Restaurant Ready

Colin Lynch is a New England–born chef and co-owner of Bar Mezzana, Shore Leave, No Relation, Black Lamb, and the newly opened Fido. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and former executive chef of the acclaimed No. 9 Park, Lynch has spent two decades shaping Boston’s restaurant landscape through mentorship, trust-based leadership, and a deep commitment to team culture. In this episode, Lynch joins Matt Jennings and Carolyn Grillo to talk about building restaurants around fit, loyalty, curiosity, and shared ownership, and why success in hospitality comes from people, not perfection.

Takeaways

• Hire for personality and cultural fit. Skills can be taught
• Build loyalty through trust, opportunity, and long-term relationships
• Focus on mentorship: lift others because one day they’ll lift you
• Don’t try to be everything to everyone, guide guests instead of chasing trends
• Authentic hospitality starts with clarity, not saying yes to every request
• Balance creativity with consistency and cost reality
• Social media matters for staying top of mind, even if you’re not great at it
• Healthy competition pushes a city’s restaurant community forward
• Leadership and management are different skills, know which one you’re practicing
• Give people room to grow into ownership and responsibility
• Understand the financial realities: buildouts, leases, and long-term sustainability
• Teach teams financial literacy, it elevates their careers and stabilizes the business
• Keep the business small if it means staying full, profitable, and healthy
• Work hard, be kind, core values matter more than credentials

Want to connect directly with industry thought leaders like today’s guest?

MAJC✨ has built a community of hospitality professionals, where insights and tools help drive sustainable, profitable businesses. To get early access to the MAJC✨ Community, sign up at www.MAJC.ai.

Missy Robbins is the James Beard Award–winning chef behind Lilia and Misi, two of Brooklyn’s most admired restaurants, as well as the co-founder of Misi Pasta and Grovehouse Hospitality. Over her three-decade career, she has cooked in landmark kitchens, reimagined her relationship with Italian cuisine, rebuilt her life after burnout, and developed some of New York’s most intentional teams. In this episode, Robbins joins Matt Jennings and Carolyn Grillo to talk about leadership, mentorship, identity, personal evolution, and the discipline of trusting your instincts.

Takeaways

• Promote from within to strengthen culture and maintain continuity
• Trust your instincts when making major decisions
• Build spaces around authenticity rather than external validation
• Travel broadly to expand perspective and creativity
• Give responsibility early so teams have room to grow
• Hire for attitude and curiosity over résumé prestige
• Create businesses that reflect your values, not industry expectations
• Be honest about burnout and give yourself space to reset
• Let people evolve into leaders
• Invest in coaching to develop communication, empathy, and partnership
• Maintain high standards while learning when to let go
• Lead by example, especially for women looking for representation

Want to connect directly with industry thought leaders like today’s guest?

MAJC✨ has built a community of hospitality professionals, where insights and tools help drive sustainable, profitable businesses. To get free access to the MAJC✨ Community, sign up at www.MAJC.ai.

Belle English is the Culinary Director at Williams-Sonoma, leading the brand’s Test Kitchen and overseeing recipe development, product innovation, and culinary content. A Boston native who grew up in her family’s restaurants, English opened her own bakery at 17 and went on to work with America’s Test Kitchen before joining Williams-Sonoma. In this episode, English shares lessons on creativity, leadership, and authenticity, plus a rare look behind the scenes of one of America’s most iconic culinary brands.

Takeaways

• Build confidence by mastering the rules before breaking them
• Stay authentic, and success will follow genuine passion
• Creativity thrives when process meets play
• Hire for curiosity and work ethic, not just credentials
• Chemistry in the kitchen matters as much as skill
• Nostalgia and innovation can coexist in brand storytelling
• Leadership means empowering others to teach and create
• Great teams balance aspiration with attainability
• Measure success through fulfillment, not metrics
• Legacy brands stay relevant by evolving with purpose

Want to connect directly with industry thought leaders like today’s guest?

MAJC has built a community of hospitality professionals, where insights and tools help drive sustainable, profitable businesses. To get early access to the MAJC community, sign up at www.MAJC.ai.

Breana Killeen is a food writer, recipe developer, culinary nutritionist, and farmer based in Vermont. With over 16 years of experience in food media, she’s written and edited more than 2,500 recipes for brands like EatingWell, AllRecipes, and HelloFresh while also running Killeen Crossroads Farm, a small regenerative farm she co-owns with her husband. In this conversation, Killeen joins chef Matt Jennings and Carolyn Grillo to talk about building a closed-loop farm system, bridging the gap between chefs and small farmers, and finding the balance between sustainability, food media, and family life.

Takeaways

• A closed-loop system lets animals, crops, and compost sustain one another
• Strong farm-to-chef relationships rely on trust and communication
• Educate diners about the true cost of food and the value of quality ingredients
• Resourcefulness starts with using every part of the ingredient
• Small local commitments create lasting impact
• Tastings build curiosity and connection within the team
• Bridge food media and farming to show seasonality and sustainability
• Cultural respect begins with intention and technique
• Use menus and language as tools for education, not just marketing
• Authenticity and curiosity keep the work meaningful

Want to connect directly with industry thought leaders like today’s guest?

MAJC has built a community of hospitality professionals, where insights and tools help drive sustainable, profitable businesses. To get early access to the MAJC community, sign up at www.MAJC.ai.

Chef Michel Nischan is a four-time James Beard Award–winning chef, author, and food equity advocate whose work has transformed how America thinks about sustainable food systems. Over a four-decade career, he’s cooked in acclaimed restaurants, co-founded the James Beard Foundation’s Chef Boot Camps for Policy and Change, and launched Wholesome Wave, a nonprofit creating access to healthy food for underserved communities. In this episode, Nischan joins chef Matt Jennings and Carolyn Grillo to discuss the broken links in our food system, how chefs can drive change through storytelling and collaboration, and why authenticity and purpose remain the most powerful ingredients in leadership.

Takeaways

• Understand why the U.S. food system has stalled and where innovation must happen
• Advocate through optimism, not fear, and invite people to the table
• Lead change locally before scaling it nationally
• Build empathy by helping every team member experience every role
• Collaboration among chefs amplifies both purpose and profit
• Start your story with “why,” letting your menu reflect your mission
• Show diners how their choices support farmers, artisans, and communities
• Technology and demand can make regenerative systems scalable
• Authenticity and generosity are the best marketing
• Purpose-driven leadership outlasts trends

Want to connect directly with industry thought leaders like today’s guest?

MAJC has built a community of hospitality professionals, where insights and tools help drive sustainable, profitable businesses. To get early access to the MAJC community, sign up at www.MAJC.ai.

Juan Perez has built a global reputation for his mastery of Neapolitan pizza.

Originally from Colombia, Perez rose from a teenage line cook to executive chef of Posto in Boston, where his work has earned recognition on the prestigious 50 Top Pizza list and a place among the world’s top 100 pizza chefs. In this episode, Perez shares his journey, why mentorship and systems are central to his leadership, and how he’s using both social media and nonprofit work to shape the next generation of pizza makers.

Takeaways

• Quality and consistency are the best promotion
• Simple, written systems protect standards
• Long, controlled fermentation drives flavor and repeatability
• Mentorship means teaching the process and being available
• Ownership mindset matters, even when you are not the owner
• Social media works when it’s authentic, consistent, and skill-forward
• Local creators can move the needle more than viral global views
• Education and community expand opportunity

Want to connect directly with industry thought leaders like today’s guest?

MAJC has built a community of hospitality professionals, where insights and tools help drive sustainable, profitable businesses. To get early access to the MAJC community, sign up at www.MAJC.ai.

Chef Hugh Acheson’s career is rooted in restaurants, but his impact is measured in people.

The James Beard Award–winning chef, author, and community advocate joins us to reflect on his evolution from fine dining restaurateur to private chef, mentor, and nonprofit founder. In this episode, Acheson opens up about walking away from traditional restaurant ownership, why profitability is harder than ever, and how simplicity, mentorship, and staying true to your values can drive lasting success.

Takeaways

• Leadership today means mentorship, not micromanagement
• Private cheffing can offer creative freedom with less burnout
• Profitability is increasingly difficult in traditional restaurant models
• Scaling too quickly can dilute culture and consistency
• Community work should be authentic, not performative
• Simpler food doesn’t mean less skill, just more restraint
• Mentorship is one of the most lasting forms of legacy
• Independent restaurants need new tools and new math to survive

Want to connect directly with industry thought leaders like today’s guest?

MAJC has built a community of hospitality professionals, where insights and tools help drive sustainable, profitable businesses. To get early access to the MAJC community, sign up at www.MAJC.ai.

Chef Brian Baxter didn’t want to run someone else’s kitchen. He wanted to build his own.

Now the executive chef and partner at The Catbird Seat in Nashville, Baxter is leading one of the country’s most innovative tasting menus. In this episode, he shares how he creates layered, intentional experiences; why collaboration drives everything at his restaurant; and how he’s developing the next generation of leaders through thoughtful mentorship and systems.

Takeaways

• Collaboration is the foundation of creative kitchen culture
• Great tasting menus are built on storytelling, not just technique
• Transparency in decision-making empowers staff at every level
• Growth comes from curiosity and consistency
• Mentorship means sharing the process, not just the outcome
• Leaders must check in constantly to build team stability
• Being a chef today requires emotional intelligence and adaptability

Want to connect directly with industry thought leaders like today’s guest?

MAJC has built a community of hospitality professionals, where insights and tools help drive sustainable, profitable businesses. To get early access to the MAJC community, sign up at www.MAJC.ai.

Kevin Boehm has spent his career building iconic restaurants. But after co-founding Boka Restaurant Group and opening over 40 establishments, the James Beard Award–winning restaurateur found himself battling burnout, loss, and collapse at the height of the pandemic. Boehm shares how therapy, systems, and human-centered leadership helped him come back stronger, with a new lens on wellness, hiring, and scaling sustainably.

In this episode, Boehm opens up about the personal struggles behind his professional pivot, what it takes to turn a good restaurant into a great one, and how he has systematized success across dozens of venues without losing soul.

Takeaways:

• Build culture through holistic onboarding and role rotations
• Embrace hypercritical feedback to grow from good to great
• Use SOPs to scale without losing touch
• Adapt operations post-crisis with evolving playbooks
• Train leadership to think financially and act like owners
• Technology should empower, not replace, hospitality
• Sustainable growth requires slowing down to align the team
• Personal transformation strengthens professional leadership

Want to connect directly with industry thought leaders like today’s guest?

MAJC has built a community of hospitality professionals, where insights and tools help drive sustainable, profitable businesses. To get early access to the MAJC community, sign up at www.MAJC.ai.

Chef Eli Sussman isn’t just the chef and partner of Brooklyn’s Gertrude’s, he’s also the internet’s sarcastic observer of restaurant culture through his viral account, The Sussmans. In this episode, he opens up about balancing family life with kitchen life, how satire creates community, and what happens when you bring authenticity (and humor) to the leadership table.

If you’ve ever laughed at one of his memes, you’ll want to hear the mindset behind them and the very real vision Sussman has for a healthier, more honest restaurant industry.

Takeaways

• Build staff trust by working shoulder to shoulder in the kitchen
• Create clear expectations: show up on time, work clean, respect your team
• Advocate for professionalism from both owners and employees
• Let humor be a bridge between generations in the kitchen
• Use social media to spotlight industry issues, not just aesthetics
• Treat leadership like mentorship, not dictatorship
• Balance family and restaurants through structure, not spontaneity
• See memes as community glue that spark memory and connection
• Embrace technology to grow as a chef and owner
• Be open about mistakes because they shape better hires and culture

Want to connect directly with industry thought leaders like today’s guest?

MAJC has built a community of hospitality professionals, where insights and tools help drive sustainable, profitable businesses. To get early access to the MAJC community, sign up at www.MAJC.ai.