My First Restaurant Bryan Tublin
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- Business
The My First Restaurant podcast aims to teach restaurateurs how to start, run, and grow a successful restaurant business. We interview successful restaurant owners about the nitty gritty details behind opening a restaurant, and what it takes to succeed. Past guests include Charles Bililies of Souvla, Ike Shehadeh from Ike's Love & Sandwiches, and Leo Kremer from Dos Toros Taqueria. Hosted by Bryan Tublin, Co-Founder & CEO of Kitava, a multi-unit clean casual restaurant brand based in the Bay Area. Available wherever you listen to podcasts.
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27: How to Raise Money for Restaurant Growth | Akash Mirchandani, Kitchen Fund
Akash Mirchandani is a Partner at Kitchen Fund, a leading investment firm focused on the emerging restaurant space. Kitchen Fund aims to fuel the brands that are changing how we eat, including investments in some popular restaurants you may have heard of such as sweetgreen, CAVA, and Curry Up Now.Prior to Kitchen Fund Akash worked in Blackstone’s Private Equity Group, graduated from Harvard where he was captain of the golf team, and deepened his passion for the food industry through a brief s...
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26: Top 10 Lessons Learned From Season 1
Host Bryan Tublin shares his top 10 lessons learned from Season 1 of My First Restaurant.Top 10 Lessons Learned:Know why you’re getting into the businessTest your concept first!Timing and momentum mattersRaise enough capital – Things always cost more and take longer than you thinkChoose the right contractor for your buildoutCentralized Commissary vs. Store-Level Production? There’s no right answerDo, Delegate, or DeprioritizeTake care of yourself firstLook for self awareness and a growth mind...
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25: From Line Cook to Restaurant Owner | Dominica Rice-Cisneros, Bombera
“I work really hard, and my staff works really hard, so I have to be in love with that city and that community to do the work that I do.”—Dominica Rice-Cisneros is the Chef & Owner of Bombera in Oakland, California. During her long career as a line cook, Dominica worked her way up in fine dining establishments such as Chez Panisse and The Four Seasons, before opening her first restaurant Cosecha to showcase her take on California Mexican cuisine.Forced to close Cosecha during the Cov...
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24: Secret Shoppers, Diversified Growth, & Running Two Businesses at Once | Mistie Boulton, Oren’s Hummus & EyeSpy
“You want more happy employees that are gonna turn to happy guests, and in order to do that you don’t want your team to feel overwhelmed.”—Mistie Boulton is the CEO of Oren’s Hummus, and the President and Founder of EyeSpy Critiquing & Consulting, a mystery shopping and operations improvement business for the service industry. Mistie brings 20+ years of restaurant industry experience to this conversation, where we dive deep into why she decided to start a mystery shopping business in...
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23: The Rise of “Fast Premium” and Roman Style Pizza | Gabriel Baldinucci, Baldinucci Pizza Romana
“Don’t ever even consider opening a restaurant unless you have worked in and ideally managed one.”—This week’s guest is Gabriel Baldinucci, co-founder of Baldinucci Pizza Romana, a “fast premium” pizza restaurant based in Austin, Texas.In this interview we discuss the origins of the concept, as well as:Why Gabriel believes the market for “fast premium” concepts is increasing as consumer palates become more sophisticatedWhat the team did prior to opening to build buzz and refine their recipesH...
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22: How Refining Operations Can Help You Grow | James Deng, Poké House
“The people that are super successful have their operations on lock.”—James Deng is the Founder & CEO of Poké House, a poké chain based in Northern California with 9 locations and counting.James opened Poké House’s first location in 2015, and has since grown the concept to 5 company-owned locations and 4 franchise operated units, with big plans to scale beyond those numbers in the coming years. In this episode James shares how Poké House grew into this success, including:- How Poké H...