Table for Two

By Phillip HallaniBusiness

Table for Two episodes

May 11, 2021 TABLE FOR TWO: Episode: 38: Meet Roman Urosevski
Episode #38 Is now LIVE!
Meet Roman Urosevski, owner of Son of a Baker, one of Sydney’s most popular bakeries.
Romans journey in baking started from a early age helping his dad at his bakery.
With no real passion for baking and knowing he wasn’t going to go to university, he decided to quit school. Over the next 3 years he worked in different industries before realising he wanted to go back to what he knew best.
He approached his dad to buy the family business, but his dad wasn’t ready to sell the business. At the time, he had a pop up in Miranda called Alexander’s bakery and decided to make it his own and create his own brand.
This was when Son of a Baker was born.
He has since opened 3 more stores and become one of the most popular bakeries in Sydney, he has won multiple awards and gained media attention from some of the best publications around Australia.
In today’s episode we talk about what is required to be successful, the opening of multiple stores, his love of combining art and food, how he learnt how to bake, the highs and lows of business, how he will never open a full service cafe again, giving up the wholesale business and the positive effect Covid had on his business.
I was very grateful to Roman for talking to me about his journey and also talk publicly for the first time about the breakdown of his business partnership and how it nearly ruined his brand, the mental stress it put him under and financial impact it had on him that nearly forced him to close his doors. Seeing him come out the other side is not only inspiring but also a lesson to all of us to never give up on your dream.
1 hr 14 min
May 04, 2021 TABLE FOR TWO: Episode: 37: Meet Alex Riviere
Episode #37 is now Live!

Meet Alex Riviere

Alex was born in France and his passion for hospitality came at a young age watching his family of restraunteurs run hospitality venues.

He moved to Australia at the age of 22 and worked in several well known restaurants around Bondi one of them being Sean’s Panorama.

After spending several years in Australia, Alex and his partner Lulu decided to move back to France to be closer to family.

Two years later and with a new born baby they decided to move back to Australia.

They loved the relaxed Blue Mountains lifestyle and knew it was the perfect place to raise their family.

Alex resumed work as a chef in Mount Tomah, and part of his job was making sourdough for the restaurant. This is where his obsession for baking started.

He was learning from YouTube, and connecting with other bakers on Instagram to learn the art.

With the support of his wife it didn’t take long for him to quit his job as a chef and start baking full time.

David Harris from Vesta allowed him to use his wood fire oven after the restaurant would close, which allowed him to start supplying several cafes and restaurant.

He set up a Saturday morning stall at The Blue Mountains Food Co-op markets and that’s where he grew his reputation.

He would prep all his sourdough from his house and then head to Vestas to bake his bread at night.

He was starting to get tired of all the logistics of making his own bread from home and using another venue to bake his bread, so he decided to ask other cafe operators if they knew of anyone that was anyone willing to invest in helping him set up his own bakery.

He was connected with Stefan and Rosi who were in awe of his bread vision and passion and decided to invest in him.

Things progress very quickly and within several months they opened their first bakery called Black Cockatoo.

Broadsheet once were quoted as saying his bakery commanded similar queues to an Apple store on a new iPhone day.

With 2 stores and a wholesale business black cockatoo is as popular as ever selling nearly 4000 pastries a week.

I was so inspired by Alex’s story, his business is built on pure passion, obsession and love for baking. Alex is 100% self taught in making bread and pastries.

He credits his wife Lulu for the Success he has had saying he would never been able to pursue his passion for baking if she didn’t support him.
55 min
April 29, 2021 TABLE FOR TWO: Episode: 36: Meet Joshua DeLuca and Tim Rosenstrauss
Episode #36
Is now live! Meet Joshua DeLuca and Tim Rosenstrauss, 2 of the 3 owners of the very successful fast casual restaurant Burger head.
Josh, Tim and Richard all completed their apprenticeships working together in some of the best fine dining restaurants in Australia, but it wasn’t until a few years later they would reunite to open what is now considered one of the best burger shops in western Sydney.
Although many people expected them to create something more high end, They took their experience of working in fine dining and created a point of difference for their burger shop which no one was doing in western Sydney, creating a loyal and engaging following.
They have since opened another burger head in botany, a burger truck, smoking gringos while also operating a burger stall at makets and the Easter show.
Their growth over the last few years is nothing short of amazing and you get a feeling this is just the start for them with all of them still under the age of 30
In today’s episode we discuss the good and bad of business partnerships, the power of social media, the pressures of working in fine dining kitchens, the struggles they faced with their first venue and their controversial post that made McDonalds send them a cease and desist letter which ended up being a blessing as it gave their business free exposure all over Australia.
1 hr 21 min
April 19, 2021 TABLE FOR TWO: Episode 35: Meet Danny Russo
Episode #35 Meet Danny Russo, chef and owner of Russolini Group, one of Australia’s most respected and skilled boutique food service consultancy groups.
Danny’s passion for food came from a young age watching and cooking with his mum.
He started his apprenticeship with the Merivale Group. He worked under amazing chefs who helped him not only learn how to cook but more importantly manage his own a team.
He opened his own restaurant called L'Unico in Balmain in 2000, receiving amazing reviews and changing the way people experienced Italian food. He went on to work in some of the best hatted restaurants around the world.
With people reaching out to him and asking for help and advice he decided it was time to combine his passion for hospitality and travel and open his consultancy business called the Russolino Group, a consultancy group that provides tailored food service projects that make a difference in a client’s operations, branding and bottom line.
Dannys work has had him featured in the New York Times, and has received rave reviews in Vogue Entertaining, The Sydney Morning Herald, Time Out, The Daily Telegraph, The (Sydney) Magazine and Australian Gourmet Traveller
Danny is driven to continue to help, grow and mentor the next generation of chefs and restauranteurs and you can hear the passion and love he has for the industry.
53 min
April 13, 2021 TABLE FOR TWO: Episode 34: Jamila Houcher
Episode #34
Meet Jamila, owner of the amazing strawberries and co who specialises in strawberry towers, macaroon towers, desserts, event styling and workshops.
What started as a side gig for a little bit of income doing projects for the family, turned into one of the most popular and unique dessert business in Australia.
With no business experience and never owning a social media account, Jamila wanted to create more awareness to showcase her amazing products. With help from her nephew, they created a photoshoot, a social media page, posted on Instagram and it went viral. She now has over 120,000 followers on Instagram and is constantly booked out.
She credits the passion of her business for getting her through some of the hardest times in her life.
Through her experiences Jamila hopes to hold a seminar this year to help inspire and empower other women and show them that anything is possible.
54 min
April 07, 2021 TABLE FOR TWO: Episode 33: Meet Sal and Huss
Episode #33
Meet Sal and Huss
Sal, Huss and his sister Amani’s journey is not the typical hospitality story. There was no burning desire to ever open a cafe but when there was a relationship breakdown and a 9 year lease in Huss’ name, he had no other choice but to step in and take control.
With no experience in hospitality they were determined to make it work. After 6 months they had built what would end up being one of Sydney’s best cafes.
But it wasn’t always that way. Three months after opening they were questioning if they made the right choice. They knew they had an amazing product and offering but couldn’t understand why they weren’t busy. There were days where they wouldn’t turnover $500 and gave themselves a few more months before trying to sell or close the business.
Things started to change when their friend Jameil came in for breakfast. After being blown away by the food he realised they had something special he offered to help them create more awareness through social media. Through this, things started to change, but it wasn’t until their Ramadan nights that Nineteen43 really took off. They had people from all over Sydney visiting their venue for the food, coffee and vibe.
I have spent a lot of time with these guys and know how hard they have worked to create something so special. They have recently sold Nineteen43 but their legacy will live on forever.
They really were the first in Sydney to turn the humble bakery into a unique middle eastern venue.
Ninteen43 was just the beginning for them, They will be opening 2 more venues over the next 6 months
Amani didn’t appear on this episode but we hope to interview her in the near future to hear her inspiring story.
1 hr 36 min
April 01, 2021 TABLE FOR TWO: Episode 32: Meet George Nahas
Episode #32
Meet George Nahas
George is the owner owner of Belluci Cuccina, Gypsy Coffee Roasters, Romolo Espresso and is also opening one of the most anticipated restaurants in Sydney later this yeah with Ibby Moubaddar called Aalia.
George had been working in the industry from his teenage years. When he opened his first venue he treated it more of a hobby, but it wasn’t until his accountant told him he wouldn’t he in business much longer if he didn’t take it more serious.
It didn’t take long for him to soon become one of the best hospitality operators in Sydney.
He has had success after success with his venues but when Covid hit he was heavily impacted, with most of his venues in the city which was a ghost town for several months, but with his hard work ethic, business smarts and faith in god, he was able to turn things around.
Although he has flown under the rader in the hospitality industry for so many years George is one of the most respected operators in the hospitality industry.
Another passion for George is rugby league, he says football background helped him in hospitality because it taught him the meaning of resilience, hard work and working in a team environment.
This podcast was a little shorter than other episodes as we were strapped for time but we are hoping for a follow up episode in the near future.
31 min
March 22, 2021 TABLE FOR TWO: Episode 31: Meet Rarbie and Mohamed Taha
Episode #31
Meet Rarbie and Mohamed Taha. Two of the three founders of Sydney Brunch Crawler.
With a passion for finding the best hospitality venues, Rarbie started getting phone calls and messages asking where the best places for brunch in Sydney were.
His brothers Billy and Mohamed encouraged him to start a blog and together the three of them started one of Sydney’s best Instagram food blogger accounts.
With over 80,000 followers, through organic growth, their blog has now become so much more. They are respected influencers and they have since collaborated with amazing brands and also look after many venues helping with social media management.
All three brothers bring a different skill set which has helped many hospitality venues increase revenue and raise awareness.
This was such a great podcast and added so much value to people that want to help grow their business through social media.
They are genuine about wanting to help and I have seen firsthand the positive impact they have had on our business.
1 hr 13 min
March 14, 2021 TABLE FOR TWO: Episode 30: Meet Mathew Abi - Arrage
Episode #30
Meet Mathew Abi - Arrage
Mathew started his hospitality journey to make a bit of money with no intention to ever open his own shop. By the time he was 25 he was running some of Sydney’s best venues. Working his way up in the Merivale Group he became the licensee for the establishment, after working there for 18 months, he decided to move to Melbourne to work with the Sand Hill Road Group, one of Melbourne’s best pub operators. He realised after a conversation with one of the owners that there was no reason why he couldn’t open his own venue.

He decided to move back to Sydney and start looking and planning for his own site.

Although he was ready to open a shop he wasn’t sure what concept he wanted to open, but this didn’t stop him from signing a lease for a beautiful space in Rhodes in 2015.

After doing some research he found that there wasn’t as many high quality cafes in Sydney like there was in Melbourne, he saw there was a gap in the market, and 6 months later he opened Left of Fields.

Mathew talks about the struggles of the leasing process, the doubts, the fear of people not coming to his cafe, and the reason why he decided to sell the cafe 6 years later.

Mathew is the first guest we have had on our podcast that is no longer in the industry so it was quite interesting to hear his take on the hospitality industry since he sold his cafe.
59 min
March 09, 2021 TABLE FOR TWO: Episode 29: Meet Jonathan Faro
Episode #29

Meet Jonathan Faro, owner of Society Pizzeria and Johnny Gios.

Johnathon started his hospitality journey in catering at the age of 23 with Society Catering. With jobs all around Australia their mobile food business couldn't keep up with demand, Jonathan than opened Society Pizzeria on Bondi Road.

It didn’t take long for that shop to reach capacity selling over a thousand pizzas a week.

With his reputation of great service and food, it was meant to be a home run. As Johnathon describes it, he was over ambitious. Things didn’t go to plan, but instead of feeling sorry for himself he pulled himself out of the tough situation he was in and opened another shop during the hardest period of his life, that store was his second in bondi called Society Pizza Bar, and ended up being one of his best performing stores to date.

He has since opened a new concept called Johnny Gios, a takeaway pizza restaurant that Johnathon describes as your neighbourhood pizza shop, he already has two Johnny Gios locations and plans to open all around Australia and internationally once the borders open.
58 min