There’s a reason so many people dream of opening a restaurant. Food feels personal. Feeding people feels meaningful. And if you’ve ever worked in a great kitchen, you know the rush of it. The energy, the noise, the late nights that turn into early mornings. But there’s another side to the restaurant business that most folks never see, and it’s not as romantic.

In this episode, I talk with Kasey Anton, former restaurateur and author of Profit First for Restaurants. Kasey spent years inside kitchens before realizing the thing that saves restaurants isn’t talent or passion. It’s understanding the numbers.

We talk about:

• Why restaurants with full dining rooms still lose money
• The emotional toll of holding onto a restaurant that can’t support itself
• What The Bear gets right about the stress behind the pass
• How to tell if your dream restaurant idea is actually financially viable
• And how to build a business that supports your life instead of swallowing it

This conversation isn’t about killing the dream. It’s about protecting it. If you love food, restaurants, or The Bear, or if you’ve ever whispered “maybe one day I’ll open a place,” this one is for you.

 If this episode hits home, share it with someone who loves food as much as you do. And follow the show so you never miss the next conversation. 

Follow Kasey Anton and Spark Business Consulting
Website: https://sparkbusinessconsulting.com/
Instagram: @thekaseyanton / @sparkbusinessconsulting 

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What if the menu in front of you automatically adapted to what you can eat? No guessing, no awkward back-and-forth with the server, no anxiety about whether the kitchen really understands your allergy or dietary restriction. Just clarity and confidence.

That’s the vision behind Foodini, and today I’m joined by its founder, Dylan McDonnell, to talk about the future of personalized dining.

Dylan was diagnosed with celiac disease as a kid, and after years of getting sick from restaurant meals that were supposed to be “gluten-free,” he knew there had to be a better way. That journey led him from the world of corporate law to building a platform that breaks restaurant menus down to the ingredient level using a combination of AI and registered dietitians.

We talk about:

• Why menu transparency is still so difficult for restaurants
• How Foodini maps recipes to ingredients to give diners accurate allergy and dietary information
• The emotional side of eating out when you don’t fully trust the menu
• The “veto vote” and how one diner’s allergy influences where an entire group eats
• New legislation that may soon require restaurants to label allergens nationwide
• Why personalization is becoming a defining force in the future of food and hospitality

This episode is for anyone who cares about food safety, restaurant culture, and how AI is changing the way we eat. It’s a thoughtful, practical look at what it means to create dining experiences that include everyone at the table.

Tap play and then share this with someone who has ever had to bring their own snacks, scan a menu nervously, or trust a waiter’s “I think so.”
Let’s help more people enjoy eating out again.

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What happens when the people who feed America start disappearing?

Former Washington State Senator Mona Das joins Eat Your Content for a raw, fast-moving conversation about the reality behind your plate. Immigrant workers are the backbone of the food industry—cooks, farmers, dishwashers, and delivery drivers—but in today’s political climate, many are afraid to show up for work. Fields are empty, restaurants are understaffed, and the system that keeps our kitchens running is starting to crack.

Mona, an immigrant herself, talks with Rich about how fear-based policies and disinformation are driving people out of the workforce and threatening the future of America’s food supply. They dive into how politics, identity, and pop culture collide in the most basic human act—eating—and what happens when we forget who’s behind the meal.

It’s part political reality check, part cultural reckoning, and all heart.

If you care about food, you should care about who makes it. Listen now and join the conversation about what happens when politics meets your plate. 

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Chef Elisa Lyew has one of the coolest jobs you’ve probably never heard of. By day, she’s the founder of Elisa’s Love Bites, a New York City bakery known for its gluten-free, low-sugar desserts that taste just as indulgent as the classics. But behind the scenes, she’s also a culinary prop stylist—the person who makes all the food you see in movies and TV shows look picture-perfect and edible.

In this episode of Eat Your Content, Elisa joins host Rich Herrera to talk about how she went from studying theater and media to becoming one of Hollywood’s go-to pastry chefs. She shares how a one-off gig on Madam Secretary led to years of steady work in TV and film, including projects like Fallout and Apple TV’s The Savant. You’ll hear how she creates everything from futuristic jello cakes to vegan doughnuts that look straight out of Dunkin’—and why it’s so important that her on-screen food is just as real as what she serves in her bakery.

Rich and Elisa dig into:

• How growing up in Panama shaped her love of food and storytelling
• The creative process behind her hit Bangin’ Chocolate Chip Cookie
• What it’s really like feeding actors on restrictive diets
• How she makes “healthy” desserts taste sinful
• The unexpected ways film and food overlap behind the camera

Elisa’s story is about following your instincts, finding your niche, and turning a creative hobby into two thriving careers. Whether you love baking, film, or just a good comeback story, this episode will make you hungry—in more ways than one.

🍪 Listen now and subscribe to Eat Your Content for more conversations where food and pop culture collide.

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What happens when a Brooklyn kid with a knack for fixing cable wires decides to take on Hollywood? You get Larry Namer — the man who co-founded E! Entertainment Television and turned celebrity culture into a global obsession.

In this episode of Eat Your Content, Larry joins Rich to talk about his unlikely rise from the underground cables of Manhattan to the glitz of Los Angeles, where a two-million-dollar gamble turned into an entertainment empire worth billions.

Larry opens up about the early struggles of launching E!, the hustle that fueled its success, and why humor and curiosity were their secret ingredients. He shares hilarious behind-the-scenes stories about Talk Soup, Howard Stern, and sneaking onto the red carpet when the Academy Awards wouldn’t let them in.

Then the conversation shifts to Larry’s new book, Offscript: Recipes for Success — a memoir-meets-cookbook that blends food, family, and lessons from decades in show business. Larry explains how cooking became his personal form of therapy, how a plate of chicken parmesan inspired his approach to media, and why the best recipe for success isn’t about following your passion, but finding what you’re great at and doing it with flavor.

From the early days of cable TV to AI-generated films, Larry’s story is a reminder that innovation comes from going off script — and sometimes, from getting a little sauce on your hands.

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It’s hard to believe, but Waiting... first hit theaters 20 years ago this month! This raunchy, laugh-out-loud comedy gave us an unfiltered look at restaurant life and introduced the world to characters like Monty, Dean, and Naomi, played by a then up-and-coming cast that included Ryan Reynolds, Anna Faris, and Justin Long.

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of this cult classic, we’re bringing back our exclusive interview with the man behind it all: writer and director Rob McKittrick.

Rob takes us behind the scenes of how Waiting... was made, from its indie beginnings to becoming a pop culture staple for anyone who’s ever waited tables or worked in a chaotic kitchen. He shares the real-life stories that inspired the film, what it was like casting a young Ryan Reynolds, and how a low-budget idea went on to capture the service industry experience like no other movie has.

Whether you’ve been quoting Waiting... for years or you’re just discovering it for the first time, this re-release is packed with insider stories, laughs, and reflections you won’t hear anywhere else.

Press play, relive the glory days of 2005, and celebrate 20 years of the comedy that made servers everywhere say, “Don’t mess with people who handle your food.”

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When a restaurant says “authentic,” what does that really mean—and who gets to decide? In this episode, Rich sits down with Janna Tamargo, founder of AuthenticFood.com to unpack the complex and often heated conversations around authenticity in food.

From a Japanese restaurant secretly run by Chinese owners to debates over who has the right to cook certain cuisines, Janna shares stories from her global research that reveal why authenticity is never black and white. They explore how memory, culture, and power shape the way we taste and talk about food—and why these conversations matter more than ever in today’s diverse dining landscape.

You’ll never look at a menu claiming to be “authentic” the same way again.

Key topics covered:

• Why the word authentic has become a marketing buzzword—and how that hurts food culture.
• Real-world stories of identity and perception, like the Gainesville restaurant where customers assumed the owners’ nationality based on appearance.
• The fine line between appreciation and appropriation when cooking food from another culture.
• Why immigrants are often the ones actually cooking the “authentic” dishes behind the scenes.
• How global dining experiences, from Rome to Istanbul, reveal universal truths about food and belonging.

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What would make a NASA computer engineer walk away from a dream career in cutting-edge space technology? For Mayim Vega, it was a personal health crisis that modern medicine couldn’t solve.

In this episode of Eat Your Content, Mayim shares her incredible journey from working on advanced nanotechnology and automation at NASA to becoming a leading voice in holistic healing. After facing debilitating migraines and finding no answers from doctors, she turned her engineering mindset inward, treating her body like a machine that needed the right inputs to thrive.

Mayim reveals how she discovered the root cause of her illness, why she believes natural remedies can be more effective than pharmaceuticals, and how this transformation led her to create Aruka.com, a holistic health academy that trains others to become certified healers.

We also dive into:

• The surprising link between diet, stress, and chronic illness
• Why Western medicine often fails to address root causes
• The role faith plays in healing and resilience
• How anyone can start taking control of their health naturally

If you’ve ever felt frustrated by the healthcare system or wondered if there’s a better way to heal, this conversation will open your eyes to what’s possible.

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Are robots here to steal jobs—or to save an industry that’s struggling to survive?
In this episode of Eat Your Content, I sit down with Nipun Sharma, CEO and Co-Founder of Appetronix, the company behind the world’s first fully autonomous pizza restaurant. Located in Columbus, Ohio’s John Glenn Airport, this revolutionary kitchen uses robotics and AI to make fresh, hot pizzas with zero human hands involved.

Nipun breaks down the real reasons automation is coming to restaurants:

• Why staffing shortages and rising labor costs are pushing restaurants toward robotics
• How AI helps ensure every pizza is perfect, from sauce to slicing
• The truth about whether robots are replacing jobs—or creating entirely new ones
• What a future quick-service restaurant will look like in 2030 and beyond

If you’ve ever wondered what role automation and AI will play in the way we eat, this episode will challenge your assumptions and show you what’s coming next.

Tap play now to hear how robotics are transforming fast food forever—and what that means for workers, customers, and the future of dining.

Subscribe for more conversations at the intersection of food, pop culture, and innovation.

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We made it to 100 podcast episodes. Whether you’ve been here since day one or just discovered the show last week, I want to say thank you. To celebrate this milestone, I wanted a guest who knows a thing or two about transformation. Someone who’s been in the spotlight, walked away from it, and started something brand new.

Enter Kevin Porter.
You might know him as Batman from the Bat in the Sun fan films that racked up millions of views on YouTube. Or maybe as Laser, the hilariously intense gym bro in Dodgeball. But today, he’s running Hollywood Heroes & Subs, a film-themed sandwich shop in Jacksonville, Florida.

In this episode, Kevin gets real about what it was like breaking into Hollywood, what being Batman taught him about connecting with fans, and why he eventually walked away from the industry. We talk about moving back to Florida for family, starting a food truck with a Hollywood twist, and turning that hustle into a brick-and-mortar sandwich shop built on nostalgia, community, and a little bit of movie magic.

He’s got stories—from behind the Batsuit to behind the counter—and this conversation is a reminder that sometimes your next act is even more fulfilling than your first.

If you’ve ever thought about starting over, chasing a totally different dream, or just love a good story, you’ll want to hear this one.

🎉 Thank you for being a part of the journey to 100 episodes.
Here’s to the next 100.

🎧 Listen now, follow the show, and share this episode with the biggest Batman fan or sandwich lover in your life.

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