Restaurant Owners Uncorked

Michael and Daniel Holzman started The Meatball shop in NYC in 2010 and it quickly grew to six locations and gained national attention. Now he's back at it with Seamore's in Brooklyn, and he was kind enough to take some time to share his story. Michael is a passionate, hard working guy who absolutely loves the restaurant business. Find out why...

Shawn owns Leroy Fox, Mortimer's, and Cowbell in Charlotte, N.C. He is one of the most respected and successful restaurant owners in the city, and he is a genuinely great guy. He shares his story of a life in the restart business and what philosophies and and his team operate with to ensure success for their restaurants. Enjoy...

Lisa and her husband Julian started The Riverside Market & Cafe in 2010 with no restaurant experience. They ignored conventional wisdom, and trusted their instincts, doing things such as implementing a honor system bottled beer and having no TVs in a place you would expect to have TVs. Riverside quickly became one of the most popular and highly rated restaurants in Fort Lauderdale, precisely because they did things differently. The couple has since opened Craft Beer Cartel and a second Riverside, with a third Riverside on the way. Lisa shares the journey here. Enjoy...

Steve started working in a restaurant when he was 13 and has been at at for almost 35 years. Today he owns The Indigo Road Restaurant Group in Charleston, S.C. with seven concepts and 13 locations. Here's his story...

Marilyn Schlossbach owns restaurants in Asbury Park, NJ. She is a self-taught chef, a passionate woman who devotes herself fully to her family, her business, and her community, and a creative person who works hard and inspires everybody around her. Here's her story. Don't miss this one...

Travis Todd's grandparents started a small crab factory in 1947 to produce some of the finest Blue Crab meet on the eastern shore. Nearly 70 years later, the business has evolved into a beloved destination restaurant run by third generation family members. Travis Todd grew up around the family business and has been a part of it for most of his life. My opinion from listening to Travis talk about a lifetime spent in the business is that he's a down-to-earth, hard worker who is a great leader for his team and has a genuine passion for his family's business. This interview was both fun and inspiring for me. I hope you'll take time to enjoy it...

Jess Killeen and her husband Ed own Grassburger, with locations in Durango, CO, and Albuquerque, NM. What started as a transition to grass fed beef for they family of five led to the the couple opening the first restaurant they had ever opened. This is an inspiring story about opening a restaurant with no experience in the business, as well as a very educational discussion of the health benefits of grass fed beef.

Scott owns Hog & Rocks, a highly successful restaurant in San Francisco. He's also opening Loma Brewing Company in Los Gatos, CA in just a few weeks. He took time to speak with us about his nearly 20 years in the business, and discussed everything from culinary school, to raising money for a restaurant, to business partners, to finding and keeping good talent, to staying focused on the things you can control. Scott is very good at communicating and articulating his thoughts on the business. Don't miss this interview if you are considering getting into the restaurant business.

Angela Salamanca came to the U.S. from Colombia, South America in 1993 as a 17-year-old rent high school graduate. She went to work for her uncle, who owned a popular Mexican restaurant in Raleigh, N.C. By 2007, she was planning the opening of a new restaurant with that same uncle, when he suddenly left the country to get married. He told Angela, who had a young child and a baby on the way, "You don't need me, I know you can do it on your own." Angela now calls his unplanned departure the biggest gift he could have given her. Rather than crumble under the stress and pressure, she rose to the occasion and used the situation to her advantage. With necessity, her creativity thrived and Angela wound up building the restaurant of her dreams while bucking conventional wisdom and trusting her vision and her instincts. This is a highly inspiring interview with a wonderful person. Enjoy...

Meherwan Irani got an MBA and spent 15 years in corporate America, working for other people. He was not unhappy, but never jumped out of bed in the morning excited to head to work. So in 2009 as the economy was collapsing, he and his wife Molly took a leap of faith and decided to start a restaurant. Meherwan was a self-taught chef with a 150-page business plan and in need of $70,000 to get started. All the banks turned the Irani's down for a loan, as did the SBA. But they raised the money, convinced the landlord of a prime location in downtown Asheville, NC to lease them his space, and opened Chai Pani on day one with customers lined up around the block while having spent $0 on advertising and having only $250 in the cash register (and $0 in the bank), knowing they needed to sell a lot of food in the first three days or they'd have nothing left. But they were so busy the first day they had to close at 2pm because they ran out of food. Just five years later (2014), Meherwan was nominated for a James Beard award best chef in Southeast, and today he and Molly own five successful restaurants with another opening soon. This is a very inspiring, educational story about trusting the people that work for you, having passion and faith in yourself, using scarcity to your advantage, and not relying on conventional wisdom. Enjoy...