On The Pass

Marissa Hermer, Owner of The Draycott and Olivetta in Los Angeles, is one of LA's newest and most exciting restaurateurs. In a city with a relentless dining scene, she's carved a name for herself by creating neighborhood restaurants that feel like a home away from home. In this episode, Marissa shares the catalyst for her starting a restaurant group shortly after a life changing move from London to LA with her family. We talk about her restaurants in depth as she highlights the challenges of being an operator in today's reality, and how she's responded to the pandemic with the "You Give. We Cook. They Eat." campaign. For more information on The Draycott & Olivetta:  https://www.thedraycott.com/# https://www.olivetta.la Valrhona Chocolate Baking Classes: https://www.valrhona-chocolate.com/class-schedule  

On this episode of the "Hot Spot" series, Gabriel Ornelas sits down with Mélanie Masarin, Founder & CEO of Ghia, a non alcoholic aperitif recently launched this past summer 2020. Inspired by her own personal sober curious and wellness journey, Melanie gives us an in depth view of how she went about creating the product and enlightens us on the difficulties of launching in middle of a global pandemic. For more information on Ghia: https://drinkghia.com

AgTech entrepreneur Christine Moseley, Founder + CEO of Full Harvest, the first B2B marketplace for imperfect and surplus produce, sheds light on the global food waste problem, how she's tackling it at the farm level, and ways consumers at home can incorporate good practices in theirs daily lives. This episode will inspire you to think differently about food waste and encourage you to take action. For more information on Full Harvest: https://www.fullharvest.com

Hotelier Amar Lalvani, CEO of Standard International (parent company of Standard Hotels, Bunkhouse Group and One Night) recounts unbelievable stories from his formative years. He talks about the very first moment that left a mark on his journey into hospitality, how he navigated the acquisition of The Standard brand from the iconic Andre Balazs, and his plans for future growth. For more information on The Standard: https://www.standardhotels.com

On this episode of the "Hot Spot" series, Gabriel Ornelas sits down with Beny Ashburn and Teo Hunter, co-founders of Crowns & Hops Brewing Co, a Black-Owned craft beer brand soon to be opening a brewery in Inglewood, California. Beny and Teo discuss what originally hooked them to craft beer, their evolution as a company and their bigger than beer mission for racial equity in the space. For more information on Crowns & Hops: https://crownsandhops.com  

Award-winning food, travel and author of cookbooks like Claridges: The Cookbook and Joe Beef: Surviving the Apocalypse, Meredith Erickson chats with us about her early days and how Joe Beef served as a catalyst for her authoring career. We also dive into her solo project Alpine Cooking, a highly acclaimed cookbook meets travelogue where Meredith lived, skied and ate her way through the Alps.  For more information on Meredith: https://mereditherickson.com https://www.instagram.com/ericksonmeredith/

Spirits veteran, Jeff Kozak, CEO of WhistlePig Rye Whiskey, the most awarded Rye Whiskey maker in the world, discusses his entry into the spirits space as a commodity trader, the craft spirits movement over the past 10-15 years and WhistlePig's role in it as well as how WhistlePig has shown up for the community during these challenging past months of COVID-19. For more information on WhistlePig: https://whistlepigwhiskey.com https://www.instagram.com/whistlepigwhiskey/?hl=en

On this episode of the "Hot Spot" series, which was recorded in early March, Gabriel Ornelas sits down with Loren Brill, Founder and CEO of Sweet Loren's, a clean ingredient food company known for their all natural cookie dough. Loren discusses how her health journey and being a cancer survivor was the catalyst for starting the company and her mission of bringing clean, Non-GMO, gluten free treats to the world. For more information on Sweet Loren's: https://sweetlorens.com  

Award winning Chef and Inventor of Floating Food, Mike Bagale calls in from Tulum, Mexico where he has been working on an upcoming project and exploring his passion around the concept of Food is Medicine. He gives us some insight from his extensive research in the medicinal properties of different plants and foods and talks about what we should be including into our daily routine. For more information on Superfood Concepts: https://www.superfoodconcepts.com https://www.instagram.com/superfoodconcepts/  

Master Tequilera, Bertha González Nieves, Co-Founder and CEO of Casa Dragones tequila discusses how her company is adapting and supporting the industry during COVID-19, the creation of Casa Dragones with her co-founder Bob Pittman and how they have pioneered premium sipping tequila to compete on the world stage of spirits.  For more information on Casa Dragones:  https://casadragones.com