Potluck Local, a grocery store on York Boulevard, sells a wide array of California-produced products, co-owners Daniel and Kim Johnsen said. According to Daniel and Kim Johnsen, they have always had a love for cooking, food, and entertainment.
Daniel and Kim Johnsen both worked in the food and beverage industry for years before opening Potluck Local, Daniel Johnsen said. He also said the couple has a longstanding desire to connect people with local food products while helping celebrate small businesses around Northeast Los Angeles (NELA).
“Growing up, instead of watching cartoons, I would come home and watch cooking shows on PBS,” Kim Johnsen said. “I tried different things in the kitchen, and watched as my mom or my grandmothers were cooking, and learned that way. My parents entertained a lot. I come from a big family on both sides, so food and gathering have always been part of who I am.”
Kim Johnsen said she grew up in the San Gabriel Valley, and after attending Flintridge Sacred Heart for high school, she moved to New York City and attended New York University (NYU). According to Kim Johnsen, she and Daniel coincidentally both attended NYU, but barely overlapped as students there, and did not meet until years later. Kim Johnsen said that after college, she moved back to LA and started her own catering and private chef business. After the partnership she had with another restaurant and catering operation ended right before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, she and Daniel met, Kim Johnsen said.
“Daniel and I met in January of 2020, and essentially, we were in lockdown together,” Kim Johnsen said. “We dated and fell in love, him being a bartender and coming from the beverage world, and myself from the food world, we would have our own date nights at home. Everything was shut down, so we would create our own restaurants at our house.”
The opening of Potluck Local blends both Daniel and Kim’s lifelong enjoyment of food and entertainment, as well as their passion for making a difference in their neighbors’ lives, Daniel Johnsen said. According to Daniel Johnsen, the choice to open a grocery store also grew out of the desire to have a positive impact on the environment.
Several years ago, the couple went into a big chain grocery store trying to find local products, and after having little success searching for eggs and other grocery items produced in California, they wished there was a place they could go where they knew that the majority of the items were from nearby, Daniel Johnsen said.
“We just couldn’t wrap our heads around the amount of oil it takes to transport grocery items here, when we have beautifully made products and produce nearby,” Daniel Johnsen said. “We were wondering if there was a way that we could have more of a direct impact on the environment than just recycling and composting. In some small way, we hope to change the way that people in our neighborhood consume things.”
The couple has made a point of using products from Eagle Rock, Highland Park, Silverlake, Frogtown, La Cañada Flintridge and other parts of NELA and Southern California, Daniel Johnsen said. According to Daniel Johnsen, Potluck Local carries cold brew cans from Canyon Coffee and Regent Coffee, both businesses in the surrounding community.
“This started out as an environmental conversation, then it morphed into realizing that the more money you put into the local economy, the more money the local economy has,” Daniel Johnsen said. “[…] We’re in a beautiful part of the world for agriculture. LA is home to so many amazing makers and producers. The products and the produce made here are so good — people around here are doing some really cool things with food and drinks.”
Melissa Morales is a friend of the Johnsen couple and has been working at Potluck Local since its physical inception earlier this year, Morales said.
“Everyone has been incredibly gracious, kind, friendly and welcoming since we opened, and community members have been really receptive and excited to support a small business, first and foremost,” Morales said. “There are lots of families and regulars who we know already, and as of the last eight months, we have new friends of the business.”
Morales said she has been in the food and hospitality business for 15 years, and enjoys working in the industry because of the interpersonal communication and building community. In addition to being part of the newly formed community around Potluck Local, Morales now knows her favorite grocery items from the store, Morales said.
“The El Chorro Hot Sauce. I’m obsessed with it, I can’t eat eggs without it anymore,” Morales said. “It’s a Habanero Hot Sauce, made by Amiga Amore, which is a restaurant just near here.”
Daniel and Kim Johnsen said they look forward to continuing to work in the community and sharing their love of food with nearby neighbors and friends. According to Daniel Johnsen, Potluck Local has done work with local non-profits to help support immigrant community members impacted by the ICE raids.
As part of their goal to reach out to the Occidental community, Potluck Local offers a ten percent discount on purchases for students when they show student identification at checkout, the couple said.
“I would like to express my personal gratitude to our neighbors and community for welcoming us with open arms and embracing us, and continually encouraging us to keep doing what we’re doing,” Kim Johnsen said. “This is a wonderful opportunity to be able to continue with our hospitality and offering things that we love, with people who we’ve gotten to know and appreciate, and really celebrate the wonderful talent of our neighbors and community.”
Contact Olivia Correia at ocorreia@oxy.edu.
