This is part of a series on small businesses in San Francisco.
The restaurateurs behind Après Vous couldn’t have predicted an extra $40,000 expense while opening their prepared-to-go eatery. Even worse, they couldn’t have known that the investment would hardly be used.
When co-owners Stan Gee and Richard Chagniot learned of a 17-inch drop-off in the floor between their two commercial spaces at 345 and 355 Taraval St., the Americans with Disabilities Act mandated a wheelchair lift be installed.
Walking from one storefront, out the main door, and through the other storefront would not fly, they learned, even when Gee said he would accompany a guest in rainy conditions with an umbrella.
So they paid for the lift. It ate away roughly a quarter of their budget.
Regardless, they bore the cost, even delaying their opening and missing out on serving during Thanksgiving, a big time for business. Still, they wanted to serve good food and a year later, the business is doing well and building its customer base.
The lift has only been used by one customer.
“It’s like rearview mirror for me,” Chagniot said of the unexpected cost not stopping them from going forward.
It is this I’m-going-to-do-it-regardless quality that seems to be an attribute of many a small business entrepreneur. All share a strong belief in their business idea. Even though new businesses in California fail at the rate of 14 percent in the first year, others step up.
Gee, who works front of the house, and Chagniot, who is the head chef at Après Vous, offer an example of one. Not far away on Taraval Street and 25th Ave, Golden Boy Pizza has opened a third location of its Sicilian-style joint, and Galinette opened a French bistro in the Outer Sunset, both in 2024.
It’s also common for the business owners to be familiar with the neighborhood and have roots in the city. Gee grew up in the Richmond, and his father is well-known in Chinatown. Chagniot, for his part, serves as a coach for nearby Catholic schools. Because of Chagniot’s involvement in the community, Gee says, he’s seen as a core member of the Sunset and is well-respected.
Gee, now 60, and Chagniot, now 68, met in 2018 while working at Guerra’s To Go at 345 Taraval St., a former extension of nearby Guerra’s Meats that offered barbecue and deli items. Chagniot had already worked as a French chef, baker and chocolatier for over 30 years. Gee had been in restaurant management for decades.
Guerra’s To Go closed in 2020 and when the lease became available in 2021, they grabbed it. In February 2024 they opened Après Vous. It, too, is a kind of deli, focusing on ready-to-serve food, available for pickup. Clients can eat in, take food to go, or plan catering.
Unlike most restaurants, however, Après Vous is not on any of the delivery apps. If you want your beef tongue from the menu, you’ll have to pick it up — although they are open to adding delivery at some point, Gee said.
Nearby, there are other places that offer Asian and Italian cuisine, so Après Vous focuses on European comfort food with offerings they describe as “affordable and approachable.”
Many of their offerings have a Continental twist, but they also offer everything from Irish sausage rolls to beef tongue to Chilean sea bass at various price points. Chagniot said he is inspired by what he sees at the market, and he has an eye for ingredients after years in the field.
“We’re not trying to be Michelin Star, because ultimately, this food has to be accessible to everybody, right?” Gee said.
When they took a lease on what was previously Guerra’s To-Go, the neighboring space on the corner of 14th and Taraval streets was also available, so they chose to merge the two to create a larger, open space.
“It was more luck than idea,” Chagniot said. “We wanted to do something because we thought this idea is unique.”
Being accessible also means knowing what customers want. While the pandemic trained residents, already keen on takeout, to lean into it even more, restaurants have suffered. So, Après Vous created ready-to-go, easily transportable, eat-in or take-out food.
Now, the storefront uses steam tables to present lunch and dinner options under illuminating light. Some items are priced on weight, others by quantity: $10.50 for a pound of slow-roasted pulled pork, or $7 for a chicken skewer coated in chili sauce.
Customer favorites include lasagna, beef burger, and chicken skewers. Beyond the steam tables, corners of the store are dedicated to packaged foods, their fried-egg flavor chips a bestseller. They also offer imported French lemonade in a drink section and Spanish tinned fish.
In the kitchen, Chagniot spends his days preparing fresh food for patrons. On a recent Wednesday, salmon was cooking. He pulls the salmon out of the oven, applies a beurre blanc and some peppercorn, and then the finishing touch.
“This is what sets it off,” he says of parsley. He adorns the salmon with flat leaf and curly parsley. “Simple, elegant.”
Though most patrons take food to go, the space has a few tables for those who wish to dine in. Catering is also a cornerstone: A recent busy stretch saw them doing 14 events in three weeks, and they’ve traveled as far as Napa doing baptisms, weddings and memorials.
Because of the frequent menu changes, Chagniot also repurposes food items that weren’t sold the day before. This can mean transforming bread into crostinis, croutons, and bread pudding. The two are conscious of today’s high food prices: For a smaller budget, one can opt for the branzino over the salmon.
Their ongoing philosophy? “So long as we take care of the community,” Gee says, “the community will take care of us.”
From the Mish, take the 48 bus, drops you off in front. Good food too.