Trelio in Clovis Shares More Than a Meal
Inside an Old Town courtyard in California, four employees have become partners in the restaurant they helped build.
Written by Sarah Campise Hallier
Photography by Patty Schmidt
In Clovis, California, history is everywhere. Its Old Town historic storefronts house antique shops, cafes and friendly mom-and-pops. The farmers market boasts weekly fresh produce and live music. People stroll through the quaint streets to meet friends and sit down to dinner in a downtown that has held on to its small-town familiarity.
Along Clovis Avenue, the large windows of Trelio Food & Wine offer a glimpse of that charm. Greenery peeks through the glass, drawing the eye toward the cozy restaurant tucked inside a small brick courtyard. The meticulously tended plants are visible before guests ever sit down, a personal contribution to a restaurant where many hands have a part in making people feel welcome.
That care continues inside, where service director Kelsey Miller and wine director Trevor Crough are familiar faces to returning guests. In the kitchen, chef de cuisine Ross Verzosa prepares food grown from Central Valley farms and, increasingly, the Filipino dishes he grew up eating. Together with business manager, Kirsty Wimbish, they share a 49% ownership stake purchased from the original owner, Chris Shackelford, who retains the rest.
That care and commitment paid off. They were taking responsibility for the restaurant, paying attention to its needs and treating its reputation as their own. Shackelford recognized their efforts and offered them a stake in its future.
For Miller, who has spent two decades working in restaurants, she knows what it means to give her time and energy to a business she loves.
“It feels like my place,” she says. “I’m proud of what we’ve done here.”
Miller grew up in Napa, working in food and hospitality from a young age. Her interest began even earlier, in the kitchen with her grandmother who taught her to cook. She still prepares her grandmother’s recipes for Thanksgiving, preserving even the imperfections that her family loved.
When she moved to the Fresno area, Miller began looking for a restaurant where she could feel at home. Trelio stood out. It wasn’t hiring, but she contacted management anyway, asking what she needed to do be considered one day. She interviewed and knew immediately during the conversation that she wanted the job.
Miller’s contribution to the team requires paying close attention to customers. Some guests want formal service; others like a more relaxed vibe. Returning customers might appreciate being asked about their children or knowing that the staff has remembered their favorite wine.
“Service is making sure their water glass is filled,” Miller says. “Hospitality is knowing whether they want sparkling or still.”
Miller wants a teenager who saved months for a special date to feel as welcome as someone ordering an expensive bottle. Accomplishing that takes judgment and the willingness to adjust. It's important to her that guests feel taken care of throughout their time at Trelio.
Finding a career in Trelio's kitchen
Ross Verzosa also pursued Trelio before a position became available. After moving from Chicago to be closer to his family, he kept track of the restaurant while working elsewhere, drawn to its seasonal menus. When it announced open interviews, he jumped at the opportunity. He started in February 2020, about a month before pandemic restrictions closed dining rooms throughout California.
His introduction to the restaurant quickly became an education in keeping it alive. Trelio began preparing takeout, including fried chicken meals, as the team learned how to serve customers who could no longer sit together at its tables.
Choosing restaurant work had already required conviction. Verzosa had been studying nursing, a career his parents encouraged him to pursue while treating cooking as a hobby. He continued working in restaurants during school but eventually recognized how much he wanted to be in a kitchen. He left nursing studies for culinary school.
At Trelio, he developed his cooking skills and gained the confidence to bring more of himself into it. His menus combine techniques learned through professional training with food he grew up eating. A fall macaroni and cheese incorporates butternut squash. A dessert takes inspiration from a Twix bar, assembling flavors that are unique but taste great together.
A mung bean risotto is particularly personal. Verzosa grew up eating Filipino mung bean stew. At the restaurant, he brings that familiar ingredient together with seasonal produce, offering guests a dish that tastes like home.
He shops at farmers markets and exchanges texts with growers about what is available or coming into season. Those relationships give him opportunities to experiment while ensuring that the valley produces most of it.
When a guest has a disappointing experience, he wants to understand what happened and how to improve it. His pride in the restaurant comes with an obligation to keep earning guests’ trust.
Responsibility to one another
Trevor Crough showed up to Trelio without knowing it would become his career. He had earned a history degree and was considering teaching when a friend encouraged him to try the restaurant.
Wine seemed like an obvious transition for him. Geography, culture and history could all be seen through a bottle, and encouragement from the restaurant’s former beverage director helped him continue his education. He eventually became a certified sommelier.
With a wine list of roughly 500 selections, he considers listening essential to helping a guest choose a favorite varietal. He describes his role as that of a tour guide: understand what someone enjoys, then use what he knows to help them find it.
He extends that same attentiveness to his colleagues. Asked what ownership means, and he quickly mentions trust and responsibility. He sees how much work Miller, Verzosa and the rest of the team contribute, and wants to carry his share.
“It would feel like I was letting them down if I didn’t pull a little extra weight,” he says. His answer offers a more intimate view of shared ownership than percentages alone can provide. The people making decisions are also working alongside one another, depending on each other to make the evening go well. Their investment is financial, but it is also tied to relationships formed from spending days and nights together working for a common goal.
Verzosa hopes to extend the opportunities he received to others in the kitchen. He wants cooks to feel comfortable bringing him ideas and asking to develop them together. Having learned from Shackelford, he is beginning to see himself as someone who can also be a mentor.
That may be one of the most meaningful consequences of the ownership arrangement. Employees who were trusted to do more now have the chance to offer that trust to someone else. At Trelio, the reward for years of showing up includes a share of the business, room to make decisions and the responsibility of paying it forward to both the guests and the Clovis community.
Trelio Food and Wine. 438 Clovis Ave, Suite 4, Clovis, California @treliofoodandwine
This story is part of Beyond the Fork, a series by Sarah Campise Hallier and photographer Patty Schmidt exploring California's food industry, business owners, chefs and the communities they serve.
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