Latest news with #Seattle-based
Malaysian Reserve
8 hours ago
- Business
- Malaysian Reserve
Spinnaker Chocolate Expands with New Factory and Café in Wallingford
SEATTLE, June 28, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Spinnaker Chocolate, the beloved Seattle-based craft chocolate maker, is entering an exciting new chapter. The company has officially relocated from its cozy Ravenna shop to a spacious new home in Wallingford, complete with its first-ever café. This expansion gives Spinnaker the room to scale up its bean-to-bar chocolate production, grow its wholesale operations, and introduce long-awaited new products. At the new café, guests can enjoy rich drinking chocolate, locally roasted coffee, and handcrafted pastries, all just steps from the production space where Spinnaker's award-winning chocolate is made from scratch. 'Our time in Ravenna has been incredible, and it was bittersweet to say goodbye,' said Kelly Van Arsdale, Co-Founder & CEO of Spinnaker Chocolate. 'But we're thrilled about what's ahead. This move has given us the space to grow, experiment, and create an even better experience for our customers.' The new Spinnaker Chocolate location at 3509 Stone Way N, Seattle, WA 98115 features: A welcoming café – Now open! Enjoy an expanded menu, including hot chocolate, mochas, locally roasted coffee, and select pastries from Sea Wolf Bakers, as well as some of our own homemade pastries. More space for chocolate-making & tours – A dedicated production area for larger-scale chocolate-making, expanded wholesale operations, behind-the-scenes factory tours, and hands-on chocolate-making classes. Continued retail experience – The new space continues to offer a full retail experience where you can sample and purchase bean-to-bar chocolate, handcrafted truffles, drinking chocolate, and more. 'We know this is a big change, and we're so grateful for the support of our community,' added Kelly. 'We can't wait to welcome everyone into our new cafe on June 28th and continue sharing our passion for craft chocolate.' For updates on new flavors and upcoming events, follow Spinnaker Chocolate on Instagram (@spinnakerchocolate) or visit For media inquiries, please contact: press@ For wholesale inquiries, please contact: wholesale@ About Spinnaker ChocolateSpinnaker Chocolate is a Seattle-based bean-to-bar chocolate maker dedicated to crafting high-quality, ethically sourced chocolate. Since its founding, Spinnaker has been committed to transparency, sustainability, and exceptional flavor, making it a favorite among chocolate lovers in the Pacific Northwest and beyond.
Mint
a day ago
- Sport
- Mint
Trouble for Seattle Orcas amid MLC 2025; Captain Heinrich Klaasen steps down after franchise parts ways with head coach
Seattle Orcas were dealt with a double blow midway into the ongoing Major League Cricket (MLC) 2025 as the franchise decided to part ways with head coach Matthew Mott after remaining winless in the five games they have played so far in the ongoing season. To add to that, captain Heinrich Klaasen too stepped down from his position. Having finished runners-up in the 2023 edition, Seattle Orcas finished at the bottom of the table in 2024. In MLC 2025, Seattle Orcas still have a chance to jump up in the table. The Seattle-based franchise cited differences in coaching and management strategies as a reason for Mott's ouster. 'In a major move, the franchise has parted ways with Head Coach Matthew Mott, citing differences in coaching and management strategies. 'The Orcas thank Mott for his contributions and wish him all the best in his future endeavors,' Seattle Orcas said in a statement. They also accepted Klaasen resignation as captain. 'Further, Heinrich Klaasen has decided to step down from his role as Captain to focus fully on his responsibilities as a batter. 'Klaasen's commitment to performance and team success remains unwavering, and he remains an integral part of the leadership group,' it added. Zimbabwe's Sikander Raza replaced Klaasen as captain. Meanwhile, the change in leadership worked wonders for Seattle Orcas who defeated MI New York in a record run chase on Saturday. Chasing a mammoth 238 runs for victory, Seattle Orcas, rode on an unbeaten 97 off 40 balls from Shimron Hetmyer to chase down the target on the final ball of the innings. Seattle Orcas won the game by three wickets. With six runs needed from the final ball, Hetmyer smashed Kieron Pollard over fine leg for a six to secure their first win. Earlier, Nicolas Pooran smashed an unbeaten 108 (60 balls) while Tajinder Dhillon (35-ball 95) missed on a well-deserved hundred as Mi New York posted 237/4 in 20 overs.
New York Post
a day ago
- Business
- New York Post
Inside Starbucks' remodeling plans — and the swanky NY town where it's starting
Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol is looking to jumpstart the struggling coffee chain by making the java giant's locations more welcoming — and the company unveiled its first remodeled store in the Hamptons. The renovations add plush seating, open outlets for customer use and soft lighting to encourage customers to stay longer as part of Niccol's ambitious turnaround plan. 'It's creating comfortable seating where people want to come in. It's not just the quick grab-and-go concept,' Mike Grams, Starbucks' chief operating officer, told CNN during an interview Friday at the Bridgehampton outpost. 3 A newly-remodeled Starbucks location in Bridgehampton, New York. Starbucks 'Maybe over past years, we lost our way a little bit on that.' The remodeled location — one of four that have been redesigned in the swanky Hamptons — has deep green walls and a mix of light- and dark-brown wood. Plants and bowls of coffee beans decorate the store, with an open espresso bar and a digital menu board, according to the CNN report. Customers chatted as they lounged in cushioned armchairs, orange booth seats and high-top tables, while others worked on their laptops at small tables. The comfy setting is a stark change from Starbucks' efforts to keep the masses caffeinated and out the door as fast as possible. Over the past few years, some 30,000 seats have been ripped out from locations and replaced with wooden stools. Electrical outlets were covered to turn away laptop users and takeout counters were built to cater to customers on the go. But that strategy backfired. Same-store sales have fallen for five quarters in a row as customers have pivoted to local coffee shops and smaller chains. Niccol, largely credited with boosting results at Chipotle and Taco Bell, was brought in last year to revive the Seattle-based company. 3 The remodeled locations will have plush seating, open outlets and soft lighting. Starbucks He plans to remodel 1,000 Starbucks stores, or about 10% of its company-owned US locations, over the next year. Each redesign will vary, but they will all include new lighting, colors and better acoustics, according to Meredith Sandland, a former Taco Bell executive who was hired as Starbucks' chief coffeehouse development officer in February. Locations will also offer a variety of different seating to cater to customers holding meetings, reading a book or working on their laptop, Sandland said. Since taking over last September, Niccol has already brought back self-serve condiment stations and cut 30% of the menu. He also led a purchase of around 200,000 Sharpie pens so baristas can doodle messages on cups and implemented free refills for sit-down customers in ceramic mugs. 3 A Starbucks location in Times Square, Manhattan. The goal is to return Starbucks to a coveted 'third place' – a spot where people can linger in between work and home. 'I think of a 'third place' as a place that should be warm and welcoming (and) feel a little bit more like a hotel lobby than maybe a fast food restaurant,' Sandland told CNN. Starbucks largely lost that image as it opened more drive-thru locations and focused on mobile orders, which make up more than a third of the company's sales. But the coffee chain is letting some of its nostalgic staples stay in the past, like its cushy purple armchairs, which Starbucks retired in 2008. They were difficult to clean and the fabric easily grew worn, the company said. 'You will see something similar to it returning to our stores,' Sandland told CNN. 'Will it be purple? I don't know. I'll tease that one out.'
Time of India
a day ago
- Business
- Time of India
Amazon loses AWS generative AI boss as tech talent shuffle heats up
Amazon 's AWS recently lost its vice president overseeing generative artificial intelligence development, as the competition for talent heats up. Vasi Philomin told Reuters in an email that he left Amazon for another company, without providing specifics. A company spokesperson confirmed that Philomin had recently left after eight years with Amazon. Philomin helped lead generative AI efforts and product strategy, and oversaw foundation models known as Amazon Titan. The spokesperson said Rajesh Sheth , a vice president previously overseeing Amazon Elastic Block Store, had assumed some of Philomin's responsibilities. In his biography, Philomin said he also helped create and lead Amazon Bedrock , a hub for using multiple AI models and one of AWS's premier products in its battle for AI supremacy. He was a frequent speaker at AWS events, including Amazon's annual cloud computing conference in Las Vegas. Amazon is working to bolster its reputation in AI development, after rivals like OpenAI, and Google have taken an early lead, particularly with consumer-focused models. The Seattle-based online retailer and technology powerhouse has invested $8 billion in AI startup Anthropic and integrated its Claude software into its own products including a new revamped version of voice assistant Alexa that it's rolling out to customers this year. In December, Amazon introduced its Nova AI models which provide for text, video and image generation. Earlier this year, it added to the lineup with a version called Sonic that can more readily produce natural-sounding speech. Companies are employing creative techniques to hire top AI talent, including using sports industry data analysis to help identify undiscovered talent, Reuters reported last month. As a result, compensation has skyrocketed for some. However, as Amazon races to produce more advanced AI, it said it expects its own success will lead to fewer corporate jobs, according to a memo from CEO Andy Jassy last week. Job growth limits will be driven in particular by so-called agentic AI, which can perform tasks with minimal or even no additional input from people. "As we roll out more Generative AI and agents, it should change the way our work is done. We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today and more people doing other types of jobs," Jassy wrote.
USA Today
a day ago
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Elysian's Phaze Dust is a proper new beer. Lemon Daydream, not quite.
First, let me say I love a good stovepipe can. At 19.2 ounces, they go above the pounder but not quite to the "I promise I'm not drinking Steel Reserve" of the 24 ounce king cans in the world. I also love pretty much whatever Elysian has cooking; the Seattle-based brewer has been a circle of trust beer-maker since I first tried Space Dust a decade ago. Fortunately for me, Elysian has leaned into the trend of increasing one-off gas station sales and joined the rolling snowball kicked downhill by New Belgium's big, boozy and reasonably-priced-per-volume beers. Phaze Dust is the latest extension of the Space Dust line, joining Juice and Dank among the ranks. It comes in typical cans, which is great for the folks who don't want to drink a little more than half a liter at a time. But it also comes in those nice tall tipplers, which is great for folks like me who love beer but also the minor twinge of pomp and circumstance that comes with drinking from a big can. Big can, you guys. Let's dig in and see if Phaze Dust lives up to the Elysian standard. And, since we're here, let's talk about one of Elysian's other summer offerings. Lemon Daydream is a lemon blonde aimed toward cutting through the heat with a more crushable profile. We'll hit it with the Phaze Dust and see what's what. Phaze Dust Imperial Hazy IPA: A- It pours, as expected, with a lion of a head that roars up and slowly dissipates over about two minutes from the moment it leaves the can. For an imperial hazy, the smell is fairly tame. You've got the expected hops, but nothing that would burn your lips. You've got a little fruit, but nothing that would push this towards a juice. All in all, it's quiet but pleasant. The first sip is crisp and leans into the tart hoppiness Elysian has weaved through its best beers. The hops are clean and a little bitter, making it the first thing you realize each time you put it up to your lips. Riding shotgun is the citrus you'd expect from a hazy. It's a little orange, a little lemon and injects the sour, dry end that helps snap each sip off. That gives it the bold flavor you'd expect from a pale ale, but it's not as brash as you might expect from an imperial ale that clocks in at 8.2 percent alcohol by volume (ABV). It's not a crushable tailgate beer, but it's not something you need to sit with while recalibrating your palate every five minutes. It also gets a bit fruitier and sweeter as it warms, which helps add to that drinkability. Those powers combine to make a lighter IPA than the company's flagship Space Dust, albeit with just as much booze and milder flavor. Phaze Dust isn't as explosive as Full Contact -- my favorite Elysian beer -- but it's a remarkably easy to drink beer despite its boozy payload. I don't know if I'd rank it above Space Dust, but I'd give it the edge over Juice Dust and give it a full grade over the too-weedy Dank Dust. Lemon Daydream Lemon Blonde Ale: C This one doesn't come in the 19.2-ounce stovepipe, but I guess I can drink a traditional 12-ounce can. I guess. This pours a rich daffodil color with a quickly fading head that gives way to a very still beverage with very little carbonation moving skyward. That's not especially summer-y, but the sting of sour lemon wafting off the top picks up the pace. Except it's not lemonade lemon, since there's no trace of sweetness inside. It's wheat and citrus all the way down. That applies to the first sip. The lemon brings sourness, but it's not balanced. There's nothing pushing back against it or forcing it to be anything other than lemon aside from a tiny amount of fructose sugar toward the end. It's tart and that's about it. Underneath that you get a nice enough blonde ale -- wheat, light malt -- but this is yellow fruit in big neon lights. It's fine when the beer is cold and light enough to be crushable on a hot day. But the lemon is blunt and overpowering. It's a twist on your summer shandy, and that's nice. But it's not for me. Would I drink it instead of a Hamm's? This a pass/fail mechanism where I compare whatever I'm drinking to my baseline cheap beer. That's the standby from the land of sky-blue waters, Hamm's. So the question to answer is: on a typical day, would I drink Elysian's Phaze Dust over a cold can of Hamm's? The Phaze Dust is a yes, though there are obviously limits there thanks to the high ABV. The Lemon Daydream is a no, with the exception of a potential change-of-pace beer on a hot day. This is part of FTW's Beverage of the Week series. Here, we mostly chronicle and review beers, but happily expand that scope to any beverage that pairs well with sports. Yes, even cookie dough whiskey.
