Thanks, Y'all

Lifestyle
Written By Nicole Jones

I sat down and started writing out a sappy love story to you. Telling you how much you taught me over the last four years. A tale of highs and lows. I realized that I would instead use this milestone as a reminder of what was important to me at Stomping Ground. I wrote these Core Values after being in business our first year. I now give this paper to every person who works for me, we post it in employee areas, and I use it when it’s time to make tough decisions.I share it today with you, our customers, as a continued commitment to try and do and be better every day. Thank you for your support, I hope you’ll keep coming back. And next week, to celebrate our four years together, I have four days of treats planned for you. 

Stomping Ground Core Values:What is truly important to us as an organization

We are a neighborhood spot, not just as part of a daily routine, but we are intimately involved and engaged in our guests' daily lives.

We value our staff. They are not employees, they are family. We strive to advance skills, create wealth, and provide opportunities for professional development.

We care about simple, delicious food and beverage sourced from sustainable and local venues.

We create economic impact, bringing new people to our neighborhood, supporting ethical purveyors, paying livable wages, and adding to the Virginia tax base.

We value hard work and hustle.

We are authentic. Warm. Energetic and slightly sassy, with a hint of southern familiarity. We are biscuits. In all of their imperfect perfection. A constant work in progress.

When you work here, you support our philosophy about food – seasonal, local, made from scratch, and biscuits! – and our philosophy about humans – everyone (from guests to staff) deserves a place where they feel safe and supported.

We inspire others by living the principles outlined above.

 

Nicole Jones

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Head Janitor, Chef, and Proprietor | Modest Bread

Nicole’s cooking style is rooted in, but not limited to, her love of southern biscuits and her diverse culinary upbringing. A military brat, she spent her childhood in the Chicago suburbs enjoying her great-grandmother Mae’s Lithuanian cooking. As a tween, she moved to Paulding County, Ga. where she begrudgingly fell in love with the charmingly perplex small towns of the Deep South. She fondly remembers grubbing on Martin’s biscuits, late-night Waffle House debauchery and cooking with her family. 

After graduating from the University of Georgia, Nicole started a marketing career at an art nonprofit in Atlanta. At 25 years old, she became the youngest executive at the local Atlanta NPR affiliate. Chasing her dreams, she moved to Alexandria, VA where she took a short post in the Whole Foods marketing department. Realizing that cooking had been her true love all along, she began night courses at L’Academie de Cuisine. She completed her apprenticeship at Blue Duck Tavern where she was promoted to a line cook after graduation. From there, Nicole worked as a private chef for busy Washington D.C. executives and their families.

As grown-ups tend to do, Nicole realized something about her childhood -- the best parts were enjoying small town communities, cooking with her great-grandmother and sharing meals with family and friends. She opened Stomping Ground (now Rubia’s) to build a safe and welcoming community around yummy, handmade food from local sources. As her first foray running her own kitchen, she has shamelessly hired better, smarter cooks to fill her kitchen and your bellies. 

Modest Bread is a collection of idiosyncratic neighborhood restaurants devoted to hospitality in Northern Virginia and includes Rubia’s, Bagel Uprising, Mae’s Market & Cafe, and Virginia’s Darling.

www.modestbread.com

2309 Mt Vernon Avenue

Alexandria, VA 22301

703.664.0445

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