Entrepreneurship runs through the veins of Andrew Munday, co-founder of Local Kitchens, a micro food hall that collects small and independent restaurants under one roof. He’s also been involved in six other startups, including delivery giant Door Dash, and is now on a mission to help existing restaurants grow and partner with operators and chefs to create new concepts.

Local Kitchens’ most recent collaboration is with Andy Ricker, chef-founder of Pok Pok in Portland, Ore., who is recognized worldwide as an expert in Northern Thai cuisine. Ricker and Munday conceptualized and launched Tam Sang in Local Kitchens’ California locations. The menu reflects Thailand’s vibrant street food scene, and guests can order up signatures like Red Curry with Sweet Potato, Crispy Wings and more—for takeout, delivery or dining in.

Listen as Andrew shares the details about Tam Sang, how he plans to grow Local Kitchens from its current 11 locations, and what type of future culinary collaborations may be in the works.

Pepper Lunch currently has five restaurants in the U.S., but CEO Troy Hooper is on a mission to accelerate growth into both traditional and nontraditional spaces. The fast casual was founded by a Japanese master chef more than 30 years ago, and now counts hundreds of locations around the world.

The focus of the menu is a dish called Beef Pepper Rice, a favorite meal in Japan that’s usually served lazy Susan-style in family homes. Pepper Lunch pared down this family-style dish to a personal-sized iron plate that’s uniquely designed so the food can be cooked teppanyaki-style on the plate by each guest. Hooper and his team are working on packaging that will make it possible to replicate the experience for carryout and delivery customers.

Listen as he describes how Pepper Lunch got its name, how the concept differentiates itself in the Asian fast-casual space, why the U.S. menu includes French fries and onion rings served in no other countries, and how this low-labor, low-waste model meets today’s industry challenges.

At its five locations in the Chicagoland area, Beatrix pulls in crowds all day long. Andrew Ashmore, corporate chef and partner in the Lettuce Entertain You restaurants has created a widely appealing menu with elevated touches such as house-baked breads and pastries, handcrafted cocktails and locally sourced ingredients. The varied menu includes plenty of vegetarian items for lunch, dinner and weekend brunch—the busiest meal occasion, said Ashmore.

Listen as he describes how his culinary journey landed him with Lettuce Entertain You, how he is constantly upgrading the menu with seasonal items, how a revitalized catering program is growing revenue and what to expect from Beatrix in 2024 and beyond.

Yia Vang did not set out to be a restaurateur, but after his Hmong food popup took off in Minneapolis, he realized this was his mission.

Vang emigrated to the U.S. from Southeast Asia with his family as a young child, seeking refuge among other Hmong people in Minnesota. His popup found a home in a trailer and eventually started operating as Union Hmong Kitchen in Minneapolis’ Graze Food Hall. He is now working with partners to open a full-service brick-and-mortar restaurant called Vinai in 2024. Vinai is named after the refugee camp in Thailand where his parents ended up after the Vietnam War and many of the restaurant’s ingredients will be sourced from his parents’ farm.

Vang is spreading the word about Hmong culture and cuisine through his cooking, his podcast called “Hmonglish” and TV appearances on the Food Network, Iron Chef and the Outdoors Channel. Listen as the James Beard-nominated chef describes the culinary influences that make Hmong cuisine so unique and how he’s honoring the legacy of the Hmong people through their food.

As chef-partner in Pomegranate Hospitality, Alon Shaya has shared the rich culinary landscape of Israel through his acclaimed restaurants—Saba in New Orleans, Safta in Denver and the newest, Silan in the Bahamas. But, he says, it has been one of the greatest honors of his life to help preserve one family’s legacy through the Rescued Recipes series of dinners he’s hosting in cities across the country.

Shaya began this project after discovering a recipe book from the Fenves family during a visit to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. The collection had been saved by the family’s cook after the parents and children had been sent to concentration camps during World War II. After the war, the cook was able to get the cookbook into the hands of the son and daughter and it eventually ended up at the museum.

The first Rescued Recipes dinner was held last year in Washington, D.C., and now Shaya is expanding them across the country to Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver and New York City. The dinners will raise funds to preserve and digitize the Museum’s Holocaust documents.

Listen as Shaya shares the memorable story of the Fenves family legacy, how his cooking is bringing their culinary memories to life, and how his restaurants continue to give back through Hummus for a Cause.

Nick Graff joined Noodles & Company in 2014 and quickly advanced to the position he holds today as executive chef and VP of culinary. Along the way, he introduced scores of new ingredients, formats and global dishes. Among the standouts are veggie-based zoodles, stuffed pastas including tortelloni and ravioli in several flavor iterations, a high-protein pasta called leanguini, and Chicken Parmesan—Noodles’ first baked entrée and already a runaway best seller.

He also introduced new equipment to the line, speeding prep times and easing executions. Steamers now expedite the pasta cooking process and eliminate the extra step of draining the noodles. And with ovens installed at each unit, the menu can now expand into baked pastas and entrees.  

Listen as Chef Graff describes his culinary journey at Noodles & Company, talks about the challenges of menu development in a fast-casual environment and reveals what may be next for Noodles’ menu.  

Steve Sturm, VP of Food & Beverage at Firebirds Wood Fired Grill, has been with the polished casual concept for 23 years, steering and evolving the menu from its first restaurant in 2000 to its present-day count of 56 locations.

The concept’s centerpiece is its wood-fired grill, which adds bold flavor, innovative prep and dramatic flair to everything it touches. Firebirds’ signature steaks, seafood and vegetables are all elevated on the grill, and this year, Sturm is using the cooking technique to differentiate the new Bar Bites menu, creating shareables and appetizers to enjoy with cocktails at the bar or the dinner table. The chef is also focusing on changing up the lunch menu to better fit more flexible remote work styles. And he and his team launched a new catering platform serve the needs of workers returning to the office.

Listen as Sturm talks about all these initiatives, describes his strategy for creating limited-time Chef’s Features, shares what Firebirds’ new Menus of the Future panel is all about, and provides a glimpse into the seasonal surprises ahead for the holidays.

Paul Fehribach, chef-owner of Big Jones in Chicago, has operated a popular Southern restaurant since 2008, but he has always been enamored by Midwestern food.

His roots are in Indiana, where German culinary traditions and farm-fresh ingredients defined meals. But the story behind the scope and diversity of Midwest cuisine has scarcely been told.

Fehribach sets out to change that through “Midwestern Food,” a narrative cookbook many years in the making, published this month by University of Chicago Press. Through 100 recipes and their stories, he describes the evolution of the cuisine, incorporating rural, urban and regional specialties. Fried chicken, sausages and cheese curds are all part of the mix, but so are the five pizza styles that are solidly Midwestern, as well as tamales and barbecue. All are touchstones of the Midwest identity.

Listen as Fehribach describes how Big Jones led the way in educating Chicago diners about Southern food and how he’s now on a mission to dispel misconceptions about Midwestern cuisine by relating the fascinating stories behind it.

Sharon Arthofer had a career in marketing, retail and the snack industry before she started fast-casual Sip Fresh in 2017, but she noticed a huge growth opportunity in the beverage segment. Instead of doing just another pressed juice concept, she hired mixologists to take it to the next level. They created a menu of unique, alcohol-free juice-based drinks with on-trend ingredients like dragon fruit, kiwi, chamoy and tajin—each artfully garnished like cocktails.

“Sipologists” develop the recipes and each of the four locations employs trained “sipistas”—patterned after baristas—to serve the handcrafted drinks. The units are designed with a bar-style vibe, with the beverage selection displayed in large glass barrels on the counter.

Listen as Arthofer shares why the time is right to refresh the beverage segment, how beverage catering is a focus for growth and her future plans for franchising and expanding Sip Fresh beyond its home base of California.

Adam Crocini, VP and global head of food and beverage for Hilton hotels, is reimagining food and beverage service at all the company’s brands—from family-friendly Hampton Inn to the luxe Waldorf Astoria.

With guests looking for more meaningful experiences post-pandemic, Crocini is leading the charge to create more chef partnerships in the hotel restaurants. José Andrés, Michael Mina and Nancy Silverton are already established in some Hilton properties, but “we have thousands of hotels around the world and thousands of opportunities for talented chefs,” he said. The goal is to create more destination restaurants and signature dining experiences for guests and locals alike.

Breakfast is also a top priority for Hilton guests, and there’s an increased focus on better-for-you, fresher items on breakfast buffets and menus. The same goes for the snacks and grab-and-go items in hotel retail markets, which have been upgraded with healthier, higher quality foods and drinks. And Hilton’s newest lifestyle hotel, Tempo, offers an on-trend list of handcrafted “Spirited” and “Spirit-Free” cocktails at the bar as well as other contemporary perks.

Listen as Crocini describes how he is positioning Hilton to meet guests where they are with upgraded food and beverage service, how the hotels are primed to deliver memorable dining experiences and what’s in store for 2024.