Every restaurant has a story. We have the privilege of sharing those stories with you through our podcast, So You Want To Run a Restaurant.
Each week, co-hosts Spencer Michiel and Claudia Saric chat with restaurant owners, operators, and chefs (and sometimes people who fit into all three categories) about the journey from idea to ownership, and ultimately to success.
We wrapped one great season in the Fall of 2025 and we’re thrilled to bring you a whole new menu of awesome guests with amazing stories in 2026. But before we do, we wanted to take a quick look back at last year’s highlight reel.
“Every one of our guests has their own story to tell,” Spencer says. “But when you put all those stories together, they help to tell an even bigger story — a story about what it takes to succeed in the restaurant business no matter where your journey begins or where it takes you.”
Read on for the 10 most important lessons that we took away from last year’s show.
Chef Paul Smith is a James Beard Award winner as well as owner and operator of 1010 Bridge in Charleston, West Virginia. The master of Appalachian cuisine explained that success in this business is only possible when you truly invest in your team. When team members feel valued, they are ultimately more qualified to make your guests feel valued.
Chef Paul even got a bit sentimental with us when he described the type of warmth, hospitality, and elegance his staff provides for guests. That kind of guest experience doesn’t just happen, Chef Paul told us. It takes training, retention, and buy-in from employees.
Chef Paul invests in all of these things. “We teach our chefs here,” said Chef Paul. “I educate them. And we have sent seven of our team through culinary school. We pay for it. We believe in education.”
Not only must you invest in your people, but you have to empower them as well. Mallory Squibb, co-owner of Squibb Coffee & Wine Bar in Grand Rapids, Michigan, explained that learning this was one of the toughest experiences for her as an owner-operator.
Mallory launched Squibb alongside her dad Dennis almost a decade ago. When their cozy little shop on Wealthy Street proved popular with the local community, they expanded into a thriving multi-location operation. That expansion required Mallory to adjust her approach to leadership. At the time, reflected Mallory, “I made the mistake of holding on to my responsibilities so tight.
“But once you find people who can do the job and likely do it better than I was doing, then you can manage and be on the creative side,” Mallory told us. “Just having good people on my team has been the biggest learning experience for me.”
Team building was a common theme during this season’s podcast. In fact, Chef Carlos Lopez Muñoz, likened his own kitchen to a professional sports team. And he would know. The owner and operator of Chicago’s acclaimed Istmo also spent a brief period playing pro football (or “soccer” to American readers) while studying abroad in Finland.
Ironically, it was also in Finland — far away from his home in Mexico — that Chef Carlos really embraced the Oaxacan cuisine that he left behind. Cooking became his connection to home while he finished school and played for the Fifth League of Finland. In fact, Carlos told us, “we actually won that tournament. We went to the Fourth League, and that's when I left school to play for a couple months before I had to come back to Mexico,”
This unique experience taught Carlos quite a few things about hard work and determination, both of which would be vital to his success in the restaurant industry. Carlos told us that “the discipline really helped. The restaurant business — it’s a rough industry. But if you find the right team, you can make it happen.”
Charles Wong, Owner and Pitmaster of Umamicue, agrees that the restaurant industry can be challenging. Today, Umamicue is a critically acclaimed Chicago destination known for its innovative fusion of Chinese and Vietnamese flavors with Central Texas-style smoking. But as Charles told us, he initially launched the concept at a rather unfortunate time.
“On February 19, 2020,” he recalled, “we did our first pop-up. We sold out, and we're like, ‘Let's look for a brick and mortar.’ And then a month later, something weird happened with the world, and we're all wearing masks….So we had to pivot.”
Charles was not derailed by the pandemic. In fact, his fledgling operation made the most of this strange time. He quickly learned just how important it is to be adaptable in this business. As Charles told us, “We did a lot of meal prepping for people — friends and friends of friends. So it was really exciting. We learned a ton. We delivered all over the city and suburbs.“
Chris Andrus, co-founder of Mitten Brewing Co. in Grand Rapids, Michigan, stressed the importance of patience. Chris and his business partner, Max, launched Mitten Brewing Co. in 2012 to long lines and plenty of local excitement. But transforming a vacant Victorian firehouse into a microbrewery took a lot of hard work and a lot of patience. The process was rewarding, but Chris recalled all kinds of unexpected hurdles along the way.
They ran into delays with the local government. They found that they needed to raise more capital than originally thought. They even had to sell some equity in their new business. They faced constant delays on the way to launching the baseball-themed bar. As Chris told us, “We were hoping to open for opening day in April that year. We ended up opening for the World Series.”
Fortunately, Mitten’s proved worth the wait. At the time, Chris and Max were pioneers in an area of town better known for furniture factories. Today, their brewery anchors a neighborhood with a thriving independent craft beverage scene.
For a lot of restaurant owners, the journey to success begins with a single kitchen gig. Chris Miller runs business operations for New York City’s legendary Lambs Club. He worked alongside partner and Michelin-trained chef Jack Logue to reinvigorate the once iconic Broadway hangout. Before co-owning the restaurant, Chris learned the ropes by doing almost every restaurant job imaginable.
“I started off as a food runner, became a barback, then became a server, then became a bartender,” said Chris. “It was all about hospitality and taking care of people. It was the type of atmosphere where you’d see the person walking in from the parking lot and you’d put their drink on the bar.”
“That's kind of how I got the bug,” Chris recalled. “And I kind of just knew at that point, this was what I was gonna do with the rest of my life.”
Today, Mo Jessa is President Emeritus of Earls Kitchen + Bar but he also began his restaurant career with a simple part-time restaurant gig. When Mo landed his first job as a dishwasher for an Earls location in Calgary, he could hardly have imagined where it would lead. But his willingness to learn on the job made everything else possible. Mo recalled that from the moment he began his training, he realized he’d stumbled onto something special.
“It was a pretty inspired company. The people that started training me on even the basic level of cooking were more interested in making me love food in the industry than I was,” Mo explained. “I remember getting very interested in just the basics of cooking.”
Then one of the chefs at Earls lent him the industry-acclaimed book On Cooking: A Textbook of Culinary Fundamentals by Sarah R. Labensky, Alan M. Hause, and Priscilla A. Martel. Mo began to read about the history of cooking, about some of the great chefs, and about the science behind cooking. Suddenly, all of the dots started to connect. What began as a job washing dishes turned into a lifelong passion and lasting professional success. Mo’s desire to learn made this journey possible.
There’s a lot more to success than just amazing food. Shawn Walchef learned this early on in his restaurant ownership journey. When he opened Cali BBQ, he was convinced that his incredible slow-smoked brisket and honey habanero wings would be enough to put the San Diego restaurant on the map.
“I thought if we took over a restaurant, did something cool, added some great food, and added some great service in a community that was underserved, people would flock to the business,” said Shawn. “That just wasn't the case.”
The missing ingredient was effective marketing. Shawn figured out that the best way to source this ingredient was with a combination of technology, ingenuity, and his own personal story. So after five years of struggle, he pivoted to Cali BBQ and launched his own media company.
It was a true inflection point for his business. “Today,” said Shawn, “we're a very tech-forward restaurant business. We lean heavily on storytelling and technology to connect with restaurant owners all over the globe.”
Technology and personalization were both recurrent themes throughout this season of So You Want To Run a Restaurant. This was true whether we were chatting with newer restaurants or with well-established local staples like Bridget Foy’s in Philadelphia. Restaurant owner, operator, and namesake Bridget Foy explained that it takes a lot of work to keep people coming back, even for a beloved neighborhood institution.
That’s why Bridget Foy’s has embraced some of the latest in restaurant technology. For Bridget, the biggest focus is on using this technology to enhance the customer experience. Bridget explained, “We use Resy as our reservation platform and we really try to encourage servers to take notes when a guest comes in. Did they love a certain wine? Did they really enjoy this pasta?”
Bridget pointed out that this technology also makes it easy to notate diner preferences, food allergies, and more. That’s why she trains her team to “really lean in and get to know people and put some of those notes in. It's almost like a cheat sheet when they come in….People love when you remember stuff about them.”
Carmen Rossi is the mastermind behind the 8 Hospitality restaurant group. With buzzy hotspots like Joy District and Hubbard Inn, Carmen’s restaurants are a fixture in the Chicago food scene. But, Carmen admitted to us, “I'm not a chef. It’s actually embarrassing now, but I've never cooked eggs.”
So what exactly drew Carmen into the world of restaurant ownership? He cites an “overplayed but hyper-important quip — do what you love if you can.”
Of course, a lot of people express that love through cooking. This was not an option for Carmen. However, Carmen told us “I love the job creation, the idea of hospitality, [and the] community element.”
He ultimately found that the best way to express that love was to launch a restaurant.
Whether you’re just starting out on your journey or you're already well on your way, we’re guessing you could use some new tech…and a little bit of company. We can help you with both.
Reach out today to schedule your free, personalized consultation with Spencer or another of our in-house restaurant technology experts and we’ll help you figure out exactly what you need.
Photo: Hosts Claudia Saric and Spencer Michiel of the BOH podcast talk with Chris Andrus from Mitten Brewing Company. (Courtesy Back of House)