Former Kenwood Restaurant owner sees potential in area

William Foss, a Los Gatos native and co-founder of Netscape Communications, left Silicon Valley after the bubble burst in 2001, then settled in Sausalito, where he opened Fish, a sustainable seafood restaurant with business partner Jenny Belov. In 2005, Foss and his wife moved to Windsor, where he raises 15 acres of pinot noir grapes.

In October 2013, the restaurateur and grape farmer bought the historic Kenwood Restaurant on Highway 12, a roadhouse originally known as Bunny's Kountry Kitchen. In the ‘80s, famed San Francisco chef Max Schacher turned Bunny's into a high-end restaurant and ran it for 26 years before selling it to Foss, who created a menu of Sonoma regional cuisine based around local eggs, meats and vegetables. Last October, Foss decided to close Kenwood Restaurant, and is considering several alternatives for the new year.

“Restaurants are facing economic headwinds,” he said. “Data is showing that ready-made meals at Oliver's and Whole Foods are up 30 percent, fast-casual is on the rise and food costs have been increasing faster than inflation.”

During the past three years, Foss has come to know the folks living along that narrow corridor of Highway 12 and is aware that many consider change and growth undesirable.

“Managed growth is mandatory if you ever want to have a future,” Foss said. “If you're not moving forward, you are moving backwards, from the fact that the rest of the world is moving forward without you.”

By embracing positive growth, Foss said, the area could benefit from jobs for the local community, and much-needed funding for schools, roads and other infrastructure.

“The original residents of Kenwood weren't San Francisco second-homers. They actually lived there,” he said. “There are families that are hardworking, wonderful people that need the opportunities that growth provides.”

When he looks at the Napa Valley, with its world-famous French Laundry restaurant, Foss sees a region that welcomes tourists to enjoy its top-end wines and restaurants. Like Napa, Sonoma's economy is also driven by tourism through grapes.

“I don't like Napa, but they have built an infrastructure to maintain that reputation,” he said. “What do we do? We build casinos.”

If some of the proposed projects for Highway 12 ever get off the ground, Foss predicts the changes may create one of the best economic booms that the upper Sonoma Valley has ever experienced.

“It is so beautiful,” he said. “And it could be so much more.”