Restaurant Unstoppable with Eric Cacciatore

Originally from Toluca, Mexico, Diego Galicia moved to San Antonio in 2001. He studied at The University of Texas-San Antonio, and the Culinary Institute of America. As a student at the CIA he worked at John Besh's Luke , a local french bakery, and Patty Lou's. Galicia also has served stints at Azul Condesa , Atelier Crenn , and Moto. In 2013, along with co-chef partner Rico Torres, Galicia opened...

Jeremy Mandrell and Anne Ng met while working for Thomas Keller at Bouchon Bakery in Napa Valley, California. They have been baking together ever since. They honed their skills in different kitchens around the San Francisco Bay Area before moving to San Antonio in the summer of 2010. In 2011 they met entrepreneur Charlie Biedenharn who joined them in forming Bakery Lorraine . Today, they've scaled...

Jae Kim got his start in the food and beverage industry as the owner of a coffee shop —  while in college! Unfortunately, that business failed, but it left him with a burning desire to try again. In 2010 Chi'Lantro was founded.  Chi'Lantro  started as a food truck serving a fusion of Korean and Mexican cuisine. Today, there are eight restaurants, two food trucks, and two trailers under the Chi'Lan...

Nebraska native and Texan raised, Jason Dady has deep roots in the restaurant industry. He studied Hospitality Management and culinary in Texas and California respectively. After graduating he sharpened his skills in Napa Valley before returning to TX where he opened his first restaurant, The Lodge Restaurant of Castle Hills in 2001.  When one restaurant wasn't enough to hold all of his ideas, Che...

For 14 yours, serial entrepreneur, Jeff Fenster, has been creating companies in all kinds of spaces. These spaces included: a small payroll company, a digital marketing agency, a construction company. Obviously, there's got to be a restaurant thrown into the mix-- fast-casual Acai Bowl concept- Everbowl - with its headquarters in San Diego, CA. In its first 3 years, Everbowl has opened 19 location...

Originally for North Conway, NH Sam Glynn is a 3rd generation restaurateur. After some time in Florida, where Sam went to escape the snow, get an education in marketing, start (and end) his career in the professional baseball industry, Sam returned to New England. Before long Sam found himself in Rhode Island, and at the age of 27, he opened his first restaurant, Chomp Kitchen, and Drinks , locate...

For 21 years Behar led Starbucks ' domestic business as President of North America, and he became the founding President of Starbucks International opening the very first store outside of North America in Japan. During his tenure, he participated in the growth of the company from only 28 stores to over 15,000 stores spanning five continents.  He served on the Starbucks Board of Directors for twelv...

Vaughan Dugan has been an entrepreneur since his elementary school days cutting lawns in Newport, RI. By the 90's he was a millionaire with his business Stellar Concepts & Design Inc. In 2006, Vaughan entered the world of Food and Beverage with his first concept Pizza Fusion. The brand was a trailblazer in the food industry and set the standard for environmentally-friendly restaurants. After Pizza...

Kirstina Zhao calls San Antonio, TX home. Prior to taking over the family restaurant, Sichuan House, Kristina was being groomed for the medical field... that didn't happen. Zhao ended up at the University of Texas where she studied Communications and Public Relations. Next, she went into the wireless industry on the B2B side. In 2015, Kristina came back home to San Antonio to help her father with...

Mark Estee is an award-winning chef, restaurateur and visionary on a mission to reinvent dining culture as we know it. Today, Estee owns Liberty Food & Wine Exchange  in downtown Reno,  The Union  in downtown Carson City,  chez louie  inside the Nevada Museum of Art, the historic  Overland Restaurant & Pub , and the recently opened  Cucina Lupo in Carson City. He's also the managing partner at Cam...

Danielle Rosse was just 22 and recently widowed when she first opened Oceans 234 in 2001. In 2013 She purchased the restaurant to become the sole owner of the establishment and in 2015 she underwent a massive $1.8-million-dollar renovation on the property elevating the guest experience. In addition to Oceans 234 in 2007, Rosse launch The Whale Raw Bar, A neighborhood New England Raw bar in Parklan...

A product of Chicago, IL, Joe Fontana gave up his cush office lifestyle to pursue his passion for hospitality and food. At the time, this specific passion was meatballs. So he started where he could, selling meatballs at a farmers market, which lead to a Kickstarter campaign to support his brick and mortar. The meatball thing didn't work out, but it created opportunities, specifically, an opportun...

Eric Bernheim is a partner at Halloran Sage law firm where he skillfully leads his clients through complex real estate transactions. His practice includes transactional work, zoning, land use, and commercial leasing matters focusing on representing restaurant operators interested in expanding throughout the country.   With over a decade of experience, Eric's solid understanding of commercial and r...

Monte Silva has over 40 years of experience in the restaurant industry. He has worked for Wolfgang Puck, Acme Feed & Seed , Fleming's Steakhouse & Wine Bar , Merchants , Bound'ry, Watermark, Piatti Italian Restaurant , and Jeff Ruby Culinary Entertainment . He has 20 years in management as Director of Restaurants, Director of Operations, General Manager, Regional Training Manager, Chef, Wine Direc...

Jenny Blake ( @pivotmomentum ) is the founder of Pivot Method, a growth strategy company that helps forward-thinking individuals and organizations map what's next through scalable Pivot programs. She is an international keynote speaker, and the author of Pivot: The Only Move That Matters is Your Next One , Jenny also hosts the popular Pivot Podcast , which CNBC listed among 6 podcasts to make you...

Californian, Denyelle Bruno is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the University of San Francisco where she earned a BA in Psych, and a MA in Organization Development. While in college she climbed the corporate ladder at Macy's , before being recruited by Apple to be a part of their retail team. Other career highlights include 2 years as VP of Retail with PureBeauty , 6 ye...

  Learn more about Jonathan Plowright here . CLICK THIS FOR FREE ACCESS TO TYPSY STARTING MAY 2020 TO SEPTEMBER 2020 Key Takeaways Typsy is an online training platform for restaurants with videos and courses on training staff Typsy is free right now for COVID-19 training and methods untiL September 30th, 2020, find the service here Typsy has over 700 training videos on their site and always adding...

College friends and  FreeRange Concepts' founders, Kyle Noonan and Josh Sepkowitz have a combined 22 years of experience in the restaurant and hospitality industry, including hospitality management, operations, acquisitions, divestitures and new store openings for multi-million dollar concepts. It was 2010 when the pair decided to go into business together. After 2 years of planning and with only...

Learn more about Kristen Carrol  here . Learn more about Pam Curry  here . Key Takeaways You have the ability to sell your product on Facebook via Messenger Getting people up and running in less than 24 hours for under $200 This is your chance to communicate to your customers to NOT use 3rd party apps for delivery and only use your own New technology being developed within the industry on how to m...

Field Failing is a graduate of Cornell University where he earned both his B.A. and his MBA. After working in finance and failing to become a professional cyclist it was time to return to his passion for cooking. He filled the fridge in his New York apartment with brines and marinades and set out to make the perfect chicken. By 2012 he was confident enough in what he had to open Fields Good Chicke...

Learn more about Rory Balkin and Donut Digest here . Follow Rory Here: @donutdig Key Takeaways Rory and Donut Digest have created the Coronavirus Restaurant Response Plan We have pivoted and survived in our own scrappy ways and now it's time to take it to the next level Even though your food (donuts, eat.) may not be essential, you can still be of value to your customers and community Diminish you...

Learn more about Sam Oches  here . Key Takeaways Who will suffer more, small businesses or big chains? Big chains are down an average of 20% while small business crew at 70%-90% Small business have a closer-knit community to keep them afloat – utilize it Smaller operations have support and space to pivot We have bottomed-out, most-likely it gets better from here Dining rooms will not be full again...

Mike Behrend is a professional chef with more than 30 years experience in the restaurant business. With his mother Luann Singleton they owned and operated Lulu's Bakery and Café for 15 years. In January of 2006, they sold Lulu's allowing them to begin construction on Green , San Antonio's first vegetarian restaurant. Four years later they opened the first Earth Burger Today, Mike owns 3 Green Vegi...

Key Takeaways Focus today is mainly on the Thomas Keller lawsuit against his insurance company Fine dining is being hit hardest in our industry; it's a business model that doesn't translate AT ALL to pickup only US insurance companies have approx. 800 billion put away for claims; that is nowhere near enough to fund the US restaurant industry during COVID-19 If you have "business interruption" insu...