The latest Wellesley, Mass., business news:

La Toscana’s, Express Gourmet to serve alcohol

The Wellesley Select Board approved licenses that will allow La Toscana’s in Wellesley Square and Express Gourmet in Lower Falls (11 River St.) to serve alcohol. Both benefit from the town’s updated alcohol licensing rules that let smaller restaurants in on the revenue booster.

It sounds as though La Toscana’s might be ready to roll by the time the Boston Marathon streams through town in mid-April. The business secured an all-alcohol license to give patrons more choices to pair with their pizza, salads, or lasagna.

Express Gourmet plans to continue offering its counter lunch service, but later in the day will switch over to a seated dining service with beer and wine options. Fenced-in outdoor seating is part of the plan as well.

Owner David Van Tassell says the restaurant is probably a couple of months away from the expanded menu. Hiring a staff is the biggest challenge ahead, he said.

There’s potential for more new or existing businesses to secure alcohol licenses. Nine all-alcohol and 3 beer/wine licenses remain available.

Where the town banks (not SVB!)

The dramatic images of people lined up at Wellesley’s SVB branch in the wake of that institution’s collapse got people wondering: Uh, so where does the actual Town of Wellesley bank?

Town Treasurer Maura O’Connor addressed that question during the March 13 Select Board meeting.

“Our banking situation is very secure,” O’Connor said. None of the town’s “investments are at risk or with any of the banks that are in the news recently.”

Safety, liquidity, and yield, in that order, are the treasurer’s priorities, O’Connor said.

Of course you can’t throw a nickel around here without hitting a bank, and the town has diversified its funds among many institutions. Among those that the town uses are:

• Rockland Trust, including trust, scholarship, and stabilization funds, as well as money market and vendor payable accounts
• TD Bank, where Wellesley has a depository account (“all the money we collect in the office on a daily basis”), as well as payroll and credit card accounts
• Eastern Bank, which holds funds that go into the town’s lockbox for utilities, real estate taxes, etc., plus a credit card account for school, recreation, and other programs
• Bank of America, also for utility and real estate payments as well as parking revenue
• UBS, which is used for large investments—treasuries—backed by the federal government
• PRIM, the Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management fund
• Mass Depository Trust Account, including general and short-term bond accounts

The latest Wellesley, Mass., business news:

Jejes Coffeehouse & Roastery opens in Wellesley Hills

It’s taken a while for specialty coffee to gain a foothold in New England, but Jejes Coffeehouse & Roastery is confident that those in Wellesley and nearby communities will be receptive.

Owner Soonhee “Sunny” Ka wasn’t a coffee drinker while in South Korea, where instant coffee with cream and sugar was popular at the time. “It caused me stomach pain,” she said. But after being introduced to light- and medium-roasted specialty coffee, Ka began to enjoy the less bitter drink. Using her food science background, she started to experiment with roasting beans herself, using different approaches to maximize their potential. “Different roasters make totally different coffee…this is pretty me,” Ka said of Jejes offerings.

That’s the origin story for Jejes, which launched in 2020 during the height of the pandemic. Coffee shops and restaurants serving coffee were closed, so Jejes emerged as a way for people to try a different style of coffee and order it online. (The name “Jejes” stems from the letter “J”—Ka and Lee’s 2 sons and dog all have names beginning with the letter.)

Jejes roasted its coffee in Sharon, and after a Jewish customer inquired about whether the product was kosher, Jejes looked into getting certified as such to make its offerings accessible to more people. Jejes’ production roastery, now at its 259 Washington St. coffeehouse, is kosher-certified, including for Passover. “The word has spread through this community quickly,” says Duse Lee, who manages the shop and is married to Ka. “It’s a stricter process than the basic health codes.”

Lee says he believes Jejes is the only kosher-certified shop in New England. That uniqueness has grabbed the attention of local news sites, including a TV station that showed up Friday morning.

Jejes initially looked to expand its roastery into a coffeeshop in Sharon after customers asked, but could not find the right space. They kept looking further out and came upon the Wellesley space, which previously has housed a fitness business among others. The current Sharon spot will be used for testing new products. It’s possible a separate, larger roastery could be opened in the future.

When I visited the roughly 850 sq. ft. shop in Wellesley Hills on Friday afternoon, 2 days after it opened, a steady stream of customers stopped in, and a handful more peeked in after the door was locked at 2pm. Jejes is open 8am-2pm Monday-Saturday. Closing at 2pm gives Ka time in the afternoon to roast up new batches of coffee, some of which very time consuming. Ka and Lee described a Dutch Brew process that includes some 6-plus hours of water dripping and at least 48 hours of aging.

Checked out the new Jejes Coffeehouse & Roastery in Wellesley Hills https://t.co/V3gJSgnQLc pic.twitter.com/mYeCNzIrU7

— swellesley (@swellesley) March 10, 2023

The most popular offering so far is latte ($4.75), and Ka said she’s been surprised by the demand for oat milk in it.

The shop will close for a spell in April as well when Ka competes at the US Coffee Championships in Portland, Ore.

Jejes is more of a take-out than hang-out establishment, initially with 4 indoor seats inside and later expanded to 8 (outdoor seating will come with warmer weather). Baked goods, based on recipes from Ka, are also available.

Jejes Coffeehouse & Roaster (259 Washington St.)

Hours (updated May 9, 2023):

• Tuesday to Saturday, 9am to 3pm
• Sunday: closed
• Monday: closed (our roasting day)

Run on collapsed Silicon Valley Bank

Jeez, we went away for a few days and there was a run on Silicon Valley Bank in Wellesley (and elsewhere) as the financial institution collapsed. A line of customers, and local TV news stations, could be seen at the 336 Washington St. branch in Wellesley.

California banking regulators on Friday shut down the tech startup-focused bank, in the biggest such collapse in more than a decade. The FDIC seized banks assets.

Hal Burstein, M.D., shared this photo of the action at Wellesley’s SVB branch via Twitter.

Church Street shapes up with Figurella

A women’s fitness and weight loss business called Figurella has popped up at 51A Church St. (near B/Spoke), promising a healthier you via a combination of working out, detoxing via “active oxygen treatment,” and nutrition.

Figurella got its start decades ago in Italy, and has become popular in Florida. The Wellesley space follows the opening of a location in Newton in 2021 by owner Chiara Migani.

Landscape architect fills long-vacant space

When visiting Jejes, we noticed that Dan Gordon Landscape Architects has filled the long-vacant space at the corner of that Washington Street strip that formerly housed a spa. The landscape architect has been at 267 Washington St., and now has taken over 269.

The latest Wellesley, Mass., business news:

Spartan Safe shuts down

Spartan Safe, which cracked open its business in Linden Square in March of 2021, has closed its Wellesley and other locations. Parent company Chadley Management made a Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing in December.

The Wellesley showroom featured big, strong, fireproof metal safes with electronic or mechanical locks. Unfortunately, some customers across the country are out thousands of dollars after purchasing safes before the bankruptcy filing, and are now scrambling to recover their funds.

Hate to ask, but if you’re chasing down a refund from the Wellesley store, want to let us know?

The maker of Liberty safes, sold by Spartan, was none too happy with its partner, as outlined in a statement issued in December.

The statement starts off:

On November 14, 2022, Liberty Safe & Security Products, Inc. terminated its supplier relationship with Spartan Safe, which is no longer an authorized Liberty Safe retailer. Spartan Safe, doing business under the trade names Spartan Safe or Liberty Safes of McLean, owns and operates or has operated retail stores in North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, Illinois, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Kentucky, Massachusetts, and Arkansas. Effective immediately, Liberty Safe has discontinued all product shipments to Spartan Safe, due to Spartan Safe’s repeated failure to meet its obligations under the parties’ dealer agreement.

Liberty Safe remains committed to ensuring that its customers are satisfied with Liberty Safe’s products and the sale process. Liberty Safe will provide updated delivery information to any customer who purchased a safe through libertysafe.com, and who were notified that delivery would be made by Spartan Safe. Customers who are awaiting delivery of products purchased directly from Spartan Safe, are encouraged to contact Spartan Safe for a remedy.

That doesn’t sound like such a promising remedy…

Meanwhile, Federal Realty now looks to fill about 2,000 sq. ft. next to Code Ninjas.

Truly’s gets go-ahead for coffee hours

Truly’s, which has made its big move next door to 39 Grove St., this past month gained Select Board approval to open earlier so that it can serve Peet’s coffee as well as other hot/cold beverages and baked goods.

Truly’s traditionally has opened at noon, and that currently remains the case, but it now has approval to open as early as 7am and stay open as late as 10pm. Truly’s looks forward to opening on mornings, though still has some barista hiring, etc. to take care of before doing so. It will soon have more information available about its morning plans.

Capt. Marden’s aims to reopen for breakfast

Capt. Marden’s Table & Takeaway on Linden Street is close to reopen for breakfast, but it needs to fill out its staff first. The plan is to open Wednesday-Sunday for breakfast.

Wellesley’s Gannon named bank SVP

J. Scott Gannon of Wellesley was recently named Bank of Canton’s senior vice president of residential and consumer lending. He has more than 30 years of experience developing and overseeing mortgage programs for local and national lenders.

Gannon is responsible for all aspects of the bank’s retail and wholesale residential mortgage program and consumer loan department, including loan originations, underwriting and processing, servicing, compliance and secondary market efforts. His previous roles include leadership positions at local, regional and national mortgage companies and banks, and a $2.5 billion credit union.

The banker is a 14-time marathon runner, and has raised more than $100,000 for nonprofit organizations including the Open Door Foundation, Sloan Kettering Hospital and Casa Myrna.