Holy Guacamole Podcast

Cielo Rojo - Carolina McCandless and David Perez own this Takoma based authentic Mexican restaurant.

In the heart of Takoma Park, MD is this lovely Mexican restaurant. Carolina McCandless and David Perez -- husband and wife duo, own and run this fine casual spot.

Carolina sits across the proverbial kitchen table to tell us how she and David met, were in restaurants in California long before marriage and parenthood. Their journey into parenthood led them to leap out of expensive San Francisco, and back to her family in the DC area. Her Dad owns Amano, a women's boutique in Takoma Park.

The decision to come east was purely about parenthood, not restaurant ownership. As luck, and her father would have it, they are now restaurant owners, serving tacos, burritos, mezcal and tequila. It's a tiny space, which is why we chose to interview her. To hear how they are able to handle demand, and continue to grow. Listen to hear how they are answering that question.

Cielo Rojo's website is a fantastic example of great information, while keeping their vibe in tact.

Cielo Rojo's Instagram account

Two podcasting worlds collide in the episode. You'll hear how Ann Shafer and Martha Lucius took up podcasting in 2020. Ann is an art historian, art curator and all around lovely human. In the last year Ann created The Curator's Choice which is her musing of purchasing art Baltimore Museum of Art. Ann is also responsible for leading Platemark which explores the state of museums and issues that are unfolding now--pay equity, #metoo, cultural appropriation, and more.

Ann Shafer interviews Martha Lucius and explores how she became a restaurant owner, and then a restaurant strategist/consultant. They are long time friends, neighbors, fellow cyclists and now, podcasters. You'll learn the context for how Martha got into helping independents. There's a simple bio where Martha grew up eating food around the world, ran her two cafes for close to twenty years, watched and participated in the rise of independent restaurants, and now helps owners with the difficult parts of ownership.

Shameless promotion for Becky Redett who started Sassy Cyclist, which is woman's cyclist jersey company. Very clever design, Baltimore-based and naturally woman made.

Another shameless promotion for HEXFerments -- kimchi grilled cheese.

Enjoy the show. Reach out to Martha Lucius if you are interested in having your questions answered or wish to be a guest on air, please reach out to [email protected]

What happens when a cafe, a bar and a dogpark come together as one? Bark Social.

Right now, in Bethesda, MD, and coming soon to Canton in Baltimore, MD. No doubt everyone will want one in their neghborhood. Get yourself a coffee and your dog a pupcicle! Luke Silverman is one of the masterminds between this social delightful way to get out of the house and share the experience with one of the best members of your household--your dog.

What's on the menu? We talk about the pretzels that are so good, and handcrafted by a man who does not have a website, then their newest menu item: Grateful Pizza, who listeners will know from our a previous episode (48).

How easy is it to hire for Bark Social. Listen and find out!

We dig into the research and exploration stage of this wildly creative business, and it's service style. Learn a bit about how to navigate to gather investors. Luke kindly shared that he now knows it's okay to say "no" to investors who do not align completely align with your mission.

It's a lively conversation with a true entrepreneur. His family is in restaurants in NYC. He does not get excited about the idea of prepping food. He is thrilled to have you come in with your dog for a coffee, pretzel, pizza and playtime with your dog.

Website: Bark Social

IG: https://www.instagram.com/bark_social/

Krishna Aunty is the brainchild of Joseph Moroney. It's an online meal service. Enjoy homestyle Indian food, which is a much loved style of food in India, coveted more than restaurant food. Joseph;s quiet and appealing story, is wrapped with his love and attention to India's ginger, garlic and not-too-spicy flavors! Joseph's immersion in to Indian food starts as a Irishman, lawyer, curious about his wifes heritage and cuisine. His wife and family have been in the US for years. Early on her family could rarely find Indian cuisine, but the much loved cuisine from their region, Andra Pradesh, is far harder to find in the US, let alone Ohio. The menu is infused with a little heat, and definitively flavorful dishes, that range from vegan to vegetarian to meat dishes.

Our episode digs into the curious tale of this wonderfully creative Irishman in Baltimore, and explore why he chose such an unusual departure from his legal path.

If you are in Baltimore, you'll pick up your meal at Bmore Kitchen, details on their website. If you are out of town, we hope you will visit Baltimore soon, get dinner to go from Krishna Aunty! We see great potential for the concept and this smart, creative business plan Joseph Moroney created. Want to know more? His instagram game is fun and engaging. Enjoy your meal.

Krishna Aunty Website

Instagram

As the world faces the delta variant the hospitality industry carries on as best they can. Today's episode Martha shares an amalgam of comments from restaurant, cafe and other food businesses. Pragmatic words of encouragement.

Please share Holy Guacamole! with coworkers, with owners. Enthusiastic supporters of independent restaurants, thank you for listening. Post a review on your podcast server, it will help others find this podcast, in a crowded world of podcasting!

Chef Matthew Kenny's vegan restaurant has made a marked and joyful impression in Baltimore's Inner Harbor with Liora and Double Zero at 414 Water Street. Liora is the main focus of this episode, through the eyes of Bryson Keens, Liora's GM, longtime hospitalian and native here in Baltimore!

Our interview with Bryson Keens is a lively discussion about opening a vegan restaurant with an upscale LA vibe. This show marks the beginning of Maryland's Vegan Restaurant Week (Month). How do they build a talented team? How do they navigating guests expectations? How do they ensure satisfied guests who may be coming to the restaurant with reservation? And how to teach the team to share the basic vegan diet concepts and scripts that help them navigate their guest? Your team should speak knowledgeably about vegan food, as well as Liora's spin on vegan and raw in Liora.

Our audience is no doubt well-prepared for Dave Seel who stepped on his soapbox and shared some feelings about reviews setting expectation... and meeting expectation! Perfect points, and appropriate for our times. Not to mention how restaurants are balancing service and being short-handed.

Have a look at the massive portfolio of restaurants Matthew Kenny. He is sharing his vision for eating healthier for the body, and smarter for the planet. He is in the mid-Atlantic, on the West Coast, all over the US, and now overseas. Here's the link, and his vision for the Future of Food. If you want to look into the two Baltimore restaurants, here is Liora and Double Zero.

Follow them on Instagram -- Liora and Double Zero.

There are many challenges these days. We've already mentioned staff. Today's episode is focusing on two challenges that are recurring for many independent cafe/restaurant owners at this time.

CHALLENGE NUMBER ONE: Google Reviews.

Perhaps the pandemic is making everyone more watchful of their reviews, or perhaps guests are putting their thoughts down in reviews. We have noticed more focus and interest and are giving you some useful information and data to keep you balanced.

Google Best Practices:

https://support.google.com/business/answer/3474122?hl=en

In 2016, the Pew Research Center revealed that 82 percent of American adults say they sometimes or always read online reviews for new purchases and restaurants. More than two-thirds of review readers believe that reviews are "generally accurate".

You can select the type of notifications you receive on your mobile device and in email. Find the settings on the web by signing in to Google My Business or on mobile device by installing Google My Business app. Once enabled, you will be notified when someone adds a review or upload a photo. Occasionally you will also receive notification reminding you to keep your business listing on Google Place up-to-date. I have also received emails containing coupon to try out Google Ads.

CHALLENGE NUMBER TWO: Vaccines

By now we would have hoped to be moving toward 80% and above vaccines. If your staff are not vaccinated do they need time off? If staff are ill or showing symptoms of COVID, send them home immediately. Do staff share concerns? Ask questions? Can you can help educate them? The truth of it is, if you are in hospitality you have a responsibility to protect your team, and your guests, and that means asking them to be vaccinated. The Delta variant is created an elevated concern. Seek the best information from scientists at NIH, through local mask mandates and observe CDC recommendations.

We recognize that this episode is a small distillation of challenge in independent restaurants and the hospitality industry. We chose two. Feel free to let us know if there are more pressing issues.

This episode is your chance to finally get to know Dave Seel, co-host here at Holy Guacamole! and principal of Blue Fork Marketing. He'll reveal his new collaborative work, and share his story of how he got to where he is today. Here is a bit more about Tim Chin who is mentioned.

His community, his openness to share and curiosity to grow is what Baltimore loves about Dave. It's a fun exploration which our audience has asked for.

Dave's website: Blue Fork Marketing

Caroline Anderson started Grateful Pizza in 2020, a year or so after arriving in Baltimore. It's a craft pizza company, serving up frozen pizzas, delivered to peoples' door or through a few shops.

We dig in and talk about what it means to start up during a pandemic, about how to balance delivery, the myriad of tasks an owner needs to do (and supposedly knows how to do)...and we talk about bringing in her friend and business partner, Chloe, within year one, and then segmenting the tasks between the two of them.

We talk about that wonderful topic--email marketing--how they keep evolving their message to build their list. We talk about their intentional and carefully crafted social media message, and their decision to keep elegantly simple, without

Enough wrtitten explanition. Now, ejoy the show, follow and link 0

Grateful Pizza, website.

Grateful Pizza, instagram

TOPIC: Food Cost. We are all noticing costs go wonky. Some items are also difficult to find. This episode is on finding ways to shrink food costs. Remind your staff of these things, you cannot let down on your persaverance.

SUBTOPIC: Kitchen has a responsibility to find and resolve food costs.

--minimize waste. Here are several ways to ensure the kitchen knows what that means. Do not over serve. Each serving is consistent. Each plate is consistent. Look at plates that are returned to the kitchen, are certain items consistently ending up in the trash? Minimize bread serve, or drop it completely while you are in re-opening mode.

--develop regular menu habits. Perhaps you build a following for a Friday special -- BBQ Ribs, for example. Sell them at a good food cost, and push this hard in pre-service, in social media, minimize the items people can order for carryout to this one item. Push it into a successful food cost.

--review and shrink your menu. You may just need to shrink your menu because food costs are bouncing all over the place. Even if you do have to keep your Lost Leader on the menu, you can work hard to minimize items that sell slowly. It may help you with your permanent menu in the upcoming months.

SUBTOPIC: Servers and the owner have an incentive to ensure customers are happy.

--happy customers return. Returning customers are the best customers. Returning customers may or may not give bigger and better tips, but at least you can work toward that.

--what can front of staff do to ensure food costs are as favorable as possible. Train your staff to promote items with good food cost. Not because they are low food cost, but because they are delicious items. Their low food cost is a benefit if staff realize that it's good for the health of the business.

In this episode there are many Excellent Examples that will help you envision how to observe and fix.