Fell Into Food Podcast

Brittney Miller is the President and second-generation owner of Manchester Farms, America’s oldest and largest quail farm, where she has helped transform her family’s South Carolina operation into a nationwide supplier of quail and quail eggs. A Clemson University graduate with a B.S. in Poultry Science, Miller grew up on the farm before building experience in animal health and fine dining, then returning home to take the reins of the family business. Today, she leads every facet of the operation, combining her poultry expertise, foodservice experience, and entrepreneurial approach to grow the specialty quail market while preserving her family’s agricultural legacy.

This week, Brittney sits down with Jeff to pull back the curtain on what it really takes to scale an heirloom game bird farm from a small family operation into a $20 million commercial powerhouse. We dig into the realities of multi-generational succession, the challenges of commercial barn husbandry, and how Manchester Farms unlocked massive retail growth by distributing over 50 million quail eggs a year. Plus, Brittney shares practical culinary knowledge every chef and home cook needs—from the 3:1 baking ratio and the foolproof trick to peeling quail eggs, to why you need specialized scissors and what’s ahead for ready-to-eat sous-vide confit quail.

Website: manchesterfarms.com

Instagram: @manchesterquail

TikTok: @manchesterquail

Facebook: Manchester Farms Quail

YouTube: @manchesterfarmsquail1102

Chapters

00:00 – Intro: Growing up on America’s oldest commercial quail farm

05:12 – The Campbell Soup job offer and walking away for hunting season

07:16 – Early days of Manchester Farms, trade shows, and distribution growth

10:15 – Clemson Poultry Science, corporate gigs, and the Vail ski club detour

13:37 – Navigating family business dynamics and stepping into sole ownership

17:50 – Scaling from $7M to $20M: Barn biology, risk tolerance, and agribusiness banking

22:25 – The Quail Egg explosion: Nutrition profile, Costco rollout, and heritage Pharaoh genetics

26:47 – The banana-peel trick and why you need quail egg scissors

30:49 – Kitchen applications: 3:1 baking ratio, deviled eggs, and Brittney’s pan-fried hack

34:36 – Kid food exploration, Jewel-Osco / Midwest retail distribution, and grocery buyer buy-in

40:15 – Innovation pipeline: Sous-vide duck fat confit quail and grilling tips

43:13 – Outro and closing thoughts

Listen to the full episode and more! It would mean the world to me if you could leave a 5 star review on your listening platform to help grow and expand the Podcast.

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Apple Podcast - https://apple.co/41RoTm4

YouTube: https://youtube.com/@FellIntoFood

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fell-into-food/

Instagram: http://instagram.com/fell_into_food

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Until next time, we’ll catch you on the sunny side!

Born into a poor family in Peru as the youngest of five children, Daniel Valverde’s path to winemaking began far from the vineyard. At nineteen, without a college degree, he followed his older siblings to the United States and took a job busing tables on weekends in New Jersey while juggling shifts at a local supermarket. Grinding his way across restaurant floors, he eventually made the leap to New York City to work at the historic steakhouse The Palm, rising through the ranks from server to floor manager, beverage manager, and eventually sales manager. It was there that he met fellow server Max, sparking a late-night pact to one day make wine together in Peru. Driven by an entrepreneurial streak forged in the US, Daniel later stepped away from the corporate dining world, survived a battle with thyroid cancer, and relocated to Puerto Rico on an impulse in 2021. There, he founded Green Rose Cleaners—scaling it from a solo hustle into the island’s highest-rated commercial and residential cleaning service. That venture provided the operational freedom to return home to Peru and finally fulfill his promise: founding Valtierro to prove that Peru’s heritage grapes belong on the world’s finest dining tables.

Long before Valtierro existed, Daniel and his coworker Max made an offhand promise over shift drinks in Manhattan that they would one day make wine together. Daniel walks through the forgotten history that fueled that dream: how Peru actually produced wine before Chile and Argentina in the 1500s, why Spanish Crown tariffs and natural disasters crushed the industry, and the exact phone call a decade later that convinced Max to hop on a plane to Ica.

Instead of raising millions to buy real estate, Daniel hit the road and scouted bodegas across southern Peru, landing in the high-desert valley of Tacna right on the Chilean border. He explains the art of tenant winemaking—how he convinced an independent, multigenerational grape farmer to sell him two tons of fruit and rent out cellar space so they could vinify on their own terms.

Valtierro Website: https://www.valtierro.com/

Valtierro Instagram: @valtierrowine

Episode Timestamps & Chapters

00:00 – Intro: Welcome Daniel Valverde to Fell Into Food

00:23 – Leaving Peru at 19: Busing tables and rising through NYC dining rooms

01:40 – The 15-year pact with sommelier Max at The Palm

02:20 – The lost history: Why Peru made wine before Chile and Argentina

03:53 – Ground zero: Scouting Ica and sending the text that started Valtierro

05:41 – The entrepreneurial mindset, early failures, and launching Green Rose Cleaners

12:44 – Arriving in Tacna: Renting tanks and partnering with a generational grower

14:55 – Bringing in 40 years of Argentine winemaking expertise

15:36 – The Malbec of Peru? Why bet on Negra Criolla

17:26 – Overcoming the Pisco legacy and leaning into fine dining momentum

19:50 – The NYC restaurant story: Confronting the domestic wine stigma

21:38 – The go-to-market: 1,500 bottles, allocation math, and scaling up

24:20 – Direct-to-consumer club plans vs. retail placement

25:09 – Rejecting tourist kitsch: Burgundy glass, clean labels, and wax stamps

26:15 – Cellar details: 50% whole-cluster, manual picking, and nitrogen bottling

28:44 – Pairing wine with Peruvian cuisine: What to ask your server

30:00 – Full circle: What the 19-year-old busboy would say today

31:05 – Where to find Valtierro and closing thoughts

Listen to the full episode and more! It would mean the world to me if you could leave a 5 star review on your listening platform to help grow and expand the Podcast.

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/55qBuFe9dQh5jLLdg0KLoL?si=08455ef88e554b91

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YouTube: https://youtube.com/@FellIntoFood

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fell-into-food/

Instagram: http://instagram.com/fell_into_food

Facebook: https://facebook.com/fellintofood

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First time in New Orleans, and I nearly choked on powdered sugar within the first hour. Worth it.

Down for three days, so I did what I do and ate everything. I have opinions on the turtle soup (I grew up in the sticks, it's turtle soup, guys). I found a boudin egg roll that was one of my favorite thing I ate all trip. I walked Bourbon Street after everyone told me it'd be a disaster, and it wasn't.

Best meal of the trip? Lufu which is Indian food. In New Orleans. Go figure.

Go watch this one on YouTube, because me describing a plate of food with audio only gets old fast. Everything I mentioned is listed below. Tell me what I missed, because I'm going back, and next time it's crawfish season.

Catch you on the sunny side.

Stephanie Noto is a Registered Dietitian, Child Nutrition Program, and School Food Expert. In partnership with school districts, Stephanie evaluates and enhances school meal programs by integrating sound nutrition principles with operational and sustainable best practices. Her career in school nutrition spans 17 years, self-employed as a consultant for the last 8 years. She brings experience as a former K12 Food Service Director, Regional Food Production Specialist, and National Support Resource for K12 operators, which has given her first hand view of the opportunities and challenges school food service teams face. Districts often struggle with staffing capacity, limited training, the complexity of institutional procurement, and the need to balance regulatory compliance with increased expectations around fresh, minimally processed ingredients.

School nutrition is one of the most complex, misunderstood sectors in the entire culinary landscape. Between federal reimbursement guidelines, strict meal pattern requirements, and tight bottom lines, serving high-quality, scratch-cooked food to students is an uphill battle.

In this episode, registered dietitian, former K-12 Food Service Director, and school food consultant Stephanie Noto (Noto Nutrition Consulting) breaks down the true state of the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). We explore recent changes in USDA nutrition regulations—including added sugar limits and sodium tier targets—and unpack the execution disconnect that leads to "cop-out" meals like grab bags and mealy red delicious apples.

Stephanie Noto’s Website: https://www.notonutrition.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/notonutrition

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-noto-rd-cdn-sns-23410878/

0:00 Intro: Meet Stephanie Noto

1:14 State of school nutrition — what's changed in 3–5 years

2:43 NSLP, SBP, and the sodium/sugar rollout explained

6:23 The "compliant" lunch that isn't really a meal

10:31 Self-op vs. contract management: the training gap

13:49 Fixing the middle of the P&L

17:45 Writing real food into the contract

21:59 From 24-year-old regional resource to independent consultant

27:19 Do chefs belong in school kitchens?

32:01 Her fix: mandatory training before you get the job

Listen to the full episode and more! It would mean the world to me if you could leave a 5 star review on your listening platform to help grow and expand the Podcast.

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/55qBuFe9dQh5jLLdg0KLoL?si=08455ef88e554b91

Apple Podcast - https://apple.co/41RoTm4

YouTube: https://youtube.com/@FellIntoFood

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fell-into-food/

Instagram: http://instagram.com/fell_into_food

Facebook: https://facebook.com/fellintofood

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Chef Adrianne Calvo is an award-winning Miami-based restaurateur, best-selling cookbook author, and Emmy-nominated, 9x Telly Award-winning media personality known for her signature "Maximum Flavor" style. Her flagship restaurant, Chef Adrianne's Vineyard, has grown from a strip-mall startup into a national "must-eat" institution, and she's built a full media presence around it — TV appearances on Chopped and Beat Bobby Flay, a million-plus social following, and a newest cookbook, Maximum Flavor at Home, bringing that same cooking into everyday home kitchens.

At 22, with no investors and no real restaurant experience beyond an internship, she opened Chef Adrianne's Vineyard in a Kendall strip mall — right before the 2008 financial crash. Nineteen years later, it's a national "must-eat" institution, and she's built an entire "Maximum Flavor" world around it: an Emmy nomination, nine Telly Awards, appearances on Chopped and Beat Bobby Flay, a million-plus followers, and a new book, Maximum Flavor at Home, out November 3rd.

Website: chefadriannes.com

Instagram: @chefadrianne

YouTube: youtube.com/user/ChefAdrianne

Maximum Flavor at Home (out November 3, 2026)

Book Tour Dates

• November 6 — The Last Bookstore, Los Angeles
• November 12 — Books & Books, Coral Gables, FL
• November 18 — The Chopping Block, Chicago

Timestamps

01:14 — The accidental cooking class and the French toast that rerouted her life

04:56 — Opening the restaurant at 22, right before the 2008 crash, and leading a kitchen full of veterans twice her age

07:55 — Inside Dark Dining: blindfolds, heightened senses, and the champagne trick that still gets 19-year regulars

14:13 — Where AI helps in the kitchen — and where it can't touch human creativity

17:16 — Maximum Flavor at Home (out November 3): the new book, standout recipes, and the tour

30:57 — Her sister Jennifer, "Make It Count," and the difference between burnout and dedication

33:24 — 19 years as St. Jude's Culinary Ambassador, and the one standard she wants tied to her name

Listen to the full episode and more! It would mean the world to me if you could leave a 5 star review on your listening platform to help grow and expand the Podcast.

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/55qBuFe9dQh5jLLdg0KLoL?si=08455ef88e554b91

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YouTube: https://youtube.com/@FellIntoFood

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fell-into-food/

Instagram: http://instagram.com/fell_into_food

Facebook: https://facebook.com/fellintofood

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Ken MacKenzie is the visionary founder and CEO of Fresh Victor, a premium line of all-natural, cold pressed, refrigerated mixers for effortlessly delicious cocktails, low-alcohol and spirit-free drinks. With over 20 years of experience in the

creation, import, and distribution of spirits and craft beverages, Ken is a successful serial entrepreneur with a rich history in the industry. Before launching Fresh Victor, Ken co-founded Republic Tequila and Republic Spirit Blends. His impressive career also includes the import, development, and launch of unique spirits like Onyx Coffee Liqueurs and his highly demanded 100% agave tequila brand, Amate.

Ken's journey in the spirits industry began in 1997, when he apprenticed in Guadalajara, learning the premium pure agave tequila business from the ground up. He soon launched his consultancy, La Mission, S.A. de C.V., dedicating the next decade to pioneering the importation of high-end 100% agave tequila into the United States. After returning to the U.S., Ken founded Travesia Import Group, continuing to import, distribute, and consult on premium liquor brands. He then expanded his portfolio to include bespoke Texas spirits and mixers, distributed by Republic National Distributors. Ken is a frequent and respected speaker at high-profile industry events, educating the beverage market and hospitality

industry on 100% agave tequila. His Republic and Amate tequila brands have garnered over 15 top industry accolades, including recognition from Wine Enthusiast magazine and numerous medals at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition and Denver International Spirits Competition.

In this conversation, I talk with Ken about what actually convinced him tequila wasn't a phase — and why he never went home. He walks through how agave tequila is really made, from an eight-to-twelve-year growing cycle to a single glass carrying over 300 distinct flavor compounds, and how that same discipline shaped everything about Fresh Victor. We get into why he refused every piece of advice to make it shelf-stable, what it cost him to spend 18 months chasing the right acid balance on one flavor, and the early stretch where the company was pouring out almost as much product as it was selling because the shelf life was too short to survive distribution.

We also get into where the non-alcoholic and zero-proof movement is really headed, and why Ken built Fresh Victor so the same drink works whether or not there's alcohol in it. Nine flavors in, he says they've barely scratched the surface of where this goes next. 

Website: Freshvictor.com

Instagram / Facebook / Linkedin / Tiktok: @freshvictorcocktails.com

X: @freshvictormix

For being a listener Ken has decided to give everyone 20% off their next order from their website freshvictor.com using promo code FELL2FOOD20. No minimum purchase requirement. Can’t combine with other discounts. Active from today until Dec 31, 2026

0:00 From Tequila to Fresh Mixers — How the Pivot Started

2:23 Why Food and Drink Actually Bring People Together

5:42 Following Love to Guadalajara — and Never Leaving

8:19 How Tequila Is Actually Made, From Agave to Bottle

13:55 What You Should Actually Be Tasting For

17:24 Building Fresh Victor — Four Ingredients, No Shortcuts

19:00 Refusing to Go Shelf-Stable

24:56 The 18-Month Fight for the Right Acid Balance

28:21 The Hurdles That Almost Ended It

34:44 Zero-Proof, Connection, and What's Next for Fresh Victor

Listen to the full episode and more! It would mean the world to me if you could leave a 5 star review on your listening platform to help grow and expand the Podcast.

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YouTube: https://youtube.com/@FellIntoFood

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fell-into-food/

Instagram: http://instagram.com/fell_into_food

Facebook: https://facebook.com/fellintofood

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I sat down with Nicole Bentler this week — a health and wellness pro turned maple farmer, who bought a run-down, two-hundred-year-old farm in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania back in 2019 with no real plan beyond having a place to bring her family.

That farm is now Pocono Maple Water, a farm-to-bottle maple water and maple syrup brand, and Nicole's one of only a handful of female-owned maple farms in the country. We got into what maple water actually is before it ever becomes syrup, the finding about our water supply that made her trademark the phrase "What's In Your Water," and why she's turned down Target and Walmart more than once to stay direct-to-consumer.

Website:

www.poconomaplewater.com

Instagram: @poconomaplewater

Instagram: @poconomountainmaple

Listen to the full episode and more! It would mean the world to me if you could leave a 5 star review on your listening platform to help grow and expand the Podcast.

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/55qBuFe9dQh5jLLdg0KLoL?si=08455ef88e554b91

Apple Podcast - https://apple.co/41RoTm4

YouTube: https://youtube.com/@FellIntoFood

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fell-into-food/

Instagram: http://instagram.com/fell_into_food

Facebook: https://facebook.com/fellintofood

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CHAPTERS / TIMESTAMPS

Timestamps pulled from raw transcript markers — confirm exact in/out points against the edited cut before publishing.

00:00 — Cold open: cracking a maple water on mic, and the question everyone asks first

00:44 — What maple water actually is, and how it's different from syrup

02:57 — Buying a run-down farm in 2019 with zero plans to build a beverage brand

05:19 — Six to eight miles a day tapping trees in the snow

06:27 — The estrogen finding behind the "What's In Your Water" trademark

09:53 — Big bottled water brands, spring-water lawsuits, and knowing where your water comes from

14:08 — Three bears, a raided bee yard, and building a team in a corner of agriculture with almost nobody under 40

18:17 — The six-week harvest, the subscription model, and turning down Target and Walmart on purpose

20:32 — The cans-vs-cartons-vs-glass packaging fight with her partner Dante

25:10 — What maple water actually does for the body, and the empty-stomach test

Jason Olinik is Senior Vice President of Operations & Partnerships at Rudy's Hospitality Group, where he leads growth strategy and every client relationship across workplace dining, markets, and restaurant concepts. He's spent 23 years in hospitality — starting at sixteen scrubbing grease off the back dock of a Chili's in Brighton, Michigan, then running a limited-service hotel in Naples, building restaurant concepts inside an airport, and working luxury resorts in Florida before landing at Rudy's. He's also the author of Discernment: Seeing Through the Narrative Economy.

I sat down with him to talk about the gap between what a report says and what's actually happening on the floor — and why the leaders who stay close to the floor are the ones who catch it before it costs them. Jason talks about the meeting culture that crept in after the pandemic, the seventeen systems his teams were juggling just to load a menu, and the moment he realized he'd drifted too far from the work that built him. He also tells me about a ledge in the Jemez Mountains outside Albuquerque, and the jump that changed how he's approached every hard decision since.

Book & author site: jasonolinik.com

Rudy's Hospitality Group: rudyshospitality.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jason-olinik-57355464

Instagram: @j.olinik_author

Book: Discernment: Seeing Through the Narrative Economy

TIMESTAMPED CHAPTERS

0:00 Intro

0:10 The Chili's Loading Dock, Age Sixteen

2:22 What Makes a Great Operator

11:07 Why Workplace Dining Needs Restaurant Standards

16:10 Thin Center, Strong Field

18:15 AI, Automation, and Where It Actually Helps

26:41 Writing Discernment

33:41 The Meeting Culture Rant

36:06 The Jemez Mountains Jump

41:30 Where to Find Jason

Listen to the full episode and more! It would mean the world to me if you could leave a 5 star review on your listening platform to help grow and expand the Podcast.

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/55qBuFe9dQh5jLLdg0KLoL?si=08455ef88e554b91

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YouTube: https://youtube.com/@FellIntoFood

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fell-into-food/

Instagram: http://instagram.com/fell_into_food

Facebook: https://facebook.com/fellintofood

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Jeff Tonidandel and Jamie Brown are the husband-and-wife owners of the Tonidandel-Brown Restaurant Group (TBRG) in Charlotte, NC — six restaurants (Supperland, Haberdish, Ever Andalo, Growlers Pourhouse, Leluia Hall, Olivelli Deli), three of them Michelin Guide American South recommended. They co-host the podcast Jeff and Jamie Feed and the national PBS series Fork & Hammer, recently nominated for a Daytime Emmy in Outstanding Culinary/Cultural Series. Jamie's first book, Eleven Tables: A Wild Ride Through Food, Failure, and Figuring It Out, is out now.

Jeff Tonidandel and Jamie Brown left corporate jobs at the peak of the economy, backpacked across Europe and Asia for eight months with paper maps and a burner phone, and came home to the 2008 recession with an idea and no restaurant experience. They found their first space in Charlotte's NoDa neighborhood because of a pink slip taped to the door — an unpaid gas bill. That eleven-table crepe shop is now Tonidandel-Brown Restaurant Group: six concepts, three of them Michelin Guide American South recommended, a national PBS series (Fork & Hammer, just nominated for a Daytime Emmy), a weekly podcast, and Jamie's first book.

In this conversation, Jeff and Jamie talk about why Jeff is campaigning to brand Charlotte the "City of Hospitality," what the city's food scene was already doing right before Michelin ever showed up, and what it actually takes to turn a 100-year-old church into a working restaurant kitchen. They get honest about the harder calls too — closing a thirteen-year, still-profitable restaurant to become Ever Andalo, and retiring their doughnut shop after one too many equipment failures. Plus: running a 330-person team across six kitchens, two shows, and three kids, and what's next — dry-aged fish, a new commissary, and hotel projects on the horizon for 2029.

Website: tonidandel-brown.com

Podcast: Jeff and Jamie Feed

PBS series: Fork & Hammer

Book: Eleven Tables — Amazon / Barnes & Noble

Restaurants:

Supperland 

Haberdish 

Ever Andalo 

Growlers 

Pourhouse 

Leluia Hall 

Olivelli Deli 

Wyatt's Superfine (coming soon)

Chapters

0:00 Welcome, Jeff & Jamie

1:01 The one thing they want listeners to take away

2:29 Why Jeff is campaigning for Charlotte as the "City of Hospitality"

5:03 Transplants, small-city warmth, and Bible Belt hospitality

7:48 What Charlotte's food scene was already doing right before Michelin arrived

10:02 Charlotte as a culinary crossroads — and the 200-farm network behind it

12:07 Turning churches, a clothing store, and a general store into restaurants

14:25 Supperland's 14-foot fire grill, and blending old-school with tech

17:30 Why they closed a profitable restaurant to become Ever Andalo

20:22 The 82-square-foot doughnut shop that broke one too many times

23:02 The eight-month backpacking trip — and the pink slip that found their first space

27:05 Where the entrepreneurial fortitude actually came from

29:15 Jamie's six years working a day job to fund the dream

32:56 Running six restaurants, two shows, and three kids with a 330-person team

36:26 How Fork & Hammer landed on PBS — and just picked up a Daytime Emmy nomination

42:08 Jamie's book, Eleven Tables

43:58 What's next: dry-aged fish, a new commissary, and 2029 hotel plans

Listen to the full episode and more! It would mean the world to me if you could leave a 5 star review on your listening platform to help grow and expand the Podcast.

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/55qBuFe9dQh5jLLdg0KLoL?si=08455ef88e554b91

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YouTube: https://youtube.com/@FellIntoFood

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fell-into-food/

Instagram: http://instagram.com/fell_into_food

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Matthew Cutolo is the Executive Pastry Chef and third-generation chef at Gargiulo's Restaurant, a Coney Island institution since 1907. He helps oversee both front and back of house, preserving rare Italian-American dishes seldom found elsewhere. A sought-after culinary voice, Cutolo has been featured on the Today Show, CBS's The Dish, The New York Times, NBC New York, PIX11, and Fox's Good Day NY. Beyond the kitchen, he creates content championing classic Italian traditions and is now building his own digital platform dedicated to his culinary philosophy, signature recipes, and entrepreneurial ventures, establishing himself as a culinary entrepreneur for the next generation of food lovers.

Chef Matthew Cutolo was halfway through an accounting degree when his uncle called and asked one question — you coming to work when you're done? That was it. No speech, no pitch. He's been in the kitchen at Gargiulo's ever since, third generation now, running a Coney Island restaurant his family's had since 1965 in a building that's been slinging Italian food since 1907. A hundred and nineteen years in one spot.

I've had guys work under me for years before I'd actually show them anything real — call it selfish, call it survival, but you learn fast who wants to be great and who just wants the paycheck. Matthew's version of that is a guy named Mike the Bake, forty years as Gargiulo's pastry chef, the only man alive who ever had the cannoli recipe. He didn't just hand it to Matthew. Months of watching, no bowl, no measuring, nothing written down — and there's a theory on why Mike kept walking away mid-recipe for years that's got nothing to do with baking. It's about figuring out who's serious and who's just talking.

Socials

• Website
• Instagram @Matthewcutolo

Listen to the full episode and more! It would mean the world to me if you could leave a 5 star review on your listening platform to help grow and expand the Podcast.

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/55qBuFe9dQh5jLLdg0KLoL?si=08455ef88e554b91

Apple Podcast - https://apple.co/41RoTm4

YouTube: https://youtube.com/@FellIntoFood

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fell-into-food/

Instagram: http://instagram.com/fell_into_food

Facebook: https://facebook.com/fellintofood

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CHAPTERS / TIMESTAMPS

Timestamps pulled from raw transcript paragraph-start markers — confirm exact in/out points against the edited cut before publishing.

00:00 — Cold open: a family business, a phone call, and the third generation who said yes

01:25 — Mike the Bake — the pastry chef who trained Matthew for over 40 years

06:28 — Was disappearing mid-recipe actually a test of whether Matthew really wanted it

08:57 — The pressure of running solo, and why no two written versions of the same recipe matched

12:16 — The phone call from Uncle Louie that pulled him out of an accounting degree

16:23 — Working with family — who wins the argument when the food's on the line

17:50 — Staying true to tradition while everyone else chases what's viral

20:28 — From an internship on The Chew to his first solo TV hit

27:22 — Jarring the sauce, shipping nationwide, and the real math on freight cost

29:17 — The Gargiulo wine on the way, and why he keeps building past the restaurant