Best Served Together is a Q&A show where we celebrate the Unsung Hospitality Heroes. Join Chef Jensen Cummings as he talks to industry leaders about the people that have been there through the trials and triumphs of their lives and careers. On this episode of Best Served Together, Bryant Dulin talks to Jensen about helping your employees live their best lives, the importance of being more than a hiring app and helping people to grow in their careers, and how ghost kitchens can be successful in the future.

Top 5 Takeaways

1. Bryant Dulin thought up the idea for KOBEYO while he was in a cafe listening to an employee complaining about pay and then a manager complaining about not finding enough qualified employees. “KOBEYO is focused on empowering the workers. When workers are empowered, they are more productive and happier.” (0:42)

2. “The main thing I want people to take away from KOBEYO is that we all have lives. How do you help people live their best lives?” (6:09)

3. “We want KOBEYO to be your career. We let people pick the skills that they want to learn. If you want to move up or learn something new, you can put that in your profile and wait for a person who is willing to train you.” (14:31)

4. KOBEYO emphasizes rapid response from managers to potential employees. It is all about the respect between the manager and the employees.

5. “You have to think about the biodiversity of an ecosystem. You can’t do it alone.” (29:48)

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Best Served Together is a Q&A show where we celebrate the Unsung Hospitality Heroes. Join Chef Jensen Cummings as he talks to industry leaders about the people that have been there through the trials and triumphs of their lives and careers. On this episode of Best Served Together Ben Hayes talks to Jensen about going to culinary school together, taking the extreme passion he learned from playing sports and putting it into culinary, and how it is working in a kitchen without a ticket machine.

1. Ben Hayes works at Flagship @ Facebook which runs cafes that are solely for Facebook employees at the different FB locations. It is a cool place to work because the Facebook employees don’t pay anything so there is no handling of money and the menu changes often so there are always new things to cook and new skills to learn.

2. Ben also went to culinary school with Jensen. “I wasn’t behind the stove with my grandma learning how to make sauce. I thought that I was going to make it in sports. Sports didn’t work out, so I took that drive into culinary school. Having a type of competitive model that brings out the best in everyone is good for teamwork.” (5:40)

3. “There is more than one way to get to that end result. Have your own opinion but you should be able to bounce opinions off of other people.” (7:41)

4. “I think I tried to overwork food since I left culinary school. Honestly, I didn’t find my style until two or three years ago. I stopped trying to work so hard. I started from the end and then worked backwards. I think I was just putting so much on the plate before. There’s so much to learn.” (15:56)

5. When speaking about his dishwasher, Ben said, “It’s hard to replace that attitude. To be able to work 8 to 10 hours washing dishes and have a great attitude about that, you just can’t teach that.” (25:14)

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Best Served Good is a Q&A show where we celebrate the Unsung Hospitality Heroes. Join Chef Jensen Cummings as he talks to industry leaders about the people that have been there through the trials and triumphs of their lives and careers. On this episode of Best Served Good, our host Jensen Cummings sits down with Todd Buffington who doesn't give a shit about your $14 avocado toast. This no-nonsense meat popsicle is the chef owner of Five Minutes Til Midnight Food Co. A Sauce making, meat carving, cheese slinging, hell raising, tattoo wearing, whiskey drinking, charcuterie and sundry company located in Beaverdale, Des Moines, Iowa.

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Best Served Together is a Q&A show where we celebrate the Unsung Hospitality Heroes. Join Chef Jensen Cummings as he talks to industry leaders about the people that have been there through the trials and triumphs of their lives and careers. On this episode of Best Served  Together, Joe Tripp talks to Jensen about being a psychology and philosophy major in college, knowing the people who hand made plates, candles, and soaps for Harbinger Des Moines, and exploding kimchi when fermenting in vacuum sealed bags.

Top Five Takeaways

1. Joe opened Harbinger three years ago. It is a hyper local restaurant in Des Moines, Iowa that focuses on fermentation.

2. “We’re a business first and foremost. I try to teach my people the numbers game. Fermentation helps us to not waste our expensive products. It helps stretch my bottom line.” (12:14)

3. “The nice thing is that fermentation actually acts as a second product for the same food. How can we get two productions off of one food? Price breaks at volume.” (15:17)

4. If you don’t care about the food then it doesn’t matter how well you know how to cook it because it’s going to be wrong. Its about caring and having respect for the ingredients. (21:25)

5. Get a window for the kitchen so that people can look at the outside world. Make sure to get out of the kitchen as much as possible to remind everyone that the kitchen isn’t the only thing in the world. (25:20)

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Best Served Fresh is a Q&A show where we celebrate the Unsung Hospitality Heroes. Join Chef Jensen Cummings as he talks to industry leaders about the people that have been there through the trials and triumphs of their lives and careers. On this episode of Best Served Live, our host Jensen Cummings sits down with Taylor Smith to discuss his company, The Gold Leaf Collective, the first 100% vegan full-service restaurant, catering company, food truck, wholesale doughnut company and cheese company in northern Colorado, we also discuss what it takes to run multiple companies under one umbrella, where and when his passion for the hospitality industry turned into purpose, how he transitioned from back of house to front of house to owner/proprietor, and who inspired the idea for a collective of companies.

Top Five Takeaways

1. Community is so important. Fort Collins was so welcoming to Taylor and helped him raise money for his food truck The Silver Seed when he had just moved there and didn’t know anyone. The community came together to raise funds for the brick and mortar building and later to keep the business afloat.

2. The Gold Leaf Collective is helping people take the first step into veganism, plant-based diets. They are inclusive and do not judge anyone, meat-eaters or vegans.

3. “I felt like cooking was always the way to express myself.” (8:14) Taylor wanted to show his love of the planet and for animals and he went through cooking to show that.

4. “Salt and pepper and seasonings are all vegan. I think the idea with vegan is that it is healthier. I go vegan because I want to help the planet not myself.” (19:01)

5. “You know how hard it is to get people to walk into a vegan restaurant willingly? You have to have stuff on the menu that they recognize.” (26:20) Taylor pushes to make food that people recognize, crave, and will come back to eat without meat in it.

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Best Served Fresh is a Q&A show where we celebrate the Unsung Hospitality Heroes. Join Chef Jensen Cummings as he talks to industry leaders about the people that have been there through the trials and triumphs of their lives and careers. On this episode of Best Served Live, our host Jensen Cummings sits down with Ty Mckinstry to discuss being an attorney in the wake of the global pandemic, renegotiating leases for struggling restaurants, his background in real estate and how that lead to his current career path, and the importance of where and how you invest your money when it comes to your real estate and the necessity of knowing what you're signing.

Top Five Takeaways

1. Ty has a unique perspective on real estate laws for businesses because he has seen deals from every side, commercial real estate broker, landlord, and now attorney.

2. Invest in a lawyer in the beginning to save money in the future, “The idea in the industry is that lawyers are expensive, so people don’t have the money to pay for them. But it is better to invest on the front end because it will get you a better lease than you would get without them. A couple of 1,000 dollars in the beginning will save you 10s of thousands of dollars in the future when things are on fire.” (5:45)

3. “A good competent broker will add value to your space. They should know the ins and outs of the business and know how to ask the right questions. A competent broker will help negotiate between the building owners about HVAC and other important things. A broker is a really important part.” (7:31)

4. Force Majeures are being changed due to COVID, “Force Majeure is when you are unable to pay rent due to ‘acts of God.’ People don’t pay much attention to it. It is important right now because a government shut down due to a pandemic is an ‘act of God.’” (11:29)

5. There are so many nuances to leases and legal jargon that it is important to put in some research and educate yourself before going into the lease. Most future restaurant owners have too much passion for their business and allow themselves to push through any problem when those problems could hurt them in the future. Investing in a lawyer would help with avoiding that.

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Best Served Whole is a Q&A show where we celebrate the Unsung Hospitality Heroes. Join Chef Jensen Cummings as he talks to industry leaders about the people that have been there through the trials and triumphs of their lives and careers. On this episode of Best Served Live, our host Jensen Cummings sits down with Jenny Smith to discuss Butcher Crick farms, the propagation of heirloom tomato transplants for sale by consumers, her humble beginnings on a farm in Des Moines Iowa, transitioning from serving to farming, leaving home to follow her dreams and what it takes to build a network in a new place and the importance of making sure your team shares passion with you.

Top Five Takeaways

1. “When you get bitten by the bug, you get bitten hard. When you get the desire to served others, look out world, because that’s what you are going to be doing for the rest of your life.” (2:37)

2. “Stop trying to be everything for everyone. Just grow one crop and grow it well.” (6:01)

3. “Farmers and chefs need to get together far before the growing season starts. Agritouism - come see how we do the farming.” (11:57)

4. “Remember those questions in school on tests that had those critical thinking skills. That’s where we messed up as a society, because all of those questions should have been problem solving questions. You learn in a restaurant rapid thinking, problem solving skills, and humbleness.” (15:11)

5. “Nutrition happens when you take the tomato from its life source, it is the most nutritious that it will ever be. As soon as its picked its a time bomb.” (22:58)

6. “Please don’t give excess produce from your home gardens to restaurants. You are devaluing the market for that product and for the individual farmers.” (25:37)

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Best Served Baked is a Q&A show where we celebrate the Unsung Hospitality Heroes. Join Chef Jensen Cummings as he talks to industry leaders   about the people that have been there through the trials and triumphs of   their lives and careers. On this episode of Best Served Live, our host Jensen Cummings sits down with Tiphanie Cannon who started as a third grade teacher before becoming a a stay at home mom. Being a stay at home mom of three kids made her bored out of her mind and she turned to baking. Eventually she decided to open a business and started baking out of the oven in her house before growing the business into a successful store front.

Top Five Takeaways

1. Tiph was a third grade teacher and stay at home mom who turned bakery owner. She’s owned the Oh So Sweet store front for six years and has worked herself up to being on Food Network.

2. Tiph went from spreading out cookbooks out at Mexican food restaurants with her mom to being on a Food Network challenge. “Then I was contacted by a Food Network agent. But I thought it was a joke. I had to keep it a secret for nine months.” (12:53)

3. “I don’t really think about myself as a good marketer. I would tell people its important to be consistent. I think people are checking their phones first thing in the morning, at lunch, and then before you go to bed. So I try to post three times a day. You just never know when you are going to grab that customer.” (17:47)

4. “I do have a self deprecating humor and I do try to put that across. I do think that people like to see behind the curtain. It makes you more relatable. I think its important to do your own social media for your own business because otherwise people can tell. Its not authentic.” (19:31)

5. “With the floods I saw businesses that were 100% wiped out. Instead of wanting to annihilate each other, its about helping each other. When Roam Restaurant was wiped out, I helped their employees by giving them a job at the bakery.” (22:55)

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Best Served Fast is a Q&A show where we celebrate the Unsung Hospitality Heroes. Join Chef Jensen Cummings as he talks to industry leaders about the people that have been there through the trials and triumphs of their lives and careers. On this episode of Best Served Live, our host Jensen Cummings sits down with Eric Silverstein to discuss "The Peach Tortilla" his very own food truck that evolved into a fast casual restaurant, the differences between running food trucks versus brick and mortar restaurants, his multicultural background, how that influenced his career and subsequent transition into the food industry, as well as the trials they went through starting the company and insights into building your own restaurant. 

1. Eric's multicultural and multinational childhood, growing up in Japan with his New York father and his Chinese mother, lead to the Peached Tortillas fusion food concept.

2. Eric worked as a lawyer first because he wanted to be a sports agent. Eventually he got tired of it and decided to go into food like his dad had when Eric was growing up.

3. "The food truck game is the hardest job in the food business. I'm talking about a mobile food truck, one, two, three locations a day." (12:27) Eric opened one food truck then two, then a catering truck before opening his restaurant.

4. "Big tips- now on fully on the buy new equipment train. You just don't know how well it was maintained before you got it. The biggest thing for me is sound control. You really have to look at what you are putting on your ceilings. Sound is guests' #1 complaint." (18:45)

5. Eric is very methodical in his build outs putting a lot of emphasis on design and brand, from the wallpaper and paint on the ceiling to the aprons employees wear.

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