Quick Take

In her weekly look at local business, Jessica M. Pasko reports on an artificial intelligence incubator the owners of downtown Santa Cruz's Pleasure Pizza are cooking up, an internet accessibility milestone for Cruzio, September's hotel occupancy numbers and more.

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.

Bringing tech innovation and pizza together at Pie Fi

A neon sign with Pie Fi's spaceship logo in the window at its Locust Street location in downtown Santa Cruz
Credit: Kevin Painchaud / Lookout Santa Cruz

A new community space in downtown Santa Cruz is aimed at becoming a hub for artificial intelligence projects and learning in the county. 

Pie Fi is the brainchild of Sol and Erica Lipman, who both work in the tech industry and purchased Pleasure Pizza on Pacific Avenue about two years ago. They thought running a food business could be a fun way to bring their family together, learn new skills and interact more with people — instead of just staring at screens all the time. 

Now, they’re combining their pizzeria adventure with their tech experience, creating a new program and gathering space to encourage interaction and innovation. Pie Fi is a clubhouse/accelerator located next to Pleasure Pizza where students, entrepreneurs, business owners and community members can come to learn about AI, work on AI-focused projects and bounce ideas off their peers. 

For Sol Lipman, it’s a way to build off the work he’s been doing for several years as a mentor with Santa Cruz Launchpad, a student business pitch competition held at UC Santa Cruz. 

Read more here. 

ICYMI: Cruzio completes high-speed internet expansion project

Santa Cruz-based internet provider Cruzio has completed its “Equal Access Summits to the Sea” project to expand affordable high-speed internet to thousands of residents between Half Moon Bay and Salinas.

Funded through the California Public Utilities Commission, the $5.65 million grant targets underserved rural and coastal areas that previously had unreliable connections. Read more here.

The Equal Access Summits to the Sea project is one of a handful of similar projects kicked off in the past few years as part of state and local efforts to improve internet access in rural areas. In 2021, state officials approved legislation allocating $6 billion to bring affordable, high-speed broadband services to all Californians.

Ch-ch-changes

One of Zero Motorcycles' bikes in action off-road
One of Zero Motorcycles’ bikes in action off-road. Credit: Zero Motorcycles
  • Zero Motorcycles hires new CEO: Less than a month after announcing it was moving its headquarters from Scotts Valley to the Netherlands, electric motorcycle manufacturer Zero Motorcycles has a new leader. On Friday, the company announced that CEO Sam Paschel was stepping down immediately, and former Kia executive Pierre-Martin Bos will take over. Paschel had been at the helm since early 2017.
  • Ember Flash Aerospace hires lead fire science expert: Boulder Creek tech startup Ember Flash Aerospace has hired a longtime fire chief as its lead fire science expert as it continues on its mission to improve wildfire detection and response. Tom Calvert retired as battalion chief with the Menlo Park Fire Protection District at the end of 2023 after 33 years of service with the department. He also brings experience using drones as part of first responder programs and working with search and rescue teams. A team of engineers and firefighters founded Ember Flash in the wake of the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex fires, and is working on a new wildfire detection system that uses AI and drone technology. 
  • Cassie Bronson hired as new attorney for City of Santa Cruz: Assistant City Attorney Cassie Bronson will take over the role of city attorney, Santa Cruz officials announced last week. Current City Attorney Tony Condotti, who has held the role since 2015, is retiring at the end of the year. Her appointment takes effect Jan. 1. Read more from Max Chun here.
  • West Coast Community Bank hires new executive in Monterey: Natalie Stickler is the new senior vice president and director of branch banking for West Coast Community Bank. Stickler is based out of the bank’s Monterey location, where she leads the bank’s branch management and operations across four counties: Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz. Stickler joined the company from Wells Fargo, where she worked for over two decades, with her most recent role as district manager and vice president.
The French onion soup at Mane Kitchen & Cocktails in downtown Santa Cruz. Credit: Lookout Santa Cruz
  • Mane Kitchen & Cocktails opens in downtown Santa Cruz: A new Art Deco-inspired restaurant from longtime veterans of the local hospitality community is now open in the former Betty’s Eat Inn on Pacific Avenue. As Lily Belli recently detailed, Mane Kitchen is the brainchild of chef Desmond Schneider and bartender Julianna Mireles. The pair officially opened for business on Halloween night. 
  • Joby Aviation begins manufacturing at Ohio facility: Manufacturing has begun at Joby Aviation’s new facility in Dayton, Ohio. In 2023, the Santa Cruz-headquartered electric taxi company announced it would build a new manufacturing facility capable of delivering up to 500 aircraft per year right outside the Dayton International Airport. The company broke ground on the site in 2024. Last week, company officials announced that operations have officially begun there, starting with the manufacturing of propeller blades. As Joby continues on its path toward launching commercial service, which company officials anticipate will begin as soon as next year in the United Arab Emirates.
  • Watsonville construction company wins state safety awards: Granite Construction, headquartered in Watsonville, won two 2025 Construction Safety Excellence Awards at the recent Associated General Contractors of California’s annual conference. Granite Construction was recognized for its work rehabilitating and constructing new taxiways at Los Angeles International Airport. The company won for excellence in two categories: heavy civil/highway projects representing over 1 million worker hours and safety on a high-hazard project.

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

Looking at the numbers

  • 67.2%: That was the hotel occupancy rate for September 2025 in Santa Cruz County, down from 75.7% in August as the region’s summer tourism season wound down. It was also a slight decrease from 70% in September 2024. However, that dip was partially due to an increase in the number of available hotel rooms — especially with the opening of the 155-room La Bahia Hotel & Spa near the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. The monthly hotel occupancy rate is calculated by dividing the number of occupied hotel rooms by the total number of available rooms.

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Save the date 

  • Wednesday, Nov. 5: The Santa Cruz Area Chamber of Commerce will hold its next business after-hours event at Cruzio Internet at 877 Cedar St., Suite 150, in Santa Cruz from 5 to 7 p.m. This will be the chamber’s annual business friendsgiving networking event, featuring seasonal refreshments and an update on Cruzio’s ongoing efforts to expand broadband access throughout the county. At the event, the chamber will also be collecting donations for Community Foundation’s Equal Access Santa Cruz County fund, which supports affordable internet access for underserved households. Tickets are available here.
  • Thursday, Nov. 6: The Santa Cruz Area Chamber will hold a ribbon-cutting for the newest location of Pacific Valley Bank. The Salinas-based bank’s first Santa Cruz County branch is located at 720 Front St. in downtown Santa Cruz. The event takes place from 5 to 7 p.m. 
  • Thursday, Nov. 13: The Santa Cruz Area Chamber will host an education session focused on leading high-performing teams, with speaker Julia Greenspan, consultant, executive coach and co-founder of Ignite Nexus. The event takes place from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. at Ideal Bar & Grill on Beach Street in Santa Cruz. Tickets, which are $75 for chamber members and $95 for non-members, are available here.

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...