Restaurant Owners Uncorked

For more than two decades, Cru Catering and Café Executive Chef and Owner John Zucker has been creating a recipe for success in Charleston, S.C. As the number one graduate in his class from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, Zucker has trained and created culinary delights under celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck at Spago in Las Vegas. From there, he became sous chef for the opening of Canoe, which was nominated...

Alto Cinco first opened its doors in September of 1995 as a takeout restaurant only. In 1999, the restaurant expanded to open a small dining room that consisted of seven tables and the bar area. For many years, Alto Cinco packed its cozy dining room every night...feeling more like a West Village cantina than a Mexican restaurant in Central New York. Finally in 2014, Alto Cinco was given an opportu...

Let's start with saying Jeff makes one of the best burgers on the planet. Period. Now that we've got that established, he's also a really cool guy who loves to talk hospitality and share his story and lessons he's learned over his year in the business. He worked at several New York restaurants and institutions before landing as Owner/Executive Chef of Royale in Raleigh. Chef Seizer was a sous chef...

Chef Scott Crawford opened Crawford and Son in Raleigh, NC November 2016 – a neighborhood restaurant referencing his commitment to family and community – and in 2018, it was named the “Triangle’s Restaurant of the Year.” Through his restaurant group, Crawford Hospitality, Crawford plans additional restaurants, including a French bistro, Jolie (opened August 2019) and modern American Steakhouse, Cr...

Luna’s chef and owner, Shawn Stokes, has over 15 years experience in the restaurant industry. A 1998 graduate of Johnson & Wales University’s culinary arts program, he has worked in numerous successful establishments up and down the East Coast, including the Ritz Carlton in Naples, FL, Chillingsworth in Cape Cod, MA, Hank’s and Peninsula Grille in Charleston, SC, and Komi in Washington, DC. Du...

Corbett and his wife Julie opened Bella Monica in Raleigh, NC in 2000. Nineteen years later, it's still widely regarded as a badass institution in the fast-growing Raleigh restaurant scene. Two years ago, they opened Stellino's down the road in Cary, and we talked for over an hour about why Corbett got into hospitality, what he loves about it, his and Julie's mission and philosophies, and much mor...

Wil shared some thoughts about how we and the customers we serve run our businesses in very similar ways.

Teddy was born into a military family and traveled across the country for much of his childhood, exploring foods and cultures native to the locations wherever his dad was stationed. He loved learning and experiencing regional traditions and cuisine and fell in love with food because of it’s ability to connect people. Teddy worked in the restaurant industry while in high school and he later attende...

Sean was a history major in college in Virginia who didn't want to follow his buddies to Wall Street. Instead he hit the road to Jackson Hole, WY where he worked in restaurants and did a lot of snow skiing. He wound up at the Culinary Institute of America in Denver, CO and went on to work with several chefs in AAA Five Diamond restaurants to hone his skills before he opened Mandolin eight years ag...

"Turn your investor list upside down."

Eric is the kind of person who glows with natural, authentic, true hospitality from the moment you lay eyes on him. Wil had the opportunity to learn his story, the amazing chefs he has worked with, what's happening with commercial fishing and sustainability, his new focus on seafood charcuterie, and a lot more over nearly and hour and a half together. Great interview with a great guy. Enjoy...

This is the first in a new series of quotes from our two books and our podcast interviews. Short, educational or inspiring quotes interspersed between our long-form interviews. Enjoy!

Jon was on this podcast in March of 2017. The day after we posted the episode, a massive fire burned down a large apartment building near Little City Brewing, a tragic even that led to the main feeder streets to Little City being shut down for the last two years. This unexpected even had a huge impact not only on Little City, but on Jon's entire group, Local Icon Hospitality. Here's his honest, vu...

Jeff has been in the business for nearly 20 years, and opened Whiskey Kitchen three years ago. He and Wil discussed the story of Whiskey Kitchen, which is filled with both tragedy and success. Jeff shares the story openly, and offers a lot of great advice and wisdom from his time in the hospitality business. Whiskey Kitchen's name says it all, this place has a tremendous whiskey collection and a f...

Some thoughts from Wil about how much meaning and value independent restaurants add to their communities.

Wil had a fun conversation with Lisa Carvey, owner of The Braeburn in Langley, WA on Whidby Island on the Puget Sound. They spoke for an hour and covered lots of actionable and philosophical ground. A fun conversation. Tons of respect for Lisa and her crew! Enjoy... .

Every now and then Wil shares some observations he's made from interviewing successful restaurant people. Here's one of them...

This is a deep, powerful conversation between Wil and Van, owner or Bida Manda and Brewery Bhavana in Raleigh, N.C. They have become friends over the last few years so they got into a meaningful conversation about not just the story of Brewery Bhavana, but also about about life and philosophy and how we treat and build relationships with the people we work with and the people we serve. Enjoy!

Angela and Marshall are opening Ex-Voto at the Durham Food Hall this Fall. We have tremendous respect for Angela and Marshall, and Wil had a great time chatting with them about their new project. They are so incredibly welcoming, honest, authentic, humble, passionate, and dedicated to lifting up the people around them and providing warm, memorable experiences to their customers. *Wil got the conve...

Some thoughts Wil wanted to share about restaurants and Instagram.

This may be our best podcast ever. We have no words to describe it, just listen and enjoy...

Bret Oliverio owns Sup Dogs, and he's one of the best human beings we've come across in our years of serving restaurants. The story of Sup Dogs is so powerful that we made a film about it a few years go. It's here: https://vimeo.com/223895178. Bret was also featured in Restaurant Owners Uncorked part II. Wil asked Bret to hang out and catch up over a podcast, and the result was nearly two hours of...