Petra Bergstein-Higby For Luxury Trending
Petra Bergstein-Higby is the President and co-founder of the San Francisco, CA based, The Caviar Co. When she and sister, Saskia started the company, their mission was to make caviar ‘more approachable.’ The Texas natives also opened a champagne and caviar-tasting room in Tiburon, CA. Those who know her best would not be surprised to learn Petra was happy to remain in the background during the grand opening event, in the kitchen doing dishes. “I love people and enjoy being around them, but I also need a timeout here and there!”
Originally from Lubbock, TX, Petra attended Texas Tech University, and majored in Speech Language and Hearing. After graduating, she spent the summer with her aunt in Carmel, CA, and enjoyed her time there. So much so that Petra and Saskia decided to move to San Francisco together, jobless and without a place to live. However, they had their large, Bernese Mountain dogs. “My dad has always been my biggest influence, and one might say Saskia and I struck out on our own path the way he did.” Petra’s father is originally from Holland, and moved to the U.S. without a job. “My dad has accomplished the American dream through extremely hard work, early mornings, and solid ethics. I always knew that I wanted to make him proud, and show him how much I appreciated his hard work by achieving my own success, and not living off of his.”
It wasn’t long before the sisters found a place to live, and Petra found a job with a caviar company. Saskia began working with a wealth management firm. The experience of working at that employer’s caviar farm near Sacramento proved invaluable for Petra. She learned more than she ever thought she wanted to know about caviar. Everything from spawning and processing, to packaging, marketing and sales.
In 2016, Petra and Saskia took their savings and opened The Caviar Co. in a San Francisco office building. They bought an over-sized commercial refrigerator, and started selling caviar wholesale to restaurants and chefs.
One who describes herself as “shy, and most comfortable staying behind the scenes,” Petra is an active member in the community. She’s on the San Francisco Yacht Club Auxiliary Board of Directors, and is a St. Francis Yacht Club Dining Committee Member. She is also a member of the Diekemper Family Foundation. Recent honors include Outstanding Foundation Award given by the Lubbock Association of Professional Fundraisers.
Her dedication to philanthropy is evident in the list of nonprofits she supports, including the Reed Schools Foundation, Operation Smile, San Francisco Symphony, Hair to Stay, and the South Plains Food Bank.
The advice Petra commonly gives is “to slow down and put one foot in front of the other to get a large task done. It’s really amazing what we can accomplish if we just prioritize and do our best to check one item off our list at a time. It’s just like dancing. A dance is really just one move or count at a time that flows together to produce a beautiful routine.”
If someone were to make a movie about Petra’s life, she’d want Cameron Diaz to have the lead role. “I love the role Cameron played in “The Other Woman.’ She was a true, independent boss babe and I could only dream of something like that.”
Petra and her husband Alex are the proud parents of a 3-year-old girl and 9-month-old boy.
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