Today we’d like to introduce you to Leila Caldera.
Leila, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
The idea for Trilogy was born when me and my husband decided that we wanted to create a business together. Something that we could work on as a couple and something that would tailor to each of our strengths and talents. We knew that any business would consume all of our time so we wanted to do something we felt very passionate about.
Trilogy is a combination of all the things we love! We wanted to create a business that brought about positive change in the world. We also wanted to do something that would make us feel satisfied and fulfilled at the end of each day.
Both of us are yogi’s, and we share a huge passion for healthy food. I had just completed a course in whole foods nutritional counseling, so I was eager to share the many health promoting ideas and foods that I had learned about. Joe had been working in the health and healing industry for many years and was passionate about helping people to follow their own path of self-discovery. I was an avid Aerialist and know we had to incorporate that into the business too! Both of us had spent the previous few years traveling to many places in the world, and had been to a number of life changing festivals, these experiences inspired the need to create events that brought the community together is a healthy and healing way. All of this was the inspiration and motivation for creating Trilogy.
This was our first business venture together and we had to learn a lot along the way! As with the start of any new business – we didn’t know how we would be received in the community – we were also on top of a roof and we did fear that no one would ever find us and that the business would not succeed. It was a big risk but we took it anyway!
After many challenges along the way – We are now honored to have just celebrated our third year in business and we have been going from strength to strength from the day we opened! After just one year we outgrew our space and were very lucky when the space below became available, so we took over an additional 2000 square foot and we basically doubled in size!
Trilogy as you see it today is a buzzing hot spot! We have so many things happening there – from open mic nights, full moon drum circles, meditation classes, craft nights, to name but a few! Our cafe is open 7 days a week and we have 10 yoga and aerial classes a day. We have become a hot tourist destination and we attract people from all walks of life. As a business we are constantly evolving and transforming to be the best we can for our community.
Has it been a smooth road?
There have definitely been challenges along the way. The hardest part was during the construction phase, we had signed the lease on the building and we thought that the build out would take around three months. All of our budgets were based on the idea that we would be open by January 2014. We had huge problems with our contractors, the build out took 9 months instead of three and cost three times as much as the initial quote!
On top of that – the licensing for the kitchen took so much longer than we had planned for, and was incredibly complicated. Building a kitchen on the 4th floor of a building is not an easy task!! We had been paying rent for 6 months before we had even opened and this was the most stressful time as we only had a very small initial investment. Luckily, we were very busy from the first moment we opened so everything worked out in the end.
Trilogy was the first business me and my husband opened, so with no experience of the process we definitely had to learn along the way.
The funny thing is – everyone always says that the construction will cost double and take longer than you think, but we were a little naive in thinking that our story would be different! If we knew how long it would have taken we would not have gone ahead with the business in that particular location because it would have been too much of a risk with such a small budget on the project. But thank goodness it all worked out for the best.
Once we opened, we have been lucky for no other major challenges, but running a business is NOT easy! We were always hoping that at some point the business would ‘run itself’ in a way – but to this date this is really not the case! It is a constant battle to keep everything running smoothly, with so many employees and such a fast growth we are constantly changing and evolving so all of our systems have to change too. It takes a lot of management. The business model is quite complex – the yoga, the cafe and all the events we have, it’s a constant balancing act! Our biggest challenge right now is that our kitchen is becoming too small to keep up with the demand. On the weekends it is unbelievable how much food we create in that tiny kitchen! We have to figure out a way to expand our kitchen space so we can keep up with the demand. But that is a great challenge to have!
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Trilogy is definitely a one of a kind type of business! We offer so many things. We are a restaurant, a yoga studio, and an event space. Our restaurant is known for its unique menu of 100% plant-based food. We are one of the only places in San Diego to serve a 100% organic, gluten free, dairy free and soy free menu. People come from far and wide to try our food!
Our yoga studio is the only studio in San Diego to offer infrared classes. We have three studios including a rooftop deck with views out to the ocean. We off so many types of classes – and we are most known for our Aerial yoga. A style of yoga that used an aerial hammock to provide support for the body to stretch in.
Our unique space, with two floors, with our outdoor and indoor spaces hosts a whole array of community events. From yoga workshops, meditation classes, speaker series, movie nights, to full moon drum circles, ecstatic dance parties, poetry nights and so much more! We are a space that encourages performance art so our events are filled with many artistic expressions of movement – including fire dancing and circus style aerial arts. Our events are different than most since we are not the typical bar style venue. We promote the idea of socializing and having fun in a healthy and nourishing environment, serving our health promoting drinks and elixirs such as kefir soda, kombucha and cold pressed juices.
As a company, we are most proud of continuing to support the community by creating space for people to be inspired to live a healthy lifestyle. We bring together like minding people in a nourishing environment. As the business owner – I receive so many thank you’s – and I hear so many stories of how Trilogy has been such a positive impact in their lives. It has a rich community and is an incredibly welcoming space to all. I am proud of our values as a business, always striving to be as eco – conscious as we can.
We attract a whole variety of people, who come together with a shared passion for a healthy and nourishing lifestyle.
Anyone who steps foot in Trilogy can see and feel how different we are than most other business. Where else can you come for a casual lunch and happen to catch some aerial dancing acrobats in full flow on top a roof?! There truly is no other place like us. We are one of a kind!
The strong sense of community, especially between our employees creates a supportive environment, we feel like one big family! We are a group of people all striving to make a positive difference in the world. We didn’t create this business because we wanted to be rich, we created it so that we could enjoy a better life and we can share what we love with the community. I believe this authenticity is tangible and is why we have been so successful.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
I think San Diego is a wonderful city for a business like ours, we have been very successful so that definitely says something! I think San Diego is a place where people like to be healthy, they appreciate healthy food and the city is full of people wanted to do yoga!
There are not many places in the world where you can do outdoor yoga year-round!
On the negative side – La Jolla has very expensive rent, so running a business is quite high risk here, there is a high turnover for business in this area.
For La Jolla, I would say the main challenge is parking…. sometimes it is very challenging to find parking close to our business and also the traffic coming into and out of La Jolla can be very busy. I think a huge improvement to La Jolla would be a trolley stop! Or some kind of park and ride service into and out of the village!
Contact Info:
- Address: 7650 Girard Avenue STE 400
La Jolla CA 92117 - Website: www.trilogysanctuary.com
- Phone: 619-306-2667
- Email: info@trilogysanctuary.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trilogysanctuary/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/trilogysd/
- Twitter: trilogylj
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/trilogy-sanctuary-la-jolla
- Other: www.totembytrilogy.com
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