Holy Guacamole Podcast

Mental health among restaurant staff is finally gaining attention. By that I mean, we in the industry have known this topic for a long time—that everyone in our industry has extra - ordinary, perhaps superpowers mentally…until they don't. Mental health deserves a reboot. Some owners are taking about mental health, and taking strides to make help available to staff. If you are suffering from your own mental health, please reach out for professional help.

Here are the resources mentioned in this episode. They are not complete, and they do not solve mental health

Online Therapist: Better Help

EFT and The Tapping Solution App

Meditation and the app Calm

Yoga to Meditation: Martha McAlpine

BBC Podcast that takes you out into nature Plodcast

Fitness and mental health app (mainly audio, video available) AAPTIV

When you are in your hiring mode do not forget the topic of retention and your rehiring policy. Listen to see if it gives you a new perspective.

As a restaurant strategist and, of course, podcast host, I regularly help owners rethink how they hire, retain and build a positive culture for staff and -- of course -- guests. When you need a form, rubric or SOP reach out. When you find you need to revamp your employee review procedure and set a strong disciplinary action know that you can ask. Email [email protected] or phone me at 410.963.6431

Creating a bar that is innovative as it is deep is no small feat. Add to that mission, a commitment to reflecting the local economy into a cocktail menu is no small thing. That's why this episode will feel like we are scratching the surface of what Bluebird Cocktail Bar is able to do every day in their space. Paul Benkert and his wife Caroline are the art and craft behind this romantic, literary-inspired cocktail bar. The cocktails are the main event. Their drinks break rules, and always delicious. Their food menu reflects concepts of New American cuisine, but again, their twist. Bluebird Cocktail Room is one of three businesses in their restaurant group. The other two include it's neighbor business De Kleine Duivel, and the soon-to-open Manina in Urbana/Fredrick area. (link will go live, when the doors open)

They are known for their ability to extract the best what farmers and purveyors are producing in Chesapeake Bay's foodshed and watershed. They are appropriately proud of how "local" is reflected into their cocktails, tinctures, bitters and ice. Their beverages and their ice are their first priority. Their food menu reflects the same quality. They admit to having an R&D lab, where they test, tweak and explore what farmers are quietly doing.

Enjoy listening…

————————————————-

Dear Listener, I'm Holy Guacamoles's host. I own a restaurant strategy company. There are zillions of interesting concepts around the US.. Holy Guacamole is the best way to showcase what other owners are doing and build community. These episodes are inspiring people into action. If you need help in your business, then let me know, we'll diagnose and even fix your systems, people and culture. Community starts here.

—Martha Lucius

PS Please post a review, it's how podcasts are found by other hungry restaurant owners (and enthusiastic guests).

Andrew Cosentino grew up here in Baltimore. He moved away, and after college moved back to Baltimore city to start his career. He is not a professional instagram influencer. Social media started as his way to explore what is good in our city — on his own personal account. Slowly but surely his friend group discovered Andrew was sharing useful, descriptive suggestions for beer, coffee, and restaurants. He began to get more follower requests. Eventually, it was going to happen, his friends nudged him to take his account public. Baltimore is better for his quality posts. He's sharing what makes this city wonderful, quirky, delicious and welcoming. He'll go to great lengths to capture just the right photo at just the right angle, in just the right light, even if it requires planning hours and days ahead.

He's kindly agreed to come on Holy Guac and shares one instagrammers' perspective on useful tips and tricks that owners and teams could use. If you follow Andrew, you notice that he takes his role seriously, with an occasional photo of his patient, lovely wife. If you've been following, yes, they did get married during the pandemic, HUZZAH! That said, his personal life is not the focus. The camera is on our city's businesses. He's sharing what's happening in Baltimore restaurants, cafes, breweries, and more! We hear what he thinks will be helpful and actionable. We talk about planning ahead, collecting photos, lighting, hashtags and communicating with your followers. Commenting and engaging on other people accounts is immensely important. And restaurants should share a guests' photo on a business feed—it's easy content, and guests are usually delighted to have their photo seen by more people. Of course, always ask for permission and give photo credit.

His message is clear: engage in community, have fun. He's enjoying what he does, and the community of restaurants appreciate the kindness. Now, go look his feed up, and go get a coffee, beer or a meal (your choice: to go, or dine in). Support local.

Cutbow Coffee at first glance is a cafe with a roastery, in Albuquerque. In this episode we dig deep. This roastery is years in the making. Paul Gallegos opened Cutbow Coffee to share his love and dedication to coffee roasting. Roasting, education and sharing are clearly at the core of this one man, and the fantastic team at Cutbow Coffee.

Paul worked for Alfred Peet, who started US's obsession with amazing coffee. Paul Gallegos learned directly from Alfred Peet, Jerry Baldwin and Jim Reynolds. Paul Gallegos carries that great appreciation for the education Alfred Peet and Jim Reynolds gave him — all the fine nuances of green beans, roasting, and tweaking. Paul Gallegos has adopted the habit of coffee education for Cutbow Coffee that began in Berkeley, CA. The team at Cutbow understand that underlying mission. You'll hear Paul Gallegos share so many aspects of running his roastery, including how he chose the name for his cafe, how he's connected with the community, and how the pandemic has made their business more focused on quality, education and pure enjoyment of the ritual of drinking a cup of coffee. Also discussed was online shop and his sisters' web skills, fish, respect for elders, an old Ford truck, and more. Our conversation is rich with history and delightful with the love one feels for this delightful drink called coffee

Ready to buy a bag (or three) of beans? Here is their online shop. My purchase took 35 seconds.

Paul mentions his early morning photos he posts of New Mexico's beautiful sunrises. Follow their IG to remind you of good coffee and beautiful sunrises.

Considering being a cafe owner? Wonder how people choose, start and create a business plan? This episode captures that, and so much more.

Nodding to Brian Eno's 1970's song Baby's on Fire, these two owners Shirlé and David Koslowski share their love of music and the community which surrounds food and espresso drinks. They own a cafe in Baltimore's historic district. Shirlé's menu, of sweet, savory is much more nuanced than you'd expect from a cafe menu. She's got culinary skills. Naturally their espresso bar is equally developed, using beans from Open Sea Coffee. David has an equally wonderful contribution to their faithful customers--great music! Come in to listen, and sift through a vast array of vinyl for sale. Don't live locally? Don't worry, David and the team can help. Consider joining the monthly record club.

These two wonderful people met while playing in bands, in 1992. David was in Liquor Bike and Shirlé was in Women of Destruction (Baltimore's first Riot Girl band). Their journey was an unlikely starting place for cafe buisiness owners.

Listen for how their subscription business unfolded. Subscriptions for vinyl, not coffee. How perfect that Shirlé and David have found their niche, and the world is a better place for those who love and want to preserve vinyl. This show is a real treat. Full of stories, places, vinyl, music and a worderfully tight knit team. Enjoy listening.

Baby's on Fire

Support your local cafe. Buy a monthly vinyl subscription.

In 2022 some episodes will have a focus on cafes around the US--how much variety these is, how they build their businesses now matter how big or small they decide they want to be.

We hear from Hally Hansen, who owns Gourmandise in Salt Lake with her husband. Gourmandise has history in this city. Started years ago as a well-loved European bakery loved by locals. A young couple with a wild imagination shares their journey. Their goal is to keep focused on quality--of product and experience, and grow from there. We hear the changes they have made and continue to make that has brought them to present day with a cafe in Salt Lake's airport.

Gourmandise Website

Gourmandise Instagram

This episode takes you on a short journey around the world looking for the first coffeehouses. In 1675 the first coffeehouse opens in Boston, and leads to a circuitous journey to how we seek and find the cafe that matches each of our definition of what a cafe should be.

This episode serves as an introduction to future episodes on today's independent cafes. The reason for the focus is to uncover how an owner can choose to, or not to make their place from a simple community center, to a busy and growing business. We will hear how various owners define success and sustainability.

Please share your feedback. Leave a review, too. When you review podcasts, that makes that podcast easier to find for others. Holy Guacamole's mission is to support owners of independent restaurants, cafes and more. Thank you for listening and being a part of our community.

As the year draws to a close, take a moment to thank your community. As an independent restaurant owner, please thank your staff and your guests. In a busy world sometimes we need to hear how others are caring for and thanking staff. Take a moment to appreciate the world you are in and the people you are sharing the day to day. Thank you for being part of the Holy Guacamole! community.

Faith Wachter got her start in social media when she was handed an additional set of tasks-- to run the social needs of a local public TV, MPT. She diligently learned on the job building a skill set she discovered was marketable. She took a leap of faith (no pun intended) six years ago to start her own company. She was chosen as a guest because she has clients are in many industry and can speak to what makes social media marketing successful.

We discuss basics. It's good to regroup as we close out 2021, and good to start planning out 2022. Consider planning 2 weeks out. Dig deep into who your ideal customer, then create your business' avatar and find the voice of your brand. If your business can capture those, then you'll be able to fly!

If your business is larger, and you can justify paying for someone to evolve your social media following, listen as Faith describes their rubric of services. Could be useful one day!

Have you fallen into some Social Media faux pas traps? Listen for more....

https://faithwachter.com/

Follow their adventures on IG: https://www.instagram.com/faithwachterconsulting/