Florida Foodie

April Williams and her husband Dustin — the owners of À La Cart — are Central Florida natives, but their professional backgrounds are not in food and hospitality.

The couple was working as teachers while living in Bend, Oregon.

“Every time we would go out to eat, we almost always go to a food cart pod,” April Williams said. “My husband, I have very different eating styles and we can always both get exactly what we want (at a food cart pod) without fighting, our son can kind of run around in the open air. Usually, we can find a drink and (it’s) just a very casual place to just come together and enjoy ourselves.”

The couple made the decision to open their own food cart pod back in their hometown of Orlando, the first in the city.

À La Cart opened up for business three years ago. The space features several food carts and even helped to launch several brick-and-mortar restaurants.

On the latest episode of Florida Foodie, April Williams talks all about the process of selling their home on the West Coast to take a chance on starting À La Cart. She also talks about working in the Milk District and how the food cart pod weathered the pandemic.

Please follow our Florida Foodie hosts on social media. You can find Candace Campos on Twitter and Facebook. Lisa Bell is also on Facebook and Twitter and you can check out her children’s book, “Norman the Watchful Gnome.”

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Vinay Rama — the CEO of Mandala Holdings, which owns Lime Fresh Mexican Grill — has been working in the service industry his whole life.

After years of working in his family’s motel, and even living in it for a time, Rama’s parents sent him to live in India. It was there that he ended up with his first paid job, again working in housekeeping at a hotel.

For Rama, the best part of this new work experience was working with people who did not share his life experiences. It helped him learn how to explain the expectations of customers to people he was working with, a skill that would serve him well when training future employees.

After leaving India, Rama came back to the U.S. to further his education and eventually open Mandala Holdings, a hospitality investment platform that operates hotels and motels around Florida.

His business acumen then led to a friend approaching him about buying into Lime Fresh Mexican Grill. He was happy with the opportunity and decided to bite.

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Shereece Mitchell transformed her life and her health and now, she wants to do the same for others.

In 2015, Mitchell was working in IT in South Florida when she began her journey, losing 100 pounds in the process. However, it wasn’t until 2018 that she started making the most changes in her life — becoming a bodybuilder and a Christian in the process.

The next year, she moved to Orlando, selling her house and quitting her job in the process. Beyond that, she decided to start a nonprofit, Butterfly Lifestyle.

The nonprofit is focused on promoting health and wellness, encouraging people to change their lifestyles rather than just their diets.

All this was happening in 2019. When 2020 hit a new challenge arose — the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pandemic laid bare how big of a problem food insecurity is in Central Florida and across the country. Mitchell realized, she could not encourage people to live a healthier lifestyle if their basic necessities are not being met.

Mitchell started working with a church in Pine Hills to start a weekly food bank. She sources the food from area businesses, such as Wawa, Outback Steakhouse and Publix.

On the latest episode of Florida Foodie, Mitchell shares more of her own health story as well as her plans for the future of Butterfly Lifestyle.

Please follow our Florida Foodie hosts on social media. You can find Candace Campos on Twitter and Facebook. Lisa Bell is also on Facebook and Twitter and you can check out her children’s book, “Norman the Watchful Gnome.”

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The pandemic hit Enas Gebaly and her family hard.

Her husband lost his job and it prevented Gebaly from traveling to see her family, who still lives in Egypt.

For her, cooking became a way to feel connected with her family and her home country.

Food also became a way for Gebaly to help her family in Florida, her husband and her children. After her husband lost his job, Gebaly was told about Second Harvest’s Culinary Training Program.

Gebaly was shocked to find out that she only needed to fill out some paperwork and she was all set to join the program “and the magic happened.”

She said that Second Harvest taught her everything she needed to know “to be professional.”

With her newfound confidence and business acumen, Gebaly started Nosa’s Bakery. The business takes orders from its Facebook page and Gebaly uses Second Harvest’s kitchen to prepare the baked goods.

Gebaly said she likes to mix cultures with her baking in hopes of helping to bring people together around a shared meal.

In the latest episode of Florida Foodie, Gebaly talks more about her experience with Second Harvest’s Culinary Training Program. She also talks about her family in Egypt and what her plans for the future are.

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Dino Ferri is the type of guy who doesn’t sweat when the heat is on.

“It’s a rush. It literally is a rush,” Ferri said.

The “it” in question here is capsaicin — the stuff in peppers that make them spicy. Ferri loves the stuff and downs it like a champ. He shares his love with the world through his own hot sauce company: Hotter Than El.

In addition to loving spicy foods, Ferri is also diabetic. The dietary restrictions that come along with that condition pushed him to start making his own, sugar-free sauces.

Ferri started selling his sauce until he lost his job in 2015.

When Hotter Than El turned up on the internet talk show “Hot Ones” that things really took off for Ferri, with people ordering from around the world. He also gets a real kick out of seeing celebrities wince from the burn of his sauces.

On the latest episode of Florida Foodie, Ferri talks more about starting his business and his love for spicy foods. He also shares samples of some of his sauces with Lisa Bell and Candace Campos, who do not share his tolerance for heat.

Please follow our Florida Foodie hosts on social media. You can find Candace Campos on Twitter and Facebook. Lisa Bell is also on Facebook and Twitter and you can check out her children’s book, “Norman the Watchful Gnome.”

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Kaleb Harrell says his early days of opening Hawkers Asian Street Fare with his four friends was “best time I never want to have again.”

Harell did not start out his professional career planning to open a restaurant. He was working in marketing after graduating from the University of Central Florida. In 2010, his friend Allen Lo, who is now the Brand Chef for Hawkers, called him up and asked if he wanted to open a restaurant.

At first, Harrell declined. Lo was able to apply a little peer pressure to Harrell when he got their mutual friends Kin Ho and Wayne Yung on board with opening the restaurant. Together, the four friends then went about opening the first Hawkers location.

On the latest episode of Florida Foodie, Harrell shares some of the misadventures from the early days of Hawkers. He also talks about the work culture at Hawkers and his approach to the hospitality industry.

Please follow our Florida Foodie hosts on social media. You can find Candace Campos on Twitter and Facebook. Lisa Bell is also on Facebook and Twitter and you can check out her children’s books, “Norman the Watchful Gnome.”

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A long-time food obsession became a business for Andrew Scala during the pandemic and now he’s getting ready to take that business to the next level.

Scala is the owner of JAM Hot Chicken. The idea for JAM came from a trip to Los Angles. Scala’s brother brought him to Howlin' Rays, where he tried hot chicken for the first time.

Like many people in the service industry, Scala found himself out of work when the pandemic hit. He had done one pop-up with JAM in 2019 and decided to try to make a go of the business while he was out of work.

About a year later, later Scala signed a lease for a location in Winter Park’s Hannibal Square.

In the latest episode of Florida Foodie, Scala talks more about building his business and getting ready to open up to customers. He also shares what goes into making a hot chicken sandwich and the spice levels people can expect to try.

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Ricky Ly’s day job as a civil engineer has pretty much nothing to do with food, so he had to go online to express his passion for cuisine.

Ly is the founder of TastyChomps.com, a foodie blog covering all the happenings in Orlando’s restaurant and dining scene. His love of food has a lot to do with his upbringing. He said he has a large immigrant family.

In the latest episode Florida Foodie, Ly talks about some of his favorite dishes around Orlando. He also talks about the food trends that are growing in the area and how the pandemic affected the service industry.

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In the latest Florida Foodie, Frank Bailey talks about partnering with churches in the Orlando area to help build micro farms as part of his “Grow It Foward Program.” He also talks about how he is helping to teach his students business literacy as well as agriculture and landscaping skills.

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On this episode of Florida Foodie, Francois and Alexis Hicks, the case manager for families, parks and recreation with Parramore Kidz Zone, talk more about what the kids learn while taking part in Black Bee Honey and how the program has grown since it began. out what the kids learn while taking part in Black Bee Honey and how the program has grown since it began. They also talk about the partnerships Black Bee Honey has formed with Orlando-area restaurants and businesses.

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