Opening Soon Presents: "The Build"

When it comes to a new restaurant lease, everything is a negotiation. Your terms presented at signing have the power to dramatically shape your business. Whether it be Tenant improvements, Term lengths, Concession, Backout clauses for permit approvals and more, it is not a decision to made quickly or alone.  Today’s Guests are Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel and Arjav Ezekiel of Birdie’s Austin, a forthcom...

You have been dreaming of opening your own place for years. You have a business plan. Now you need a pile of money to get the place open. Where do you start? When can you start? How many people do you need to pitch? How many no’s before you get a yes? Today’s Guest is Brandon Byrd of Square Bar a forthcoming Bar and naturally leavened pan pizza joint in Brooklyn. Brandon has worked in operations a...

This season we are mixing it up and interviewing chefs and restaurateurs as they actively open a restaurant. We’ll be chatting before and after a milestone moment to hear the preparation and later of course get the skinny on how it all went to down. So you have your restaurant concept and are ready to hit the ground running, but where do you start? Well if your business plan includes selling alcoh...

The hospitality industry is historically and notoriously been known for late nights and hard partying. The drug and booze filled nights were famously chronicled by Anthony Bourdain in Kitchen Confidential. But over the past several years there seems to be a cultural shift happening in the industry and many chefs and restaurateurs are speaking out about and championing their sobriety. In fact some...

There are over 1.4 M businesses in the US run by married couples and I can rattle off dozens of restaurants run by couples from the top of my head. And family owned businesses account for 64% of the GDP and account for 62% of all employment opportunities. So what makes working with your family so appealing? And what are some of the challenges. As a husband and wife team we are excited to get to th...

Opening a restaurant comes with a laundry list of challenges. Let’s assume you’ve checked all the boxes and you have your opening date. Now it’s all about getting people IN to your restaurant. How do you devise the press strategy for opening? And what parts of your business are unique and interesting from a press perspective? I’m confident our guest today can advise on all these issues and more. R...

Sometimes the city where you cut your teeth and completed your training may not be the best place to start your business. Either for personal or financial reasons. When and how do you decide to move to a new market? What are the challenges and some of the benefits of going from a city like NYC to a smaller city with a burgeoning food scene in the midwest? Our guest today is Gavin Kaysen Chef/Owner...

There are lots of ways to define the type of restaurant you will open, one of the more inviting ideas is that of a neighborhood restaurant. A neighborhood restaurant helps foster community, transcends trendiness and carries with it the potential to be around for a very long time. Obviously that takes understanding the location of your business and the patrons that will populate it. A feat Happy Co...

One of the most common resources we hear guests shout out time and time again on the show is simply other people: friends, coworkers, superiors, mentors, vendors, the list goes on. Our guest today has been mentioned on many occasions for their guidance helping to avoid costly and time consuming mistakes through proper planning. Super excited to welcome David Helbraun of Helbraun & Levy . David Hel...

Food is sustenance, when brought to another level it can be much more. Great food can wow diners, but what about the experience of dining from walking in the door and being greeted by the team to finishing off your meal and walking away from the table. How can the owner/restaurateur impact each component of the journey to create a memorable personal experience. Simon Kim is the owner of Cote , a m...

Today we’re talking about breaking the mold, the risks and the advantages of going against the norms in your market. Our guest today is Mason Hereford, Chef/Owner of Turkey & The Wolf & Molly’s Rise & Shine . Mason opened Turkey, which has been dubbed a quirky sandwich shop in New Orleans LA. Turkey was named the best new restaurant in the country by Bon App mag and in 2017. Mason injects his pers...

One of the topics that keeps coming to us is wellness, life-work balance and the betterment of restaurant culture. As the industry continues to evolve and improve, some restaurateurs are making strides to introduce practices that create balance and enhance mental and physical health into their establishments. Our guest today knows a lot about the stresses of restaurants as well as new beginnings....

We started the season talking about finding financing and taking the jump into ownership. So now you have finances in place, time to start thinking about nailing down your brand and design. Today we are joined by James Beard award winning designer Amy Morris of The Morris Project . And Camille Becerra a chef, food stylist and recipe developer in New York City. With close to 20 years of restaurant...

This week’s episode of Opening Soon is all about mentorship, fostering it as a business owner and finding it as a cook. We are joined today by Chef Ed Lee and Lindsey Ofcacek , co-Founders of the LEE Initiative , which stands for Lets Empower Employment, the initiative which works to bring more diversity and equality to the restaurant industry through their 6 month mentorship program. Opening Soon...

Most of the guests on the show work for various chefs and restaurateurs before striking out on their own. But our guest today doesn't do things like most people. Angie Mar took the helm of the storied Beatrice Inn and then negotiated to purchase it from the owners a few years later. Angie is a lover of all things meat. She was a Food & Wine BNW in 2017, the year after she purchased the Beatrice In...

Our first episode of the season focused on a more traditional route of funding through investor relations with Camilla Marcus. Today we’re going in a different direction of raising funds by exploring the path to opening Mae and Yonder here in PDX with Chef/Owner Maya Lovelace . Maya successfully crowdfunded her restaurant and we sat down to chat in special live episode of Opening Soon. Maya was an...

Let's talk about money honey. One of the most requested topics following last season was to talk more about financing options for new restaurateurs. Restaurants have notoriously slim margins and chefs aren’t known to have huge salaries. So how do you fund your project and what are potential investors looking for in your business plan? Our guest today is Camilla Marcus, Founder and Owner/Operator o...

Restaurants live and die by the margins. This week’s episode is all about knowing your P&L and and what your margins should be to achieve profitability. Information we could have used during our foray into opening a restaurant. Nate Adler, Owner of Gertie , is here to help us know the numbers and where to dial in to maximize the business. It's HRN's annual summer fund drive, this is when we turn t...

This week’s episode of Opening Soon is all about how to maximize your digital presence, basically how you can fuel the buzz of your shop in the opening days through social presence including optimizing your interiors for share worthy moments, building your website and creating an easy and efficient reservations platform. What are some best tactics to create buzz to drive revenue and visitors to yo...

This episode of Opening Soon is all about communicating your brand to gain traction in the media to drive awareness and attract customers. In the changing media and food landscape, how do you get noticed and connect with diners? We sat down to pick the brains of Sue Chan, Founder of Care of Chan a food culture agency that specializes in brand management, talent representation, event production and...

This episode of Opening Soon is all about building out a beverage program to drive sales. Your beverage program is just as important to the bottom line as your food and service. Whether you are a natural wines or intricate cocktails the right program can drive revenue. We are joined by 2 amazing beverage professionals who sincerely believe that wine should be fun and are taking strides to make it...

This week’s episode of Opening Soon is all about Creating a lasting brand. What better guests then Niki Russ Federman and Josh Russ Tupper, 4th generation owners of 105 year old famed Appetizing shop Russ & Daughters . We discuss how to make a lasting impression on your customers and make sure that your brand is echoed across every part of your business to create a unified and memorable guest expe...

This week’s episode of Opening Soon is all about ushering in a culture that supports collaboration between the kitchen and dining room to create a stellar guest experience. We are joined by James Kent and Jeff Katz of Crown Shy in NY’s downtown. James is the Executive Chef and has created the menu drawing inspiration from travels, the diversity of the city, and his childhood experiences. Jeff is h...

This week’s episode of Opening Soon is all about permitting, licensing and navigating regulatory hurdles in order to open. How did you get Con Ed to turn on the gas? And passing those Health Inspections? Liquor Licensing aah! A quick dip into expediting your way through the permitting of your city. We are joined by Robert S. Bookman is a recognized leader of the New York hospitality industry. He h...

This week’s episode of Opening Soon is all how to Hire & Train the best of the best and how to keep them from jumping ship amidst the chaos of opening. Once you have a team in place how do you instill and maintain a culture that keeps you and your employees happy and thriving? We are joined by award winning Chef Steven Satterfield of Miller Union in Atlanta, Ga. Miller Union is celebrating 10 year...