Fi$H Factor With Mike Ungaro

Want to be part of the next season of Kings Of Fi$H? Email [email protected] or go to KingsOfFishTV.com

Welcome to Fi$H Factor, where multi-generational grit meets visionary hustle. In this episode, Michael Ungaro sits down with Kirsten Maitland, co-founder of Rebel Cheese, the Austin-based company reinventing artisan cheese without dairy. What started as a deeply personal decision to give up cheese overnight turned into a fast-growing brand producing aged, plant-based cheeses designed to rival traditional favorites.

To building a production facility, surviving a total product loss in their aging cave, landing a feature in The New York Times, and striking a deal on Shark Tank, Kirsten shares the rollercoaster of building a mission-driven food company from the ground up.

In this episode, you will learn about:

- Why a personal health decision led Kirsten and her husband to launch Rebel Cheese

- How experimenting with cultured cashews at home evolved into a full artisan cheese operation

- The devastating mold incident that wiped out their entire cave and what it taught them about resilience

- How a New York Times feature and Shark Tank appearance created massive demand and hard lessons in scaling

- Why a clear “why” is essential to surviving the tight margins and emotional rollercoaster of the food business

Find Rebel Cheese Online

- Website: https://rebelcheese.com

- Shop Online: https://rebelcheese.com/collections/all

- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rebelcheese

- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rebelcheese

- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rebelcheese

Want to be part of the next season of Kings Of Fi$H? Email [email protected] or go to KingsOfFishTV.com

Welcome to Fi$H Factor, where multi-generational grit meets visionary hustle. In this episode, Michael Ungaro sits down with Hal Mooney, hospitality pro and co-founder of Mooney’s Pizza Tavern, a new neighborhood pizzeria opening inside a repurposed 1960s diner in Long Beach. Hal is building the concept in public, documenting the entire process on Instagram from construction chaos to design choices, city inspections, and staffing. The conversation is a real look at what it takes to bring a restaurant to life, why story matters before the doors even open, and how to create a place that feels like somewhere, not anywhere.

In this episode, you will learn about:

- Why “building in public” can create trust, attention, and community before opening day

- What surprised Hal most about the buildout, from custom millwork to vendor re-dos and delays

- The hardest parts of opening, including landlord dynamics, city bureaucracy, and mechanical inspections

- How Hal’s background in beer, pizza franchising, and pop-ups shaped his approach to this concept

- Why Hal is obsessed with creating a true dine-in pizzeria experience for families and locals

- What it really means to design a restaurant that feels rooted in the neighborhood

Where to find Hal and Mooney’s Pizza Tavern:

Instagram: @mooneyspizza

Online: moonyspizza.com

Want to be part of the next season of Kings Of Fi$H? Email [email protected] or go to KingsOfFishTV.com

Welcome to Fi$H Factor, where multi-generational grit meets visionary hustle. In this episode, Mike Ungaro sits down with EOS Implementer Sara Stern to unpack what really makes family businesses work and what quietly tears them apart. From the complicated core value of “family” to generational friction, process resistance, and the difference between visionary and integrator thinking, this conversation dives into the real dynamics behind building a healthy, sustainable multi-generational company. Sara shares why EOS may have been built for family businesses all along, what actually breaks first, and how structure can strengthen both the business and the relationships inside it.

In this episode, you will learn about:

- Why “family” can be a dangerous or powerful core value depending on how it is defined

- What usually breaks first in a family business and how EOS brings clarity to roles

- The generational pattern that causes third-generation businesses to struggle

- How process resistance shows up and why writing things down matters

Subscribe, rate, and review to support the show. Follow @KingsOfFish and @SanPedroFish for more stories about leadership, legacy, and building businesses that last generations.

Want to be part of the next season of Kings Of Fi$H? Email [email protected] or go to KingsOfFishTV.com

Welcome to Fi$H Factor, where multi-generational grit meets visionary hustle. In this episode, Mike Ungaro revisits an early and often forgotten moment in the San Pedro Fish Market story that shows just how far ahead of its time the brand really was. Long before short-form video or creator partnerships became industry buzzwords, Mike and his brother Henry were invited into a YouTube series called Drink Inc., where mixologists Steve Livigni and Daniel Nelson embedded themselves at the Fish Market, worked the line, learned the culture, and created custom cocktails inspired by the brand, including the Bloody Mariner and a watermelon tequila drink rimmed with house seasoning.

In this episode, you will learn about:

- How an early YouTube collaboration with Drink Inc. predated modern creator partnerships

- Why embedding creators into operations creates more authentic brand stories

- How the Bloody Mariner cocktail reflected culture, personality, and place

- What made this experience a missed opportunity and why timing matters

- How these early lessons still shape how Mike thinks about food, beverage, and media today

Subscribe, rate, and review to support the show. Follow @KingsOfFish and @SanPedroFish for more stories from America’s seafood royalty.

Want to be part of the next season of Kings Of Fi$H? Email [email protected] or go to KingsOfFishTV.com

Welcome to Fi$H Factor, where multi-generational grit meets visionary hustle. In this episode, Mike Ungaro sits down with Patrick Mescall, South Bay restaurant operator behind a growing portfolio of neighborhood bars, cocktail concepts, and tiki destinations including Tiki Kai and the Hula Hula Room. Patrick shares the real story behind building nine locations across different concepts, why early ownership lessons matter more than scale, and how discipline and curiosity shaped his approach to growth. The conversation explores what it takes to move from bartender to owner, how to choose the right concepts for the right neighborhoods, and why systems, trust, and culture become essential as complexity increases.

In this episode, you will learn about:

- How Patrick made the leap from bartender to first-time owner and why Torrance Tavern became his proving ground

- Why small, focused neighborhood concepts created early momentum and cash flow

- How tiki culture forced a deeper commitment to authenticity, detail, and community

- What changes when a portfolio grows from one location to nine across different formats

- How EOS, trust, and role clarity help operators scale without burning out

Call to Action:

Subscribe, rate, and review to support the show. Follow @KingsOfFish and @SanPedroFish for more stories from America’s seafood royalty.

Want to be part of the next season of Kings Of Fi$H? Email [email protected] or go to KingsOfFishTV.com

Welcome to Fi$H Factor, where multi-generational grit meets visionary hustle. In this episode, Mike Ungaro shares a full-circle story that starts with a struggling restaurant in the early 2000s and leads all the way to the doorstep of QVC.

A forgotten catering marketing system introduces a mail-order barbecue model that turns tourism into shipped product, planting a seed that quietly lingers for years. That idea eventually reconnects Mike with the very person who helped scale Corky’s barbecue on QVC, this time while exploring how San Pedro Fish Market shrimp could become a nationally shippable product.

Product design, consumer psychology, fulfillment, and margin reality quickly collide. What looks simple on paper becomes a clear lesson in how distribution, storage, and pricing can unravel even strong ideas. It’s a behind-the-scenes look at why packaged food is hard, why timing matters, and why some ideas are worth revisiting later.

What You Will Learn

- How dormant ideas resurface at the right moment

- Why simplicity matters in mass-market food products

- The real economics behind QVC and shipped food

- How timing and relationships shape second chances

Want to be part of the next season of Kings Of Fi$H? Email [email protected] or go to KingsOfFishTV.com

Welcome to Fi$H Factor, where multi-generational grit meets visionary hustle. In this episode, Mike Ungaro breaks down the untold story behind taking San Pedro Fish Market beyond the four walls and into grocery freezers across the country.

The episode traces a decades-old missed opportunity with Price Club, the decision to revive it years later, and the complex reality of turning a restaurant product into a national packaged food brand. From sourcing shrimp, vegetables, oil, and seasoning across multiple vendors to navigating packaging, logistics, and pricing pressure, the project becomes a masterclass in how hard scale really is.

What You Will Learn

- Why great products can fail without the right buyer strategy

- How grocery economics and shelf space actually work

- The hidden complexity behind packaged food at scale

– Why storytelling and distribution must evolve together

Want to be part of the next season of Kings Of Fi$H? Email [email protected] or go to KingsOfFishTV.com

Welcome to Fi$H Factor, where multi-generational grit meets visionary hustle. In this episode, Mike Ungaro shares the unfiltered story of the restaurant he opened on his own and the hard lessons that came with betting everything.

The episode traces the leap away from the family business, the realities of first-time ownership, and how quickly pressure stacks when finances, operations, and family life collide. Staffing issues, legal trouble, infrastructure failures, and mounting debt turn ambition into survival mode.

Out of necessity, a scrappy catering business emerges, built on relationships, borrowed kitchens, and relentless work. While the restaurant itself doesn’t last, the experience reshapes how Mike understands leadership, risk, and responsibility.

Those lessons become foundational to the future of San Pedro Fish Market and the operator Mike would eventually become.

What You Will Learn

- Why stepping out on your own can change how you lead

- What restaurant ownership teaches that nothing else does

- How survival forces creativity and resilience

- Why failure can become long-term advantage

Want to be part of the next season of Kings Of Fi$H? Email [email protected] or go to KingsOfFishTV.com

Welcome to Fi$H Factor, where multi-generational grit meets visionary hustle. In this episode, Mike Ungaro shares a story about community, responsibility, and the future of San Pedro.

The story begins at local meetings about redeveloping the waterfront, where Mike heard high school students say they planned to leave town after graduation and might never return. For a place defined by deep roots and multi-generational families, that moment struck a nerve.

In response, San Pedro Fish Market launched a scholarship program inviting local students to create YouTube videos about what they loved most about their hometown. The Fish Market sponsored scholarships across local high schools, intentionally discouraging any promotion of the business itself. The focus was on pride, storytelling, and giving the next generation a voice.

What You Will Learn



- What sparked the San Pedro Fish Market Scholarship Program

- How student storytelling strengthened community pride

- Why the Fish Market stepped out of the spotlight

- Why investing in people matters as much as investing in place

Want to be part of the next season of Kings Of Fi$H? Email [email protected] or go to KingsOfFishTV.com

Welcome to Fi$H Factor, where multi-generational grit meets visionary hustle. In this episode, Mike Ungaro tells a lesser-known media origin story that connects local newspapers, early Food Network programming, and the role San Pedro Fish Market played along the way.

The story starts with The Culinary Detective, a local newspaper column written by former police officer Chris Cognac, focused on where cops actually ate. A chance connection led to Mike and the Fish Market being featured just as Chris was asked to create a sizzle reel for Food Network. With only a week to pull it together, San Pedro Fish Market became a key filming location.

The concept was picked up, rebranded as The Hungry Detective, and ran for a season. While short-lived, the format later evolved into Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, reshaping food television.

What You Will Learn

- How a newspaper column became a Food Network show

- Why San Pedro Fish Market was chosen for the sizzle reel

- The moment that convinced executives to pick up the series

- How The Hungry Detective helped pave the way for Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives