Kulinary School

From stand up comedian to coffee shop owner. This weeks guest is Jeff Clinard, owner of Bear Coast Coffee in San Clemente, CA. In this episode I sit down with Jeff to discuss why he made the transition from stand up comedian to coffee shop owner, where to start with a business plan, following his 5 year plan, the work he put into getting the experience, what he does in the community, how he’s able to break down large overwhelming tasks into small manageable steps and maybe most importantly, not being afraid to reach out to people and asking for help.

Industry news announcements for the week of 8/20

In this weeks episode my guest is Melissa Graham, founding Executive Director of Purple Asparagus. Purple Asparagus is a non-profit that educates children, families and the community about eating that’s good for the body and the planet. Purple Asparagus believes that all children and families deserve good health and a healthy planet and that the health of both is promoted by eating a diet high in produce. In this episode I sit down with Melissa to discuss her story and why she decided to leave her job as an attorney to start Purple Asparagus to educate children and families of Chicago about the importance of a healthy diet. In the episode Melissa shares the early days of Purple Asparagus, challenges for a new non-profit organization, learning a lot by trial and error, never saying the word no in order to get your name out there, and at the end of the day it’s all about the ‘Aha moment’ for the kids and making healthy eating fun.

In this weeks episode we have Chef Kelly Mullarney joining the show. Chef Kelly started working in the restaurant industry in his early teens and hasn’t looked back since then. His work has taken him all over the world from Asia, to Europe and North America for many different restaurants and projects. Chef Kelly is the founder and chef for Bruxie Waffles. In 2011, Bruxie was the #2 most yelped restaurant in the country. In this episode I sit down with Chef Kelly to discuss the importance of maintaining great relationships with your vendors, getting feedback from bloggers and food writers in the early days, marketing more when things are going well to continue momentum, hiring the right people, taking care of your employees and guests, and never taking success for granted.

This weeks guest is Chef Andres Dangond. Chef Andres Dangond was born and raised in Colombia where he began cooking in his family restaurant at 14 years old. His culinary work has taken him from Colombia to Spain, Chicago, Los Angeles and has been fortunate to work for some of the best restaurants and chefs around the world. Now in Los Angeles, Chef Andres is cooking up some of his own projects. In this episode we discuss some topics that run deep into the culinary industry. Chef shares his own experience and thoughts on being persistent to get a job in a restaurant. He also shares his thoughts on going to work for the chefs you admire, constantly asking questions and being a student, the misconceptions of the glamorous lifestyle for young aspiring chefs, his thoughts on culinary school and what advice he would offer to his 14 year old self who is looking to get started in the restaurant industry.

Passion, innovation and self awareness are some of the many key traits the Syal family posses. This week I’m joined by father and son team, Raj and Neil Syal of Rockfire Grill. As soon as Rockfire Grill opened their doors a couple of years ago the people started pouring in and so did the recognition. Rockfire Grill quickly earned a name for themselves in the community. In this episode we discuss how Raj and Neil were able to open three locations in just twelve months, how the entire family gets involved in the business, exceeding the expectation of customers, menu innovation, and how they are able to take closed restaurants and have success opening a Rockfire Grill in the same location.

This week we change things up with my good friend Dustin McLaughlin. Dustin has seen many sides of the foodservice industry: he’s worked as a bartender and server in restaurants, cafes and nightclubs. From here Dustin transitioned to start his own clothing brand, worked at an advertising agency and most recently you can find Dustin creating content as a free lancer for artists, festivals (food and music), restaurants and food blogs. I asked Dustin to come onto the show this week to give a different perspective in the foodservice industry. In this episode, Dustin shares his story and we dive into his experience working on different marketing campaigns, how to utilize social media and understanding analytics, ROI of social media, and how to leverage social media. We also discuss how to work with free lancers to create the content you’re looking for, finding the right person to create your content, if advertising in print is still a good idea, and authenticity is key.

Giovanni Barajas of Los Cotijas Taco Shop is the guest in this weeks podcast. Los Cotijas first opened in 1988 by the Barajas family. Giovanni’s father opened the restaurant, did not speak any English, and found a way to connect with customers and deliver a great product. It wasn’t always easy, Giovanni’s family put it countless hours, days and years of work, eventually earning the reputation of Orange County’s best fish tacos. In this weeks episode Giovanni shares his experience starting off in fine dining and how he is able to carry over that experience to the fast casual segment, taking over the family restaurants and being able to retire his parents, operating two locations, the growing trends of social media, creating family atmosphere in the community and having the right people around you.

This weeks podcast guest is Jon Scoggin, owner of Mojo’s East Coast Eats in Downers Grove, IL. Growing up in the Philadelphia area, Jon wanted to bring his hometown eats to the Chicagoland area. He quit his corporate job and went all in to open Mojo’s. After being opened for only one year, Mojo’s was voted Chicago’s Best Cheesesteak. In this episode, Jon and I cover A LOT. We discuss the challenges of being a first time restaurant owner, learning as you go and trusting in yourself, testing third party delivery, the positives and negatives of yelp, and maybe the most important lesson: get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

This weeks guest is Paul Montenko, Co-founder and Co-CEO of Stacked Restaurants. Paul started his working career in accounting and made the jump into the foodservice industry by taking over a small pizza joint and turning it into BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. Paul grew BJ’s Restaurants into the brand that it is today and moved on to a new adventure to start Stacked Restaurants. Stacked Restaurants is an emerging chain in California that offers burgers, Mac n’ cheese, pizza and salads through their advanced ordering system that lets guests customize their dining experience.  In this episode I sit down with Paul to discuss his experience being the first restaurant to introduce the iPad ordering system for customers, not only getting involved in the community but getting involved for authentic reasons, opening his first three stores in five months, getting the right team around you and if you don’t have the experience go out and hire the people who do.