The Build: Restuarant 201

To date, we’ve chatted with vendors that assist in openings including legal experts, technology companies, and press relations, but never a hospitality consultant whose business is to open restaurants - a hired expert to come in and assist new or even seasoned entrepreneurs to chart, plan and enact their vision. 

So when our friend and longtime Tilit supporter came into the shop for some new threads for his latest consulting gig, we booked him on the spot! Bradford Thompson has a resume that exudes experience, including being named as an F&W Best New Chef and being presented with a coveted James Beard award. He has helped open over 30 restaurants.

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It's common knowledge that wine and alcohol sales have much better margins than food. Building a great bar program not only delights guests but can also really drive profitability. But how does a post lockdown world turn the bar program on its head? Many major metropolitan cities still haven’t opened up bar seating, which challenges the added revenue restaurateurs are accustomed to as diners wait for their tables. Amongst other challenges like dwindling large groups and events, how can the cocktail remain fun and exciting while still driving revenue?

Our guest today is Adam Fournier. Adam is the World Class sponsored by Diageo Bartender of the Year for 2021. This means he will go on to represent the US and compete in International World Class in July. Adam has 15+ Years of hospitality experience, as Bar Manager at awarding-winning Nomad LA, and now Bar Director at Fellow LA.

Photo Courtesy of Adam Fournier.

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Most restaurants have a 9-month journey from creation to inception. The ones that were aiming for Spring of 2020, Summer of 2020, Fall of 2020, or even Winter of 2020 experience a longer stretch; In the case of our guest today, over 560 days in the making. We're excited to welcome Chef Joe Flamm to the show, now just a few weeks since his doors opened. Joe is the chef/owner of Rose Mary’s in Chicago. You may know Joe from his days at Chicago’s Michelin Starred Italian Temple Spiaggia or his turn as Bravo’s Top Chef champion in 2018.

Photo  Courtesy of Matt Haas.

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Opening Soon by becoming a member!

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14 months in and it's finally here. Vaccines, Reopenings, and Targeted Restaurant Relief. After a year of lobbying by the Independent Restaurant Coalition (IRC) the restaurant revitalization fund started taking applications this week! 

Here to talk today about the grant fund and reopening is Chef Amanda Cohen, Owner of the Acclaimed and beloved OG vegetarian temple, Dirt Candy, and our neighbor here at Tilit NYC. Amanda is an active member of the Independent Restaurant Coalition and an outspoken advocate for re-opening the industry differently.

Photo Courtesy of Ben Russell and The New York Times.

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As a former chef, I’ve always enjoyed the process of shopping and picking out my food, meeting the farmers, the growers, and the butchers that are working. So how does this transition to online?

Our guests and friends, Jocelyn Guest and Erika Nakamura, have done just that with their company Butcher Girls, launching a virtual butcher shop in the middle of the pandemic. Erika and Joce have a combined 20 years of experience with whole animal butchery. At Butcher Girls, they deliver local, sustainable, and humanely raised meat and fish on a subscription basis.

Photo Courtesy of Heidi Harris.

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Opening Soon by becoming a member!

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Fundraising is not often learned in culinary school and it’s not often taught on the job. Fundraising usually happens before you’ve been hired or behind a door you’ve never opened. When it comes to raising capital to open your next venture, or in today’s fucked up market, reopening your same venture, you will need to exhaust every channel at your disposal. And then you’ll need to get creative!

Today’s guest is just that creative option for funding. With all funding opportunities (and lease agreements for that matter) it’s up to you to ask every question you can think of, run through every scenario and read the finest of the fine print to ensure your business model can sustain the financing agreement you’re entering. Today we’re going to help ask some questions about a unique way to get funding, through selling house accounts with our guest Johann Moonessingh founder and CEO of inKind.

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One of the messages we keep hearing this season over and over is how the hospitality community came together to support one another. There are countless individuals and organizations that have generously donated meals and time to their communities in need throughout the pandemic. But how can you take this lesson of community and turn it into a sustainable business model for the hospitality industry?

Today we welcome Sarah and Brian - the team behind Daughter in Crown Heights, BK - to the show. Daughter is a soon-to-open cafe dedicated to community, sustainability and conversations shared at the family table. They are currently running a coffee cart on weekends to help raise funds. 

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As we’re taping Opening Soon this chilly March morning, we’ve just passed the one-year anniversary since the declaration of this pandemic, the start of shutdowns, and, for most, the switch into survival mode. While many businesses, chefs, cooks, and anyone, for that matter, have sought to survive, some have found a way to thrive - to go beyond. Not just in business, but also in social good. 

The hustle has been real for most of us, fits and starts, iteration after iteration. Our guest today has perhaps out-hustled them all while raising millions for social justice causes. It’s no surprise to us as we met today’s guest several years ago in our Tilit store, and her vibe exudes genuine care as well as both personal and community success. 

We're excited to welcome to the show Executive Pastry Chef, Paola Velez. In the past year, Paola began a new role as the E. Pastry Chef at famed DC restaurants, Compass Rose and Maydan. She co-founded Bakers Against Racism, raising over $2M for causes related to BLM. AND she started 2 pop-ups, Dona Dona and La Bodega Bakery, inside Compass Rose.

Photo Courtesy of Paola Velez.

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Pizza is the perfect food. Some (meaning me) might argue it can cure anything. From its intended cure for hunger to something as broad as a global pandemic. Well, that may be difficult to back up with science. However, today’s guest will show us how pizza has taken her through a countrywide shutdown and transformed stay-at-home orders into a DIY masterclass and an entrepreneurial kickstart in hospitality.

Chef Nina Levin is basically living Alex’s post-Tilit retirement dream; slinging pizzas on the beach using the freshest seasonal ingredients. After working in restaurants from Boston to Maine, Nina moved back to Martha’s Vineyard and launched her mobile pizza oven in June where she sells pies at the farmers market and at private events.

Photo Courtesy of Vineyard Gazette.

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The average restaurant takes 9 months to open. In the next 45 minutes, we find out how to open one in less than 1 month.

Our guest today, Chef David Myers, opened his burger bar and pop up, Adrift, on Abbott Kinney Boulevard in Venice, CA, in just 30 days. David is Michelin starred chef with concepts all over the world and Adrift Burger Bar is his first restaurant stateside in over half a decade.

Photo Courtesy of Adán Langbaum.

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Opening Soon by becoming a member!

Opening Soon is Powered by Simplecast.