Episode #45 is now live! 

Meet Tony Pantano, partner and chief operating officer of @onlyhospitality.

Tony’s journey in hospitlaity started at the age of 13 working in an Italian restaurant in Lygon St, Melbourne. 

After finishing high school he managed several venues while also competing his university degree. 

He joined a hospitality software company called My Guest List which took him to New York, where he would later join Bluestone Lane, an Australian inspired coffee shop as general manager of their flagship store, that has now grown to 17 stores across America.

He was than offered a unique position as the chief steward aboard a 50m super yacht which took him to 30 countries including some of the most remote locations in the world. 

After getting home sick he decided to move back to Melbourne with the goal of working with Julian and the only hospitality group as general manager which has now grown to over 15 locations, which includes, cafes, a roastery, a pub and restaurants. 

Tony is now chief operating officer of  Only Hospitality which is Melbourne’s largest non-franchised cafe group.

Episode #43 is now Live!

Meet Jon Ford

Jon Ford is owner and operator of teddy picker restaurant in Werribee 

Jon was born in Liverpool, England, his hospitality  journey started at the age of 14 when he got his first job in a kitchen, he was instantly obsessed and knew he wanted to make a career in hospitality. 

He left school at 16 and has since worked in some amazing kitchens. 

After coming to Australia he met his now fiancé Kristy and knew he wanted to continue his career in Australia. He worked in several venues before being approached to open his own restaurant. 

Despite the fear of covid he signed the lease for the space that is now teddy picker, knowing it was  a special venue. 

Since opening in February his 300 seater venue is booked out every weekend.

I met Jon the day before this podcast and knew I had to get him on to share his story, his passion for the kitchen, cooking and hospitality is something I wanted to share with everyone.

Episode #41 is now Live!

Meet Matt Woods 

Matt Woods passion for creativity and drawing started at a young age. With a passion for art and design he later went on to study industrial design at university.

His first job was at Sunbeam but hated it immediately. He then joined a joinery company which allowed him to focus more on design. 

After a few different jobs and starting to get bored, a new opportunity presented itself when his then girlfriend knew a cafe owner that was renovating and mentioned that Matt was a designer. 

What started out as giving them some advice, then turned into a full time job. He helped create Bloodwood in Newtown which created a lot of buzz and helped put Matt’s name on the map. 

Since then, Matt Has gone on to design some of the best commercial and residential properties in Sydney.

In 2011 he won the DESIGNER OF THE YEAR, in 2015 he won the EAT DRINK DESIGN AWARDS for BEST RESTAURANT DESIGN and in 2019 won THE DESIGN FILES AWARDS.

Matts passion for sustainability in his design is evident in all his work. 

He genuinely cares about the clients best interested. Personally, what Matt has done for our business has been life changing and something I’m forever grateful for. 

A great episode for people that want to get into design or have a venue they want to get design.

Meet Christine Elbakht 

Christine spent 20 years in corporate working for some of the world's top luxury brands in Australia and Dubai. 

After spending 3 years in Dubai she decided it was time to come home. Knowing her time was up in the corporate world and decided to chase her dreams of opening her own business. 

She had worked in hospitality as a teenager and wanted to combine her love for brands business and hospitality. 

Being a lover of all things peanut butter she opened the world first dedicated peanut butter bar. 

Her initial concept was to create a dessert bar that focused on offering peanut butter desserts free from refined sugars and preservatives as well as gluten free and vegan options, that didn’t make you feel guilty after eating desserts. 

Although she received attention from nearly every major media outlet around the world including a video that was viewed over 30 million times, the sales started to drop, as things got worse people told her that she gave it a shot but it was time to give up and go back to her corporate career 

Christine knew she had something special and refused to give up, she engaged a consultant to help her re brand the business, changed the concept and in 2019 Peanut butter bar 2.0 was born. 

I was blown away by Christine’s story. 

Her Resilience, drive and passion for hospitality and building a brand she hopes to take world wide one day is so inspiring.