Table for Two

After 7 years, Burger head co-founders, Joshua Deluca and Tim Rosenstrauss have decided to call it quits after a couple really tough years in the industry. They are closing 4 of their bricks and mortar store. But it's definitely not the end of Burger Head.

They and are putting all their effort to focus on their Burger trucks, events and wholesale.

I originally interviewed Josh and Tim in 2021, Ep 36, where we spoke about partnerships, pressures of business and plans for growth. Two years later a lot has happened, and I'm very grateful to the boys for being so honest and raw about their experiences.

I highly recommend listening to their first episode before listening to this one to get a better understanding of their journey.

Meet Jonny Massaad owner of the very popular Cake mail. 

When Johnny couldn’t get a job at KFC at the age of 17 he decided to take matters into his own hands and start his own business from his garage while still at High school called Sugar high. 

Sugar high focused on creating Custom cakes and although things were going great he knew he was capped with how many cakes he could make in a week. 

He decided he wanted his business to grow. 

He leased a warehouse changed his business strategy, and changed the name of his business to cake mail. 

A business that produces amazing cakes that blew up on social media. Cakes that that could be ordered and delivered the same day. 

Since opening he has seen many copy cat business but Jonny has continued to be the leader in the market and constantly evolving his brand and products. 

He has since opened Balloon mail and tidbit snacks. 

It’s crazy to think with everything Jonny has achieved he is only 24 years old. 

Listening to Jonnys story and journey I was blown away with his confidence and ability to create brands and ideas without worrying about the negatives.

Episode #56 now Live! Meet Tyron Simon and Ben Williamson, owners of some of Australia’s best restaurants.  Ben And Tyron’s journey crossed paths during their hospitality careers and when the opportunity to work together came up they jumped at the chance to combine their skills and create something that hadn’t been done in Brisbane.  They opened a unique wood fire restaurant called Agnes, with a kitchen that works solely with crackling wood fire and smoke – there’s no gas or electricity. Which is unheard of in hospitality.  They also own, Same Same, Honto and the amazing Bianca restaurant and have placed them selves among the best Restaurateurs in Australia.    In todays episode we talk about business partnerships, running great venues, dealing with cultures and how to build great cultures.

Episode #55 is now Live

Meet Anna Petridis former owner of Patissez. 

Anna and her family have been in business and Hospitlaity their whole lives 

After selling their successful school uniform business to Lowes an opportunity to open their own cafe presented itself, so they jumped at the opportunity to open a venues together. 

They renovated the existing venue and the cafe Patissez was born. 

Within a few months they had lines out the door every day from people travelling all around Australia, thanks to Annas creation  of the freak-shakes, over the top milkshakes that everyone wanted to try. 

Within 6 months they had opened their second  store in Canberra which was then followed by stores in Malaysia. Singapore, India and Qatar. 

From the outside it looked like Anna and her family were living the best life with all the success in the world, But internally things couldn’t be more different. 

Within a few years, they had lost everything, Anna’s  partner left her, they lost their family home and they went into liquidation. 

Lost everything except the support of each other and their family. 

They stuck together and when her grandmother heard they were struggling she stepped in, bought their original store back from the liquidators, which Anna and her family went back to work in which they eventually bought back off her, turned it around and ended up making it one of canberras best cafes and selling it for a great profit. 

Anna will be the first to admit she wasn’t a great business owner and operator but through all of the hardship she has learnt from

All the mistakes and come out of it to be an amazing leader and business woman. 

I’m so grateful I get to interview amazing people and business owners every week. Every story is so inspiring. But I have to admit this is  most inspiring story I have ever heard and what’s amazing is this is just the start for the Petridis family. Their next venue is amazing Mexican concept called cartel which is the first of its kind in Australia. 

We were also grateful to have Anna’s beautiful mother join us and share part of her story with us.

Meet Joshua Khoury, Co owner of The Rusty Rabbit. 

Josh was only 19 when him and his brother decided to take over a cafe in Darlinghurst. 

With limited experience in running cafes, the brothers received full support from their parents to take the risk letting them know they had their full support no matter what happened. 

Although there were plenty of struggles over the next six months the brothers persisted and created one of Sydney’s funnest and best known hospitality brands

It’s amazing to see the growth they have had over the last 6 years opening 4 successful cafes and doing it all before the age of 25.

Episode 52 is now Live!

Meet Greg McLean. 

Greg’s journey in hospitality started at the age of 18 when his parents bought a coffee franchise. 

After spending a few years managing their store he decided to move back to the Gold Coast with no intention to ever get back into hospitality. 

It didn’t take long for him to realise working for others wasn’t for him so with the support of his girlfriend they opened a small hole in the wall espresso bar in Sunshine Coast called your place. 

Since then Greg and his partner have gone on to open 10 venues all around Queensland. 

Greg now owns The Bungalow in Yeppoon, which is going from strength to strength and is also about to launch his third food and music festival called socal 

Although Greg was faced with many obstacles along the way he has successfully been able to sell all venues he has opened and has built and amazing reputation. 

I was blown away by Greg’s drive, attitude and his ability to make things happen and can’t wait for you to all hear his story.

Episode #52 is now Live! Meet John lazarou,  John is one of the founders of the coffee club, which now has over 400 locations world wide.  Johns journey in hospitality started a little different to most successful hospitality operators.  At the age of 15 he left school to take on a hairdressing apprenticeship,  2 years later he quit his job and bought a existing salon, taking two of the seniors at his previous work place while still doing his apprenticeship.  He continued hairdressing for over 10 years, and had a very successful career but one of his biggest mistakes was that he was the face of the salon which put pressure on him to be at the store 7 days a week where he felt trapped.  In 1989 by two of his friends, both named  Emmanuel, were opening a coffee shop called The Coffee Club, and approched him to help out. So he split his time between the salon and The Coffee Club.  It didn’t take long for him to sell his salon and become a partner.  After opening 7 company stores in 5 years, they decided to start franchising with massive success.  They opened over 180 stores before selling 50% of their company to Minor International, one of Thailand's largest resort companies in 2007, they then sold another 20% seven years later, Setting up the original founders for life.  The coffee club started the cafe scene and is one of Australia biggest success stories. I’m very grateful to John for taking the time to chat to me about his journey. One of Johns greatest assets is his ability to make people feel welcome and comfortable and is a massive reason for the success of the coffee club.

Episode #51 Meet Simon Gloftis Simon’s journey in Hospitality started in the early days as a teenager selling corn on the cob at the markets, what started as a little side job turned into a very successful business, selling over one thousand corn on the cobs in one day, earning more than some adults would earn in a week. That market stall helped him understand business, people and working with suppliers. At the age of 21, Simon bought a run down cafe in Nobbys beach, and created one of the first genuine espresso bars in The Gold Coast, he went on to open two more successful cafes Little bean and Piccolo. 10 years later Simon opened Hellenika also in nobbys beach. Hellenika is often referred to as one of the first to move the Gold Coast dining scene into an exciting new direction, Introducing share menus, set menus for bigger groups and food Gold Coast never seen before. Hellenika helped put Simon’s name on the hospitality map, he would later open the Fish house and Nineteen at the star. Later Selling all venues to focus on Hellenika Brisbane in The Calile hotel. Hellenika Brisbane has been an unbelieveable success. People travelling all around Australia to stay at The Calile and to eat at Hellenika. Simon also owns SK steak and oyster within the same precinct and is about to open Sushi room and Sunshine which is a project he says is the most important project of his life. I was blown away by Simon’s amazing work ethic, love for Hospitlaity, people and culture, strong focus on high quality produce and creating the best guest experience.

Episode #50 is now LIVE!

Meet Charlie El Hachem, owner of Piccolo Me and Go Dark. 

Charlie has seen the highs and lows of the hospitality industry, at the start of the pandemic he genuinely thought he would lose the business. He and his family worked so hard to build. 

But after some dark times, Charlie changed his mindset, has turned his worst time in to his best, and when lockdown was announced this year they were ready. Not only did they survive, they thrived. 

In today’s episode we chat about the impact his Dad has had on his career and life, the challenges he has faced in hospitality and their ability to adapt during covid. His new start up Go Dark is a unique concept that will change the way we operate from our hospitality venues. 

It’s been amazing to see Charlie’s growth from store owner to CEO over the last few years and the vision and direction he has for his business is very inspiring. 

I also interviewed Charlie’s brother, Roy the creative genius behind Piccolo Me back in September last year, so if you want to know more about the Piccolo Me story I recommend you listen to that episode also. That was episode number 12. 

Thank you again to the Piccolo Me family. Harry, Charlie & Roy for always being there and continuing to be there for me as friends and mentors.

Episode #49 is now Live!

Meet Sean and Mark.  

Sean had a background in HR and mark spent 20 years making gelato at bar Italia which was one of the first artisan gelato shops in Sydney. 

After Sean was made redundant, they decided it was time to open their own business. 

After 12 months of searching and looking at multiple venues, they decided on a small space in Redfern. 

And Ciccone and Sons was born. 

Although the start of their journey was slow with gelato being a very seasonal product, Sean and Mark knew by creating their unique gelato and focusing on guest experiencing as their point of difference they would be able to build loyalty through their customers. 

Since opening 6 years ago they have collaborated with some of the best hospitality venues in sydney including nour and continental deli while also featuring in every possible hospitlaity publication as having the best gelato in Sydney. 

Over the next 3 months they will open 2 more locations one in Glebe and also including our partnership at Gellfrenda, something we are very grateful to be part of.