Quick Take

Woodstock’s Pizza is the latest Santa Cruz County business to see employees move to unionize, Jessica M. Pasko reports in her weekly column. She also has news on what's overshadowing Marianne's Ice Cream's Ocean Street location, comings and goings aplenty and events for your local business calendar.

Each week, we’re taking a closer look at the movers and shakers, the growth of industries and what’s really driving the Santa Cruz County economy. I’ll be spotlighting some of the biggest areas for opportunity, updates on local development and all things underpinning the regional business scene each Wednesday.

Got ideas? Send them my way to news@lookoutlocal.com with “Business News” in the subject line.

Woodstock’s Pizza employees move to start labor union

Woodstock’s Pizza in Santa Cruz will soon vote on whether to form their own labor union. Employees at the downtown pizzeria started exploring unionization efforts earlier this year after frustration over wages and long hours, and a desire for more protections for employees. 

Calling themselves the Woodstock’s Employee Alliance, the group has been working with a local chapter of the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC), a national organization that started during the pandemic to help employees across industries secure safer working conditions.

EWOC has helped the group map out steps toward creating a union, and they will hold a vote later this month to determine whether to move forward with those efforts. If the majority of employees vote for the union, the next step will be collective bargaining with management. 

While many employee groups opt to align with an established labor union, Woodstock’s employees have opted to pursue their own independent union. Read more here.

The pizzeria, which underwent a remodel last year, isn’t the only local business making union moves. Last week, the Starbucks at 41st Avenue and Soquel Drive became the area’s sixth location of the national coffee chain to unionize. Check out Max Chun’s story here.

ICYMI: How will Marianne’s Ice Cream be affected by the incoming housing development next door 

A rendering of the five-story mixed-use development slated to break ground behind Marianne’s Ice Cream in spring 2026. Credit: High Street Residential

A five-story mixed-use development slated for construction on Ocean Street has the owners of Santa Cruz staple Marianne’s Ice Cream worried about the impact on parking – and the literal shadow of the building. 

The incoming development calls for demolition of 12 residential units and four commercial buildings to make way for a new five-story building along Ocean Street and two three-story residential buildings facing May Avenue. Read Carly Heltzel’s full story here.

Ch-ch-changes: Openings, closings and other developments

  • Salinas-based bank slated to open Santa Cruz branch this fall: Pacific Valley Bank plans to open its first Santa Cruz County branch later this year. The bank has put up “coming soon” signs at 720 Front St. in Santa Cruz, and president and chief operating officer Sandi Eason said she anticipates the new branch to open in September. Pacific Valley Bank has served Monterey County residents since 2004 through its Monterey, Salinas and King City branches. Earlier this year, the bank hired Dean Austin as senior vice president and market president to lead efforts to bring the bank to Santa Cruz. 
  • Capitola Cajun restaurant closing next month: After 11 years in business, the owners of Roux Dat Cajun Creole are closing the restaurant in Capitola’s Brown Ranch Marketplace. In a post on the restaurant’s Facebook account last week, owner Chad Glassley said he and his co-owner, wife Aurelia Glassley, would be closing in mid-August. The Glassleys previously ran a second location of Roux Dat in Abbott Square in Santa Cruz, which closed in 2022 after nearly two years in operation.
  • New members elected to Visit Santa Cruz County’s board: Seven community members joined the 25-member board of Visit Santa Cruz County, the county’s tourism marketing organization, at the start of July. They will serve a two-year term. New to the board are Consuela Alba-Speyer, co-founder and executive director of the Watsonville Film Festival; Zoë Carter, executive director of the Santa Cruz County Business Council; Bhavesh Patel, owner of SureStay by Best Western Santa Cruz; Santa Cruz City Councilmember Susie O’Hara; Santa Cruz County Supervisor Justin Cummings; Hyatt Place Santa Cruz General Manager Hector Escobedo; and Sunny Cove Motel General Manager Gareidam Eidam. 
  • New board member for Coastal Watershed Council: Eric Lombardo, the director of external affairs for the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County, joined the Coastal Watershed Council’s board of directors. The New England native is a graduate of Northwestern University and started his career in environmental advocacy with the Sierra Club. He started working for the Land Trust in 2022.
  • Santa Cruz County Fair hires new CEO: The Santa Cruz County Fair named a longtime Watsonville resident and nonprofit executive as the organization’s new CEO, following the departure of Zeke Fraser. Dori Rose Inda most recently served as CEO of Salud Para Gente and was the founder/director of the Watsonville Law Center. Fraser stepped down in January due to health issues.
  • Scotts Valley coffee shop closes drive-through location: Cruise Coffee closed its drive-through cafe location on Mount Hermon Road in Scotts Valley, in the Pinnacles center, earlier this month. The cafe’s location by the Metro Station on Kings Village Road in Scott Valley remains open. The closure comes in advance of planned redevelopment of the Pinnacles center property, which would have required the cafe to vacate within a year, the owners wrote in a social media post announcing the closure. 
  • Cafe and playspace moving to larger Scotts Valley location: Haven Play Lounge & Cafe will be moving to a new space at Mount Hermon Road and Whispering Pines Drive, with a grand opening planned for Aug. 16. Shastina Troup opened the business in 2024 on Green Hills Road in Scotts Valley to provide an indoor playground for children that also features a cafe and other activities for adults.
  • Local biotech company inks deal to drive research and development for rare disease therapies: A Santa Cruz-based biotech company has signed a new partnership aimed at helping find new treatments for certain types of diseases that have been resistant to other therapies. Unnatural Products, headquartered on the Westside, will work with Argenx, a global leader in immunology, to use its platform to research and develop new oral treatments for certain hard-to-treat diseases, including rare cancers. Under the terms of the deal, Unnatural Products will receive upfront payment, some near-term funding and other resources from Argenx, though specific numbers weren’t disclosed. Unnatural Products, which was founded in 2017, could also get a portion of royalties should its work with Argenx result in bringing a new drug to the market.
  • Watsonville-based seafood company expands operations: Del Mar Seafoods has added a new facility on its Ford Street campus, enabling the Watsonville company to expand its output and capabilities. The family-owned company, founded in 1988, processes, produces and exports seafood, with a focus on California squid. The new facility is expected to increase the company’s Watsonville operations by 40%, to allow it to process more seafood faster.

Got hires, promotions, or departures to report? Send them to news@lookoutlocal.com with the subject line “Career changes.”

What’s new on the Lookout Job Board

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Looking at the numbers

  • $599,000: That’s the selling price for Covewater Paddle Surf on Water Street in Santa Cruz. The specialty paddle and surf sports shop first opened in 2010 as the only dedicated SUP (stand-up paddleboard) retailer in North America. Check out the listing here.

Save the date 

  • Wednesday, July 16: The Santa Cruz Area Chamber of Commerce will join forces with Santa Cruz County Parks and Santa Cruz Public Libraries to host the next “business after hours” event at the Live Oak Community Center at 979 17th Ave., next to the Simpkins Family Swim Center. The event runs from 5 to 7 p.m. For more details and to purchase tickets, go here.
  • Thursday, July 17: The Santa Cruz Area Chamber of Commerce will hold its next Women in Business luncheon at Seascape Golf Club in Aptos from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The featured speaker is Morgan Lukina, managing broker and CEO of David Lyng Real Estate. Tickets can be purchased here.
  • Thursday, July 17: The Scotts Valley Chamber of Commerce will hold a ribbon-cutting for LightSpeed Martial Arts Academy as it celebrates its grand reopening from 5:30 to 7 p.m. The academy is located at 1800 Green Hills Rd., Suites 101 and 103, in Scotts Valley. 
About 20% of the beer made at Fruition Brewing in Watsonville is sold in cans.
Credit: Michael Hanson
  • Friday, July 19, and Saturday, July 20: Fruition Brewing will celebrate its sixth anniversary with live music, special beer releases, food pop-ups and kitchen specials starting at noon and running throughout the day.
  • Wednesday, July 23: JOHI, a product and interior design firm based on the Central Coast, will celebrate the opening of its first showroom, located on the Westside of Santa Cruz. The store also will host a launch party for the book, “California Coastal: Seaside Living from Sea Ranch to San Diego,” with authors Heather Sandy Hebert and Chase Reynolds Ewald. The event takes place at 719 Swift St., Suite 62, Santa Cruz from 4:30 to 7 p.m. More details here.
  • Saturday, July 26: The Pajaro Valley Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture will hold its annual awards dinner and auction. The event takes place from 4 to 9 p.m. at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds. Details and tickets here.
  • Thursday, July 31: The Santa Cruz Area Chamber of Commerce will hold a grand opening of the new Santa Cruz office for Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired. The nonprofit organization helps individuals who are blind or have low vision. The networking and ribbon-cutting event takes place from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at 1509 Seabright Ave., Suite 1, Santa Cruz. Register here.
  • Friday, Oct. 17: Registration is now open for the 2025 State of the Region event, hosted by the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership. The event takes place at the University Center at Cal State Monterey Bay in Seaside from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event focuses on economic opportunities and challenges in Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito counties. This year’s speakers haven’t been announced yet. 

Add your business or networking events to Lookout’s free public calendar, BOLO. Click here to add your event.

Business news worth reading

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Jessica M. Pasko has been writing professionally for almost two decades. She cut her teeth in journalism as a reporter for the Associated Press in her native Albany, New York, where she covered everything...