to a low-paying job that required her to obtain medical insurance that the school district offered on her husband’s good insurance with the film industry prompted her to look for other options.
Michelle’s next career move started with banana bread. I started baking them and selling them in the local outdoor markets under a pop-up. She was given a cottage permit to bake bread in her home. She explained that it is not difficult to obtain such a permit. The baker’s house is inspected once a year. Meat or cheese may not be used for products intended for sale. The success of their banana bread sales eventually expanded the capacity of their home kitchen. LuluBelle’s Banana Bread on the Mountain expanded to include muffins and other bakery items, but it needed a bigger venue. They bought the real estate office and started rebuilding. Aaron Collective in Englewood did the design. It took four months to brace the roof when they removed a wall and added buttress (but it held up under the winter snow). Their neighbor owned a sign company, and they were found by just changing the message of a sign found in a national forest. It is supported by a sturdy frame (which survived the snowfall of the winter of 2023). They were advised that the sign must clearly communicate the three seconds it will be read by passengers in cars driving on the edge of the World Highway – and it delivers its message succinctly: LuluBelle’s Coffee House & Bakery.
Michelle and Mike are proud of their employees. The food is made from scratch. The employees are paid the good wages they deserve and are staying with LuluBelle’s. Kylie Brinson is the principal barista. The baristas receive extensive training in traditional coffee preparation. Aaron and Julie Velasco (husband and wife) Kitchen Managers. Ronnie McCaslin, who graduated from San Francisco Culinary School, is one of their chefs.
The challenges DiGiovannis faced were high ingredient prices due to a pig shortage that affected the price of bacon, sending egg prices from $25 to $100 a case. There is limited food delivery on the mountain, and when prices went up, the couple started a weekly Costco run to buy ingredients and supplies.
LuluBelle’s was closed for three weeks during Snowmageddon, because Highway 18 was closed. Their generator froze, and they had a lot of cleaning up when food went bad due to lost power. The couple attended a meeting hosted by Superintendent Don Rowe at Charles Hoffman Elementary School. They met with a California state insurance representative. Their insurance company (located in Texas) was denying her claim. Superintendent Roo gave them her personal phone number. In the end, the insurance company paid its claim for repairs caused by the heavy snowfall.
Frequent customers of LuluBelle have become good friends of Michelle and Mike. They know each other’s families and are a part of each other’s lives. Everyone feels welcome at Lulubelle’s. This was Michelle and Mike’s goal when they came up with the idea for the restaurant – one of the signs in the restaurant says “Coffee and Kindness”, and much more.
