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.

Chicken Salad Chick started with one recipe created by an Alabama mom and has grown to more than 225 restaurants across the South, with units now open in Colorado and the Midwest as well. Its menu features more than a dozen variations of chicken salad, many named after their female creators or fans.

Now, the chain has introduced its first warm sandwich: the Chick Melt. Based on a tuna melt but filled with—you guessed it, chicken salad—it’s the latest example of Chicken Salad Chick’s continuing drive to innovate the menu while staying true to its roots.

CMO Tom Carr, who is very involved in the culinary side of the business, describes the new melts and the clever marketing campaign built around their launch.

Eileen Andrade, chef-owner of the newly revamped Amelia’s 1931, started out in the fashion business. But she couldn’t resist the pull of her Cuban family’s restaurant legacy, especially that of her abuela Amelia, for whom the restaurant is named.

Andrade renovated her grandmother’s diner in June, breaking through to the dry cleaner next door to add 100 seats, a trendy cocktail lounge and dazzling artistic touches. Her eclectic Asian-Latin menu pays homage to her family’s Cuban heritage, elevating the cuisine with upscale ingredients and Korean flavors. Andrade even established a dress code—an uncommon restriction in laid-back Miami.

Listen as Andrade describes working her way up in her family’s restaurants (she started as a dishwasher), how she quickly transitioned into running a food truck and two casual spots—Finka and Barbakoa—and how she designed Amelia’s 1931 with the goal of transporting guests nightly on a culinary journey.

Amanda Stelly, general manager of Camp Margaritaville Breaux Bridge, remained unruffled when tasked with supervising the overhaul of food and beverage operations.

She has deep experience as a restaurant manager, and even though the revamp had to be done in just a few months, she put one foot in front of the other and got it done.

The Jimmy Buffet-branded Margaritaville venues were all in top operating order by the time the busy summer season started this year. These include the 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar & Grill, License to Chill, Feeding Frenzy and Lah de Dah Bar—all reporting robust sales.  

Listen as Stelly describes the new food and drink concepts and their impact on sales, how she managed to quickly train staff in Margaritaville style before the summer rush and what’s in store as Phase 2 gets underway later this year.