Podcast appearances and mentions of Thomas Keller

Sende uns Deine NachrichtWas bleibt vom KI-Hype, wenn mittelständische Unternehmen aus ersten Experimenten belastbare Praxis machen müssen? In dieser Folge spricht Norman Müller mit Thomas Keller, COO von Riegg & Partner Intercorp, über die Realität von KI-Einführung im Mittelstand: fehlende Zielbilder, unterschätzte Prozessbrüche, verlorenes Erfahrungswissen und die Frage, warum digitale Souveränität mehr ist als ein politisches Schlagwort.00:00 Intro: Was nach dem KI-Hype wirklich zählt01:07 Begrüßung und Einstieg mit Thomas Keller02:14 Thomas Keller über Daten, Wissensmanagement und Mittelstand05:53 Wie weit ist der Mittelstand bei KI wirklich07:55 Warum viele Unternehmen ohne klares KI-Ziel starten12:45 Der größte Denkfehler im KI-Management15:32 Warum Erfahrungswissen zum entscheidenden Asset wird21:58 Digitale Souveränität und sichere KI-Infrastrukturen26:21 Rollen, Rechte und Architektur statt Tool-Chaos29:50 Open Source KI: Was das für den Mittelstand bedeutet37:26 Wo KI heute den schnellsten Mehrwert schafft42:38 Warum kleine Use Cases der beste Einstieg sind46:35 Vibe Coding, Abhängigkeiten und Europas KI-Problem50:58 Die wichtigsten Learnings und der Blick nach vornHier geht's zu den Shownotes:https://ventureaibriefing.substack.com Support the show________________Wenn du uns dabei unterstützen möchtest, diesen Podcast zu einer Allianz von Zukunftsarchitekten der KI-Transformation zu machen, in der wir offen über Chancen, Risiken und reale Erfahrungen mit Künstlicher Intelligenz sprechen, dann abonniere uns auf Substack, YouTube, Spotify oder Apple Podcasts. Dein Abonnement kostet dich nichts, hilft uns aber sehr, noch mehr herausragende Persönlichkeiten für tiefgehende und inspirierende Podcast Gespräche zu gewinnen. Vielen Dank für deinen Support.Vernetze dich mit Norman auf LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/muellernorman

#135Josh sits down with chef and sommelier Sandia Chang for a conversation that spans 20 years of restaurants on both sides of the Atlantic. From her start on the fish station at Bouley in 2003, to four years at Per Se under Thomas Keller, to a stint at Noma in Copenhagen alongside her now-husband James Knappett, Sandia eventually landed in London where the two opened Bubble Dogs (a champagne and hot dog bar on Charlotte Street) and Kitchen Table, now a two Michelin star restaurant. Along the way she became one of the UK's most knowledgeable voices on grower champagne and built Bubble Shop, her online platform for small-family producers most operators have never heard of.The conversation moves between the two service philosophies that defined her path. Per Se's "yes to everything" approach, where the team would prepare a different potato for Mick Jagger with every course, and Noma's "we will not make a cocktail because we are not great at making cocktails" approach. Sandia explains why both are right and how she's blended them at Kitchen Table. They dig into why simple food like a hot dog is harder to execute than a 20 course tasting menu, what actually changes when you get your second Michelin star (spoiler: the box checkers show up), the economics and politics of importing grower champagne into the UK, and the truth about running a restaurant with your spouse. It closes with the advice Sandia gave at the end: you don't go into something because you know what to do, you go into something because you want to learn how to do it.Links and resources

Chef Matt Peters is the first American chef to win gold at the Bocuse d'Or, the most technically demanding culinary competition in the world. He trained under Thomas Keller at Per Se and The French Laundry and at Adour Alain Ducasse in New York before spending over a year preparing for the 2017 Bocuse d'Or in Lyon. He is currently Head Coach for Team USA at the 2027 Bocuse d'Or, coaching Chef Vincenzo Loseto and Commis Tyler Higson, and competed this year on CBS's America's Culinary Cup.This episode is the most detailed inside account of America's Culinary Cup that any competitor has given publicly. Peters does not filter it.What the sequestering process, point structure, and unexpected challenges like cooking someone else's food actually feel like from the insideWhy precision and technical refinement can work against you on television, and what the criticism that his food was too chefy actually meantThe sauce argument: why Keller-style clean reductions and Ducasse-style fat-emulsified sauces represent two fundamentally different philosophies, and why the choice defines your cooking voiceAndré Natera and Matt Peters cover the beef stroganoff versus Bocuse-style dish debate from episode one, mental fatigue from the finale curveballs, his honest format critique, the training timeline for Team USA 2027 on the road to Lyon, and where smart product use fits into a scratch cooking philosophy.GuestMatt Peters on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/chefmattpeters/Links BlockLead Like a Chef App → ⁠https://studio.com/apps/andre/leadlikeachef⁠Subscribe on Substack → https://chefspsa.substack.com/Shop Chef's PSA Merch → https://shop.chefspsa.com/Visit Chef's PSA Website → https://chefspsa.com/

Staci Miller, founder of Gen UX Consulting, shares her winding path from fashion design and psychology to human factors engineering in MedTech. Staci explains what human factors is—through stories from World War II aviation and modern healthcare—and why the FDA now mandates usability work to reduce catastrophic use errors. She breaks down formative versus summative/validation studies, the role of risk documentation (URRA/UFMEA), and why founders should think about usability as early as they think about risk. Staci also opens up about the challenge of starting a second business after losing her first in 2008, how she built Gen UX from $0, and the leadership lessons behind year-over-year growth.   Guest links: https://www.genuxconsulting.com/ | https://www.linkedin.com/company/gen-ux-consulting/  Charity supported: Feeding America Interested in being a guest on the show or have feedback to share? Email us at theleadingdifference@velentium.com.  PRODUCTION CREDITS Host & Editor: Lindsey Dinneen Producer: Velentium Medical   EPISODE TRANSCRIPT Episode 081 - Staci Miller [00:00:00] Lindsey Dinneen: Hi, I'm Lindsey and I'm talking with MedTech industry leaders on how they change lives for a better world. [00:00:09] Diane Bouis: The inventions and technologies are fascinating and so are the people who work with them. [00:00:15] Frank Jaskulke: There was a period of time where I realized, fundamentally, my job was to go hang out with really smart people that are saving lives and then do work that would help them save more lives. [00:00:28] Diane Bouis: I got into the business to save lives and it is incredibly motivating to work with people who are in that same business, saving or improving lives. [00:00:38] Duane Mancini: What better industry than where I get to wake up every day and just save people's lives. [00:00:42] Lindsey Dinneen: These are extraordinary people doing extraordinary work, and this is The Leading Difference. Hello, and welcome back to another episode of The Leading Difference podcast. I'm your host, Lindsey, and today I'm delighted to welcome as my guest, Staci Miller. Staci is the founder at Gen UX Consulting. Her expertise is in applying user-focused research to develop innovative solutions, and it's essential to the growth of any technology organization. As a detail-oriented and tenacious executive in human factors engineering and UX design, she has a proven record of elevating the end user experience and achieving targeted client outcomes. She has created innovative medtech and big tech solutions through a comprehensive user-centered development process, leveraging artificial intelligence and industry agnostic design tools to optimize products and services. In her current role with Gen UX, she's a key leader facilitating strategic company growth plans and service offerings while managing the capacity and workflow of the UX HF design team. Well, Staci, welcome to the show. I'm so excited to talk with you today. [00:01:49] Staci Miller: Me too. I've been looking forward to it all week, so I'm very excited to be here. And I don't know what the day has in store. I, I know that there was like a, a, a kit that you sent out and I didn't read it on purpose, so everything's gonna be organic. [00:02:03] Lindsey Dinneen: Perfect. Those are my favorite conversations anyway, so I'll take it and run. Some people I know really love to have the questions ahead of time, and others are just like, "Yeah, I don't want to know. I'm just gonna go off the cuff. Here we go." So, brilliant. All right, well, let's start, if you don't mind, by sharing a little bit about yourself, your background, and what led you to medtech. [00:02:24] Staci Miller: That is, those are my favorite questions. So, I have a background in fashion design, psychology. I spent most of my classes in cognitive psych, but it wasn't like a difference of degree, it was just psychology. And then I have a master's degree in human factors and ergonomics. So I went the psychology route and the design route. That's kind of my background. So when I graduated my master's degree, through my master's program, I was able to intern for both years and one was in tech, big tech. I interviewed and landed a, great one year long internship at Samsung, which was actually supposed to be just three months, and I stayed there for a full year. So they kept me through my whole, my whole semester, which is something they don't normally do, which was really fun. I mostly just said, "Hey, can I stay here for the year?" And they're like, "Great, no problem. Sure. We'll figure it out like that seems like a good option. We like you, you like us. Cool. We'll do that." And my second internship was in medical device at a company called Interface and Analysis. My, that was actually my internship. My second one was at Samsung, so I got to really look in like I, I guess you got the curtain. If you think about Wonderland and Oz and the curtain and being able to pull back the curtain between both industries, what did I like better? I ended up liking medical better, mostly because the research was more structured and not necessarily conversations about, "Yeah, so how do you feel about that? Did you like it?" Like to me, that's not really. What I would consider the best opportunity to gain data. Data to me, like there has to be like a clear objective as to what you're doing, the whys behind it, and what do you wanna learn. And I found that in, when I worked with engineers in medtech, they definitely had things that they wanted to learn, whereas in tech, they just had so much money. They were like, "Yeah, let's just see what people think about this." And I'm. Okay. And then when I would be really structured and I was working with people who didn't have backgrounds in research, had very strong, very good backgrounds in design, like legitimately awesome, they were leading the research and they were missing the boat. So the narratives started to be focused on the N of one. This one person said this really interesting thing, so let's base our whole design off of what they said. And I'm like, "Dude, wait a second. Wait a second. All of them said this thing about the design though, and like we have four or five data points about when you ask this question." They're like, "Yeah, but that's not interesting." And I was like, "Okay, keep my mouth shut. I got it. Move on." Like from that moment forward, I, it wasn't like "Staci, don't talk, it was more like this is how we design based on the narratives that we've learned how to, how to research on." And so it wasn't as I would say-- it wasn't considering the actual 360 view of the user. It was considering the really cool thing that happened this one time that was like totally an outlier. And it happened consistently when I was working in big tech. So I was like, uh, medtech, probably more my speed. And then my first job was at Abbott. [00:05:39] Lindsey Dinneen: Nice. [00:05:40] Staci Miller: And I ended up there. Yeah, [00:05:41] Lindsey Dinneen: Okay, great. Well. [00:05:42] Staci Miller: Cool. [00:05:43] Lindsey Dinneen: Lots of questions based on this incredible background. I want to go back a little bit. So fashion design, was this something that you grew up thinking, "Oh, this is what I wanna do and be okay?" Right. All right, so... [00:05:57] Staci Miller: it's all I ever wanted and I did that. So... [00:06:00] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. [00:06:02] Staci Miller: That's a, that's a great question. I think that my interest in fashion peaked around when I was 12 years old and during the time, Cindy Crawford and Naomi Campbell, and I was so fascinated by how beautiful these women were. And, and fashion was a thing in the nineties. There was like a lot of Dolce and Gabana around, and I loved it. And I couldn't wait to get my new print of Vogue every, every season. I loved Harper's Bizarre, and I would just pull pictures out of these models and what they were wearing. And then I would start you know, freehanding stuff and things like that. And I think a lot of people do that when they're really interested in clothing and things like that. And if you really think about it, fashion is art that people wear. So I was very attracted to that part of it. And it's all I wanted to do. So after high school, I went to FIDM and studied fashion design. And right outta FIDM, I started my first company in fashion design, and I was a clothing manufacturer, and we had 500 open doors in the United States and in Canada, and I was hoping to expand, but unfortunately 2008 hit and they hit it hard and fast and I lost most of my managing capital in the year that I think was my tipping point. So it was the, the year that I finally got a lot of traction and had a lot of repeat business and a lot of new business as well. And a lot of those new businesses just refused orders. Just from the east coast to the west, and it was just tons of money out that wasn't gonna come in. So there was really no way to, make that work after that, like I lost literally all the money I had in my business in like the span of, I would say three, four weeks. It was just mortifyingly scary. But I was young and people who are young are resilient and they move on and they find a new dream. And it took me a minute, like I didn't really know what the french toast I was gonna do. And I was like, well, I was still planning on staying in fashion and long, short, I was offered a job to do and run production for a one, a different company. So make sure that their goods were produced on time. Deal with the, the timing of all the orders, making sure the product line. So it was basically operations for manufacturing. And I was super excited about the job and I moved back to my parents' house at the time because things were just that tight financially for me. My parents were like, "Yeah, just, you know, come back, we'll figure it out." And I remember saying to my mom and dad, I'm like, "If this job falls through, do you mind if I just go back to school and stay here?" And they both started to laugh at me like, "Your job is fine, but if the sure why, why not?" And they, they thought it was crazy. And then I ended up back in school. So, they were like, "Whoa, that was really insane," 'cause that was in the end of 2008, starting 2009. And so the company rescinded their offer and they were really like, so sad about it, but they went to a market to sell their clothes and they got zero orders that year or something like close to that. So it was just, it was just a really intense time in the fashion industry and I was looking for jobs and I wasn't getting anywhere. So I only had an AA, and at the time that really didn't matter, but I went back to school and I'm like, "If I'm going back to school this late in age, I'm getting a master's degree." I had no idea what I was gonna get a master's degree in. I was like. I like clothes and design. We'll figure it out from there like that. And I was like, "Well, maybe I'll be..." this is crazy. But I was thinking about being a lawyer, like a property law lawyer. So, because when you are a designer in clothing, people can just knock you off. And you've seen that happen like pretty much everywhere. And people can just take advantage of your intellectual property and never pay you for it if they change enough of it. And so I was like, "You know, this would be something I'd probably be good at." So I went back to school thinking I was gonna go into that type of law. I took psychology courses and I took philosophy courses. And philosophy courses really do lean you, get you thinking very specifically about law. That's what philosophy was basically geared towards anyways. And you take these psychology courses and they're about people and how people process information, how people behave based on their behavior and things like that. So I thought the combination would be really good. Well, I ended up not liking, I did like philosophy, but philosophy's "let's think about thinking about it." And psychology is-- which is great. It's great, but psychology is like more applicable when you're interacting with others. And I found it super fascinating. And then I got really into like cognitive psychology and I'm like, "What the french toast am I gonna do with this? I can't do anything with cognitive psychology. Like I need to make money. I'm a grownup. This isn't ah, I'm gonna study underwater basket weaving and come out and go work in communications at Fox." Like I had to have an actual plan. So in my college at the time, there were these classes and they were like introductory to what you can do with your degrees. And that's literally where I found human factors. And there weren't very many schools that did it, but I was taking most of my classes at that point in cognitive psychology, which is how people process information, not their feeling based stuff. Like I didn't wanna have conversations with people about their feelings. Get that off of me. Like that's not, that's not my jam. I'm like, "Sorry, you're sad, but I'm not sad and I don't wanna be sad, so I'm gonna keep, keep going." And I'm like, "How am I gonna work this into my, you know, I love design, I wanna keep that in my background, and how am I gonna, what am I gonna do?" And so the study of human factors really is the intersection of design and research, and how people interact with said products based on the design. And you get to research that. And I'm like, "Sold. Good. I'm, I can do this. This is like this, I didn't even know this thing existed." This is crazy good. And I never looked back. [00:11:49] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. [00:11:50] Staci Miller: I got into a master's program the next year. I, and because I was in that specific program in San Jose State, that's why it was so easy for me to work for Samsung because it was in my backyard. And that's why it was easy for me to work for Interface Analysis because Tony was the owner of that company. Tony, he was my professor. So he just was like hiring people and I, I answered his response and I was like, "Hey, I, I'm looking for something." Do you like, he didn't say it was his company. He said, "I have a friend looking" and I'm, you know, like when I know I need to make some money, I'm gonna try to hustle up and make some money. So I'm like, "Hey, I'm open to that." He's like, "Why don't you come by my office and we'll talk?" And I was like, "That's weird." He said It was for some other, I'm like, "Sure, no problem." So I go to his office and he offered me an internship right then and there 'cause it was for me. "I just wanted to see who would respond," 'cause you are the only person that responded. I'm like, "Guess you're gonna hire me then." [00:12:37] Lindsey Dinneen: Amazing. All right. That's great. Thank you so much for that background. And it is so interesting how sometimes our paths are very, very windy to get to where we end up being and we Yeah, exactly. What, what ends up being a really good fit. But, so can you explain a little bit more about human factors, especially, maybe to help folks who have maybe some misconceptions or don't fully understand what it is just in general, but then also relate it specifically to medtech and why it's so important within the medtech industry? [00:13:11] Staci Miller: I can give you a story that probably would do both. So human factors was, was actually founded pretty recently in our timeline of psychology and understanding people. In World War II, there were a whole bunch of fighter pilots ejecting themselves from planes that caused, even in World War II, millions of dollars to produce and nobody could figure out what the problem was. They checked the planes. The planes were operating correctly. They did psychology, like psychological backgrounds on the people who are fighter pilots. I mean, they have to, to get into the military and to fly those planes, you have to be pretty good under pressure. They interviewed them, they were fine. They didn't have any breakdown of stress, and it wasn't happening on a small scale. This was happening on quite a large scale. So they, again, they went, they're like, "Okay, okay." Well, the military went back and " Well, it has to be the plane." So they looked through the plane, wasn't the plane, talk to the people, wasn't the people. So then the psychologist started to ask questions. They're like, "Well, if you're saying that it's not the person's emotional state and you're saying it's not the plane, well then what happened? Something had to happen. Something changed. What changed?" It turned out that the engineers had moved the throttle button with the ejection button in the planes. [00:14:31] Lindsey Dinneen: Oh. [00:14:31] Staci Miller: So the pilots were originally trained to hit the throttle button on the certain side that the throttle button was in the cockpit. So instead of hitting the throttle, because that was their original training, they hit the ejection button. So they ejected themselves out of the planes, which is why human factors was born. Those little changes that people don't understand about human beings. So when we learn something for the first time, because like even if you think about being a kid or being a baby, or learning a really tough lesson, right? You remember that lesson. And so what happens is that's your default setting. "This is the lesson I've learned. This is how I react." Now for that lesson, it doesn't matter if it's like an emotional exchange or if it's a physical one. So because they were taught where the, the pilots were taught specifically where the throttle was in the first place when they were under attack and they were in a high cognitive loaded space, they went back to their original training. [00:15:30] Lindsey Dinneen: Mm-hmm. [00:15:32] Staci Miller: And then the engineers were like, "Well, we told them. We told them." So, so, because they didn't wanna take the blame, right? Nobody wanted to take the blame ruining millions of dollars of planes. So this same type of thing happens in the medical industry. I mean, you can see it pretty easily, right? So you're trained on System X. There's an update, a 510K release to it. The system works differently. Errors are made, people are hurt. [00:15:57] Lindsey Dinneen: Mm-hmm. [00:15:58] Staci Miller: That's how it translates to medical. So aviation was a really big part of human factors and it still is to this day. Like NASA used to hire quite a few of my classmates. And I know that Boeing and a lot of those other, even BMW hire people that do what I do for a living and test the responses during drive time. And if you think about it, if you look at a Tesla versus a BMW, those are very different driving experiences. Like I had to relearn how to drive a Tesla, right? And like it has a one pedal situation. So now when I get into regular cars, I'm like, "Wait, what? What am I doing? What? What kind of car is this? Like how do I drive this thing again?" I know that sounds silly, but it, it's true 'cause you kind of just get used to the thing that you have. And that's exactly why human factors is prevalent in medical device or in aviation or in, you know, like any kind of like navigation systems. The reason the FDA mandated it is because a lot of products were coming to market and there was a very large influx of critical catastrophic errors in hospitals. People were suffering consequences of bad interfaces or lack of instructions on products. I know that there were a lot of intravenous medications given that weren't supposed to be IV medications in like in certain-- yes, you're supposed to inject it, but not. Intravenously and those charged caused people to perish. So that's when the FDA stepped in and said, "Okay, we were asking you as a favor to do these usability studies, but now officially they're part of your risk requirements and they're part of your requirements to get to market." And I think that happened about the time I graduated grad school, around that time. So about 15, 16 years ago. [00:17:50] Lindsey Dinneen: Okay. Yeah. Well that's a fascinating story, and I'm sorry that that is the impetus for the results that we have today, but also how incredible that that is something that's being prioritized and mandated now. And I'm wondering too, when a startup company is developing their technology, how soon should they be thinking about human factors, usability, UX/UI. [00:18:17] Staci Miller: As fast as they're thinking about risk. if you're already thinking about risk at phase zero, that's when you should be thinking about usability and UI and interactions based on user processes, because that's when this kind of conversation really needs to start with regulatory, with your team, with the engineers. So even if you don't have a human factors engineer on staff, like you can find a company that can give you like some fractional support, just, you know, to talk to and to understand what their, what, what their responsibilities are, and what their requirements are to get to market. I have found that a lot of founders don't think that it's a requirement. And I, and I'm really not sure why, but that's been happening a lot lately. [00:18:59] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. So because it's a requirement, because you should be thinking about it from the get go, what are some things that you've seen work really well in terms of, putting together this kind of this testing and whatnot versus things that might seem like they could work. Like perhaps somebody feels that they could maybe do some of this testing themselves. You know, just, just things that maybe people who aren't really familiar with all the regulations would perhaps do, and that could cause problems down the road. [00:19:32] Staci Miller: So there's a, these are all really great questions and let's, let's unpack the idea of research, right? So some people think that research is finding out if somebody is happy about a product and would use it, like product market fit, right? Some people do marketing for that, and I can, that's the type of research that is not technically human factors, but it is something that Gen UX can do, right? So it's just research. I, I call it like insert white meat or insert protein. We can do the research, right? So when it comes down to it, there's, I would say that research is split into two buckets, which is UX/UI, which is very popular and people understand that, which is a formative in the FDA guidance and then validation slash summative. So the validation studies are very clean cut. So I'll explain those first. And they are to validate that the user can use the system in its environments safely. So the alpha for that is the user is successful at using this product and the uses, uses and use environments correctly and safely. And this is all based on your risk documentation from your URRA or your UFMEA. Some people use ADFMEA, which is based on design, and I suggest that they don't use that because that focuses more on the system than it does on the user. And the FDA has really cracked down on that. So if you are a founder and you think you can get just one system, ADFMEA, you are probably already starting off on the wrong foot. Make sure you have your own usability. Because human factors work really focuses on two things in the medical industry. One, it focuses on helping develop the device while breaking down risks. So if you have mitigations and your system's designed a certain way to avoid a risk, that's very important, and that's really also usability testing. And I can explain this in two ways. I've worked at Meta, I've worked at Samsung, I've worked at a lot of different big tech companies, and I've worked at a lot of medtech companies. So I think that people think that human factors is different than user research, and they're right. Human factors is much harder than user research. And you really actually need a background in research methods and an understanding of how the application of research works. Formatives can be used for two reasons. One, to support the need of the product in use and to check how people are actually using the system in real life. So sometimes people are really good at thinking-- so engineers are amazing at building systems, right? I can't do what they can do. I'm not gonna pretend like I can. What I can do is help them build it for their end user, because a lot of the times engineers think very differently than the average human being. They're much more educated. Schooling for engineering is extremely difficult. A lot of it's mathematical computations, understanding actual physical properties of things in their environments and how that they work, right? So those are the things that engineers think about all day long. That's fine. I think about the user all day long. So you can create a system that an engineer thinks that is fine, but then the user is " I don't really know how to use this. What are you talking about?" Right? And so that's what user research informatives avoid. They avoid, they break down risk and they are able to help form the product. So those, those user research studies, like before, let's say phase zero to phase four in a market cycle, if phase five is market release, are for those things. And then as you get later in the cycle, you wanna do more rigid research, that's really breaking down the risk and really focusing on the user interactions within the system and med device. And making sure that they're assessing the risk based on your user, but they're very specific to the user interactions that are critical tasks and higher. Or things that lead up to the critical test and come away. So like you have to be able to do the steps before, do the thing that's really hard to do, that could hurt somebody and then make sure coming away from them you don't cause any harm either. That's the best way to look at these types of tests. And we do the exact same thing in validation for systems. So, in software you test to see if the software can do the thing that it's supposed to do. When you check that box, the software does the thing and it did it, and we're good to go. You do the same thing with mechanical engineering. The system has this, this range of motion here and this range of motion here, and it doesn't deviate from plus X to plus Y and therefore the system does what it's supposed to say. So you're verifying and validating that the system does what the system is planned to do. It's really no different in users, it's just that you're dealing with human beings and it's not, it doesn't work the same way, right? Because like people are variables no matter what. And that was really long worded. So there's like tons of different research to do, but if you don't do your summative and you don't do your risk documentation, you're not getting to, you're not gonna get to market approval. Just, there's no way. [00:24:34] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, that is incredibly helpful insight. And you know, so I wanna go back to, you had this company before, right? So you had already built a business and it was thriving, and then unfortunately life intervened a little bit. When you went to start Gen UX, did you have moments... [00:24:57] Staci Miller: Of PTSD? [00:24:58] Lindsey Dinneen: Of, yeah. [00:25:01] Staci Miller: Yes. [00:25:01] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. [00:25:02] Staci Miller: Yeah. I had major PTSD. Like I, so the concept of Gen UX was a play on words like, so I'm a Gen Xer, no biggie, but like I think that every Gen Xers, millennials, I feel like both of our generations very much identify with our generation. And I thought it would be kind of a fun play on words to identify to people that are also Gen Xers that, yeah, we do UX work and we're Gen UX, as a Generation X, like it was very important, right? So I kind of came up with that idea, thought it was cute. But at the time I was working for Meta, and Meta had been doing quite a bit of layoffs at the time. Nothing wrong with that, that happens with every company. But I have survived in Medtronic and Abbott and all these other companies. I had survived so many rounds of layoffs. I'm like, "One day my number is gonna be, it's just, it's just gonna happen." So, we started at Meta internally, really like they, they were very open and honest with people. They're like, "This is when this is gonna happen. We are gonna lay off more people. This is when this round is gonna happen. We're gonna lay off more people, and then this is the final round and this is when we're gonna lay off these people." So each of our groups of things like, so it was like engineers, lawyers, researchers. Like we, we had timelines that we knew if, if it was gonna happen, this is when it was gonna happen, this would be the day. [00:26:17] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. [00:26:17] Staci Miller: So I started to really think about what that meant, and I'm like, "Okay, well I'm not gonna start looking for jobs right away because I want my severance package." I definitely wanted that 'cause I, and then I wanted a break if I could have it. So I was like, okay. I, in between working at I was working at EDA as a contractor and that was super fun. Like I had my own time kind of, and I enjoyed the work and I got put on other projects whenever they needed me. And it was like, but I was constantly on a project, so I'm like, "I, maybe I'll go into doing IC work by myself" and I'm like, "No, I can't make enough. If I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna build something." And then I'm like, well, I started to talk to my friends every single one of my friends, including Interface Analysis' owner, Tony Andre was like, "Start your own business, Staci. Start your own consulting firm, just do it. Don't even look back. Just do it. People will end up coming to you because you know how to do this." He's like, he's it's, "You know, the first years they are what they are and everybody knows what that looks like. It's, it's rough. You have, it's like a mental game. You're like, I am gonna do this. And you just have to be consistent and can continue down your path. And more and more people will show up." And that's been true every year. But that's how GenX was started. And yes, there was this whole trepidation about, "Am I gonna make it? Am I gonna make it through this?" And I was like, "You know what, Stac, you're starting in a recession in your, in your industry. If you can get it done, if you can get two years in and be successful, you're fine." I'm in year three. [00:27:50] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah! [00:27:51] Staci Miller: Yeah, I mean, year three, woohoo. And we're increasing 50% year over year in year three, and I started it with $0. So, and I'm not, I'm not saying like a hundred to 50, like $50 to a hundred, we're, we're talking a couple hundred thousand dollars here, a couple hundred thousand there. But it's modest and I do expect that growth, and I do expect that to continue. And the other thing I think about is becoming very malleable in, in your spaces, like what's working for you and what doesn't work for you. But I feel like that's kind of off topic from what you asked. But yeah, I had PTSD gave myself at least two years and I'm like, "I can do anything for two years. If it doesn't work out, you know, like I have everything that I have and I can go back into corporate if I need to." And I really, I really was tripping, like just to be nineties about it, I was tripping. Like I was really like, "You know, I don't know." And my husband was like. He was my biggest cheerleader. He was like, "You've gotta do this. He's you're gonna, you're gonna be able to do this. You have something that I don't have. You're really great at networking people like you." I'm like, "Do they really like what?" And he's, " No, people like being around you. You make friends easy and people really do enjoy being around you and they like know that you're smart and you're gonna be able to do this." So, that's how this all started. And yes, I was really freaked out when I first started, but every day when I had bad days, I'm like, "Everything always works itself out." [00:29:14] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. [00:29:14] Staci Miller: "Have you ever not been in a situation where everything works itself out?" "No. No." So I'm like, "Well, if I, if it doesn't, I'll get a new dream, but I don't-- once you hit this, this year, like year three and you know you're still growing, you don't have to get a new dream, you just keep going and you're like, this dream is happening. I'm gonna keep it going." [00:29:34] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. What was it like building a team? Did you start off as a one-woman show, or did you have support at the beginning? How did that work? [00:29:43] Staci Miller: So at first, actually my designer's father was working with me and he called me out of the blue and he's " Hey. I have this client, she doesn't have any human factors person working with her, but I know that she needs it and do you wanna talk to her? I know you're not working at Meta," because I put on my, oh. LinkedIn profile Open to Work. So he called me like within two days, like seriously, like people started to call me and that was when I was already like, "I'm gonna do my own thing. I'm just gonna do my own thing." So the universe just brought me a gift, right? And I met this first client and I started to work with her, and at first everything was super cool. The first year it was great, and I really liked working with her, but she also needed a couple of other things. She needed an IFU and she needed design quality assurance. I'm like, "Check, check. I can get both those things done." So I called my friend Maria, "Hey, do you wanna work with me? She's " Hey. Yeah, totally." Because we had already worked together and we knew each other pretty well. So it wasn't like it was difficult to make that connection. And, and she knows my personality. I know her personality, and I know we both work extremely hard and we have that in common. So I wasn't, never, would I be worried about Maria. And then I found I wasn't, I didn't even have a designer yet on staff. And I found someone who used to do instructions for use for a different company I worked for. I called him like, "Hey, can you do this?" He's " Yeah, yeah." So I got all that done for this other client. I'm like, "I can do this. I can do this. I can, I can find people." I know so many intelligent people who love what they do and have a fire for it every day. And then the evolution started to happen. And then I asked someone to work with me to do sales, and then they said, "Yes." And then we started to pitch people that I was friends with and knew, and sometimes they said yes, and sometimes they said no. I think the first year, I think I pitched over like $4 million in business and I got 20,000. No, I got, I got 80,000, something like that. Something, something small and I'm like, "Why am I pitching so much? This is like taking so much time outta my day," that I found someone to work with me. His name was Adam and I still actually work with Adam and he, but he's a big picture guy and he started to work with me a little bit and help me like navigate through some things. Even to this day, we talk and he's not fully, fully, fully on onboarded, but if, if some. Of the clients that he lands do come on board, he will be back on board and he will be working with me again. And then I had a salesperson this last year and I realized just I needed more of a hunter-gatherer. So like we're just going in a different direction, right? So I had that, and then last year my goal was to bring my designer Maddie on full-time. And I was able to do that too. So everything that I've kind of just said, "I'm gonna do this this year, I've been able to do this year." And I'm not taking this lightly. Like I have a board of directors, which are people who are, have different perspectives on finance because that's my weakest link, I would say. A professor at UCLA, his name's Sean Pat, also a good friend of mine. He's on my board. And my brother-in-law and my nephew, who is new in his life and on his journey, is on my board as well, and I kind of wanted him on my board so he can see what it looks like to be an entrepreneur and see what growth looks like year over year because he is already working for companies. He's, he's like 25, I think, and he's already being groomed to be in upper management. He's got upper management written all over him as like the, as like people would say in like cute little circles. And then my my brother-in-law, he is one of the CFOs at Mayo Clinic, so these are people who have some in medical, some in finance, some in finance, in medical, just helping me like grow. I throw things past them and they help, you know, make decisions for the year. And they tell me like, they give me feedback and, and work through things that I'm doing and what they think is right, what they don't think is right. And sometimes I listen, sometimes I don't. You know, like... [00:33:28] Lindsey Dinneen: Well, yeah. [00:33:29] Staci Miller: Just really depends like where I'm at and what I wanna do and where we wanna grow. [00:33:34] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Excellent. Okay. So I'm curious, especially within medtech specifically, are there moments that really stand out to you as just affirming, "Oh my goodness, I am in the right place at the right time." [00:33:49] Staci Miller: Things keep happening, so, every time I speak, like I, I spoke at Project Medtech, people bombarded me. They're like, "We wanna work with you. We wanna work with you. We should talk, we should talk." Anytime I go to a symposium I walk away with two or three leads. People coming up to me, "Oh, do you do this thing? We should really talk. We should really talk." So, just being in the situation like that kind of tells me that I'm in the right direction. And the other thing is we're growing year over year. If you take a 10,000 foot view of where I was year one versus year three now, very, very different. Extremely different. And like I said, I do have, I do have other consultants that work with me. I don't want you to think it's just like a two person shop. It's not, there's other consultants that work with me but they're as needed. They're not full employees, which I think is really helpful in a situation like this. If you're a founder starting up from scratch and you're not, you don't have, I'm not trying to get angel investors. I'm not trying to get people to push money into my company. I am building it literally from zero to whatever it is that I make. And so that, that's a, what I would call like a slow burn of, you have to build your foundation, you have to manage to the capital that you do have, and then you, then you go to the next level and you do the same thing and then you do the same thing. And there's a lot of consistency with the business now, and I see a lot of people targeting me for that consistency. And as, as we are growing, like people are engaging with us on a different level, which is exciting to see. That's always exciting. [00:35:20] Lindsey Dinneen: Yes. [00:35:20] Staci Miller: That's kind of how I know. Yeah. [00:35:23] Lindsey Dinneen: I love that. Awesome. Okay, so pivoting the conversation a little bit just for fun. [00:35:28] Staci Miller: Cool. [00:35:30] Lindsey Dinneen: Imagine that you were to be offered a million dollars to teach a masterclass on anything you want. Could be within your industry, but it doesn't have to be. What would you choose to teach? [00:35:40] Staci Miller: That's a great question. I love, I think it's very important when you do what you do for a living to have something that isn't that for yourself. So I, there's very specific ways as to how I unwind at the end of the day. One of those things is cooking. I would totally do a masterclass in being a home chef. Like I'm, I'm not even a chef like that. I've never gone to culinary school, but I absolutely, I make my own breads. I make chutney sometimes when, when I want some. I would do a masterclass on-- I'm not Gordon Ramsey. I'm not Thomas Keller. Here's what it looks like to be a home cook. And here's the, the five things that you actually need. And this is what you should learn how to make first. Like I remember the first time I was trying to make pasta or something, I boiled the water to death. There was no water left in the pond. Like I didn't even know what I was doing. I, maybe I walked away from it, I don't know, but I destroyed the pot. My mom's " What were you doing?" I was like, "Making pasta." And she's " What, what, what happened? You ruined the pot." I'm like, "I'm not, I just did it wrong." So I would probably do a masterclass in how to just take that first step learning how to make your own food, right? And talk about food 'cause I like food. There you go. That's what I would do. [00:36:52] Lindsey Dinneen: Love it. I love food and I love talking about it. So, that sounds like a great class. [00:36:58] Staci Miller: I would do, I would totally do it. [00:36:59] Lindsey Dinneen: Okay, and then how do you wish to be remembered after you leave this world? [00:37:07] Staci Miller: This might be dating me, but Roy Orbison who wrote the song, "Pretty Woman" that was also in the movie, "Pretty Woman" wrote that he "just wanted to be remembered." And I thought that was really interesting. And I think that everybody knows that song knows that it's the guy like, I don't know if you know like the artist, but I think even to this day, that song, generationally, people know that song. I don't know how I wanna be remembered, but this is how I wanna impact the world. So it's kind of like that, but kind of not. I believe that knowledge transfer is the most powerful thing that we have amongst generations. And I want the next generation to be better than me, which is probably, in my opinion, I'm kind of kind of strict about this, probably a tall order, 'cause I'm like very picky. But, I have mentored and, and taught people my craft, and I want them to be better than me so they can mentor people and be better at this craft. So if I leave one mark on this world, it's that I have taught somebody what I know how to do and I expect them to do it better than me. And I don't mentor just anybody. So if I'm mentoring you is, and I'm putting all this energy into you, you better, you better bring it. And the people that I have worked with and have mentored are doing extremely well in their careers, and that's, that's kind of a thing that I like about, like what we do and how I do it. So I don't know if I would be specifically remembered for that, but I do know that it would move our industry forward and that makes me happy. [00:38:39] Lindsey Dinneen: I love that. That's a beautiful legacy. All right, and then final question. What is one I know, what is one thing that makes you smile every time you see or think about it? [00:38:52] Staci Miller: When I see what I'm building or, or how I'm building it in the future and I really go deep within my, my consciousness about this is what I'm gonna do next. This is how I'm gonna do it. This is what makes me feel really alive. I get so excited. I get like goosebumps. I start smiling. I, I'm a big-- I don't know if you do this, Lindsey, but I do this-- I kind of dance around a little bit. Like I dance when I'm making food, I dance and most people dunno that about me. But I, but my closest friends I remember I was working with this one guy and he looks at me, he's " Do you ever stop dancing?" I'm like, "Nope. Nope, Nope. Gotta dance." So all that stuff like starts to happen. And I just get really excited about the things that I'm trying to build, what I'm trying to master in my own world, what I'm trying to create. And that's what gives me like so much excitement. And then a number two would be my cats, because they're ridiculous and I love them and they give me so much love and they make me smile all the time too. [00:39:52] Lindsey Dinneen: Oh yes, those are great answers. I love that so much. It is exciting to see. Dreams come true. I can totally understand that answer of getting the, the excitement, the tingles, and then yeah, I, yeah, I, I obviously relate to dancing around all the time, and especially like celebratory dances. They're, my celebratory dances are the goofiest, most ridiculous things you've ever seen, but I'm happy! So. [00:40:20] Staci Miller: As long as you're happy, that's all that really matters, right? Like that vibe that you're putting out there and the happiness and the giddiness, like the things that I'm building in my mind, like they haven't happened yet, but I'm dancing like they have, you know, because I hope that they do. Like there you go. And I think that's important. I love it. [00:40:35] Lindsey Dinneen: True embodiment of the vision. I love it. Well, well, Staci, this has been a great conversation. Thank you so much for your insights and your stories, and we are so honored to be making a donation on your behalf today to Feeding America, which works to end hunger in the United States by partnering with food banks, food pantries, and local food programs to bring food to people facing hunger, and also they advocate for policies that create long term solutions to hunger. So thank you so much for choosing that charity to support. And gosh, I just wish you the most continued success as you work to change lives for a better world. [00:41:15] Staci Miller: Thank you, thank you. It was so much fun being with you today. I appreciate this and it was so much fun to talk about. And yeah, I can't wait to see you in the next couple weeks too. So we'll see each other soon. [00:41:26] Lindsey Dinneen: Yay! Sounds good. Well, thanks again and have the best rest of your day. [00:41:32] Dan Purvis: The Leading Difference is brought to you by Velentium Medical. Velentium Medical is a full service CDMO, serving medtech clients worldwide to securely design, manufacture, and test class two and class three medical devices. Velentium Medical's four units include research and development-- pairing electronic and mechanical design, embedded firmware, mobile app development, and cloud systems with the human factor studies and systems engineering necessary to streamline medical device regulatory approval; contract manufacturing-- building medical products at the prototype, clinical, and commercial levels in the US, as well as in low cost regions in 1345 certified and FDA registered Class VII clean rooms; cybersecurity-- generating the 12 cybersecurity design artifacts required for FDA submission; and automated test systems, assuring that every device produced is exactly the same as the device that was approved. Visit VelentiumMedical.com to explore how we can work together to change lives for a better world.

She beat Bobby Flay with her Abuela's Arroz con Pollo. She trained under Wolfgang Puck, Thomas Keller, and José Andrés. She was a Hell's Kitchen finalist. And then she walked away from all of it to build a career entirely on her own terms.Chef Mia Castro is a Puerto Rican chef, cookbook author, food influencer, and TV personality, and her debut cookbook, Cocina Puerto Rico: Recipes from My Abuela's Kitchen to Yours, is already making waves. We're sitting down to talk about her full journey: from her Abuela's kitchen in San Juan to elite restaurant kitchens across Vegas, Miami, and New York, to the 6-year road it took to get this book published.We're talking about first-gen pressure, being the only woman in the room, hiding your identity to fit in, COVID FaceTime calls that accidentally created a cookbook, building a personal brand as a chef, what success actually looks like when you stop chasing the dream someone else gave you — and the dish that beat Bobby Flay.This one hit close to home for me. You know I started my whole digital career as a Puerto Rican food blogger. Having Chef Mia in this conversation was a full circle moment.WE GET INTO:00:01 — Intro + Chef Mia Castro00:50 — What makes Puerto Rican cuisine one of a kind01:57 — The responsibility of writing Cocina Puerto Rico03:32 — What Abuela taught her that had nothing to do with food04:26 — Growing up in la cocina (homework could wait)07:21 — First-gen pressure and choosing passion over the "safe" path08:06 — Starting as a prep cook: the real culinary hustle10:27 — Being the only woman in elite kitchens13:07 — Feeling pressure to hide her Boricua identity in professional spaces14:51 — Reclaiming Puerto Rican food — all the way to fine dining16:25 — Leaving restaurants and carving her own lane18:46 — How COVID + FaceTime with Abuela created Cocina Puerto Rico22:16 — Beating Bobby Flay with Abuela's Arroz con Pollo26:30 — Modernizing recipes for the diaspora without losing the soul29:02 — The 6-year battle to get a Puerto Rican cookbook published32:39 — The recipe that made her emotional: las cremitas34:42 — Shooting the entire book at Abuela's house in PR36:27 — Personal branding advice: treat it like a portfolio37:54 — There is no luck. There is only preparation.40:16 — Behind the scenes of Hell's Kitchen + Chopped43:27 — Success redefined: from Michelin star dreams to time freedom47:49 — The legacy she hopes Cocina Puerto Rico leaves49:06 — The first dish to make from the book (and why it beat Bobby Flay)52:37 — Where to find Chef Mia53:00 — OutroKEY TAKEAWAYSStaying humble and open to learning, at any age, is what keeps you from going stale. Abuela is still asking Mia how to cook things at 90. That's the growth mindset right there.You don't have to hide where you come from to belong in elite spaces. Mia spent years feeling like she had to stifle the Puerto Rican to fit in — and her biggest wins came when she stopped doing that.There is no such thing as luck. There is opportunity combined with preparation. Build the portfolio, show up consistently, and be ready when the call comes.Pivoting is not failing. Walking away from restaurants was not giving up. It was choosing to build a version of success that actually fit her life.Time is the real flex. Making money is cool. Having the freedom to spend it the way you want? That's the whole point.Getting a book published as a Latina author is NOT a straightforward process. It took Mia 6 years, a writing coach, months to find an agent, and two more years from contract to shelf. Know the process before you romanticize it.Consistency is the brand strategy. Not viral moments. Not follower counts. Showing up so that when the opportunity finds you, you're already prepared.CONNECT WITH MIA:Instagram Website Buy Cocina Puerto RicoTAKE THE NEXT STEP:Yo Quiero Dinero Private MembershipRead my book, Financially Lit!Leave me a voicemailThis episode of Yo Quiero Dinero was produced by Heart Centered Podcasting. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Shirley Chung is the Beijing-born chef who went from Silicon Valley to working in kitchens for Thomas Keller, Guy Savoy, and José Andrés—then found national fame as a two-time Top Chef finalist and became the “Dumpling Queen of Los Angeles.” In 2024, she was diagnosed with Stage 4 tongue cancer. She refused surgery, closed her restaurant, moved to Chicago for treatment, and came out on the other side: in remission, with a $100,000 competition win under her belt and a new Chinese restaurant in Dallas, Night Rooster. We've always admired Shirley's work, on and off camera, and this conversation covers her incredible career and her singular voice in the restaurant world. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on The Go-To Food Podcast, we're joined by one of the most important voices in pizza culture: Frank Pinello. The founder of Brooklyn's legendary Best Pizza, host of The Pizza Show and now Pizza with Frank, Frank joins us fresh from a huge week eating across London — and gives an unfiltered verdict on why the city has quietly become one of the great pizza destinations in the world. From Vincenzo's and Dough Hands to New York aesthetics taking over London, Frank explains why British pizza makers are now genuinely earning respect from New Yorkers.But this episode goes way beyond pizza rankings. Frank tells the unbelievable story of almost becoming a stockbroker straight out of school — working in a real-life Wolf of Wall Street-style boiler room on Long Island, standing all day cold-calling strangers about fake IPOs while managers shouted slogans like “motion creates emotion.” He talks about turning up in suits thinking he'd made it, only for the entire operation to eventually get raided by the feds. Before pizza fame, before Vice, before Williamsburg — there was Frank trying to survive among future federal inmates.We also go deep into old New York food culture: growing up in Bensonhurst, the smell of Sunday sauce hitting the hallway before you even reached his grandmother's basement, annual tomato canning traditions, animal heads in the kitchen, Sicilian cauliflower pasta with cinnamon breadcrumbs, and learning early that food meant love. Frank opens up about his first pizzeria jobs, burning his leg so badly on his first day in a serious kitchen that the skin peeled off — but hiding it for 12 hours because he didn't want chefs to think he was weak. He talks about culinary school feeling like military training, becoming obsessed with Thomas Keller and Ferran Adrià, and then slowly realising pizza could be treated with the same seriousness as fine dining.There are incredible stories throughout: consulting on pizza at Chiltern Firehouse before it opened, meeting Nuno Mendes and Patrick Powell, seeing Roberta's completely change global pizza culture, and building Best Pizza during the wild early Williamsburg years of artists, hipsters and old Italian families living side by side. We get Frank's thoughts on Dave Portnoy, hot honey, pizza dips, New York slice etiquette, why ketchup should never touch a hot dog after the age of 10, and the exact technique for folding and attacking a slice. Plus Ben cooks a full Sunday sauce for Frank on the studio floor — ribs, sausages, chops and meatballs included — while the conversation descends into debates about crust strategy, baguettes, greasy pepperoni cups and whether pizza should ever be taken too seriously at all.Watch and Subscribe To Our Youtube Videos Here - https://www.youtube.com/@gotofoodOrder Ben's Incredible Book - All You Can Eat - By Clicking Here - https://www.amazon.co.uk/All-You-Can-Eat-British/dp/1805221523Get 2 Months of Blinq For Free - With Code - GOTOBLINQ - https://blinqme.com/Order The Greatest Meat In The Country From HG Walter Here & Have Restaurant Quality Meals From Home - www.hgwalter.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Salad stuffed into a baguette is apparently the hottest thing in food right now, Mackinac Island's ferry system is under attack, and a proposed $4 billion service tax in Lansing has us paying very close attention. But honestly? You should listen in for the interview. Chef Andrew Sargent, winner of Netflix's Next Gen Chef, trained under Daniel Boulud at the eponymous Daniel before running day-to-day kitchen operations at Thomas Keller's three Michelin-starred Per Se — and he joins the pod to deliver one of our best conversations yet. Craft, pressure, mentorship, and why putting your personality on a plate is frankly a little self-indulgent. His words, not ours. We agree completely. Presented by Fahey, Schultz, Burzych, Rhodes PLDC. Find more information at https://fsbrlaw.com/

Will Nitze started IQBAR in 2018 to solve his own problem: long hours, a bad diet, daily brain fog. He designed the formulas for cognition, low net carb, low sugar, low glycemic. What he didn't know was that the rest of America was about to get obsessed with that exact macro profile for a completely different reason: weight loss. When keto took off, IQBAR was one of only three keto-compliant bars on Amazon. That lucky overlap was the first of several step-change moments that took a 15-person team to over 100% compound annual growth for 8 straight years, and into the shelves of Costco, Sam's Club, Walmart, and Target.In this episode of Predicting The Turn, Will unpacks why startups beat legacy CPG on speed rather than size, why he runs the entire company with a "benevolent dictator in every division" model instead of bloated marketing teams, and how IQBAR raised a little under $10M across 8 years without a single egregious fundraise. He also breaks down the move from D2C to mass retail, why packaging becomes the billboard when the shelf replaces the digital feed, and how the Bites launch turned into an incrementality test in real time.If you care about how emerging CPG brands actually scale inside Costco, Sam's Club, and Walmart without blowing up their cap table, this one is a masterclass.Key Topics- Why IQBAR's brain-health formulation became accidentally keto-compliant- The 15-person "benevolent dictator" operating model- Raising under $10M across 8 years and why bootstrapping isn't a virtue- Working capital reality when you move from Amazon to Walmart and Costco- Why packaging becomes the #1 marketing lever in mass retail- Building a platform brand across bars, hydration, coffee, and Bites- Running incrementality tests to avoid cannibalization- The three step-change moments: keto, Costco, Thomas Keller partnership- Picking a North Star that keeps you fired up in year 8

Send us Fan MailThere's a hidden supply chain crisis happening in fine dining right now - and it's something as simple, and as essential, as chocolate.Brandon Olsen is a world-class chef and chocolatier known for blending high-end culinary artistry with bold, modern creativity. He trained at some of the most prestigious kitchens in the world, including The French Laundry under Thomas Keller, before becoming a standout force in Toronto's culinary scene.Brandon is the founder of CXBO Chocolates and co-founder of La Banane, where his visually striking and technically precise desserts - most famously the “Ziggy Stardust Disco Egg” - earned widespread acclaim.Now, Brandon is making a pivotal shift from chocolatier to chocolate maker. As co-founder of As We Do Chocolate Company ( https://aswedochocolates.com/ ), he is stepping upstream in the value chain - taking control of the full bean-to-bar process to reimagine how chocolate is designed, produced, and delivered for professional kitchens.Michael Held is a seasoned entrepreneur and capital strategist with nearly 35 years of experience building and scaling companies across industries. He is best known as the founder of LifeSpeak Inc., a digital mental health platform he grew from inception to approximately $50 million in annual recurring revenue before taking it public at a valuation of roughly half a billion dollars.With a background spanning law, management consulting, and high-growth technology ventures - including roles at Monitor Group and Borden Ladner Gervais LLP - Michael brings deep expertise in scaling operations, capital formation, and strategic growth.At As We Do Chocolate, Michael is focused on building the infrastructure and operational backbone required to create something rare in food: a scaled, chef-driven manufacturing platform designed to serve the evolving needs of North American hospitality.#ChocolateIndustry #BeanToBar #FoodSupplyChain #ChefLife #PastryChef #FoodInnovation #HospitalityIndustry #RestaurantBusiness #FoodTech #SupplyChainCrisis #CulinaryArts #GourmetDesserts #FineDining #Entrepreneurship #StartupStory #FoodManufacturing #MadeInNorthAmerica #LuxuryFood #ChocolateLovers #KitchenSecrets #BehindTheScenesFood #DisruptingIndustry #ScalingCraft #FoodBusiness #FutureOfFoodSupport the show

Hoyt Hill is the sommelier at Forepaugh's Restaurant in Saint Paul, in late April he got the opportunity to stage a couple days at Chef Thomas Keller's yountville, California restaurant The French Laundry. He talks about the experience, what makes a 3 Michelin starred restaurant different, and the guest who bought a $25,000 bottle of wine. Imagine what the tip was! Well don't imagine, listen to Hoyt talk about it in this edition of DeRusha Eats.

Tino Meyer und Jens Umbreit sprechen mit Thomas Nahrendorf (Tag24/Dresdner Morgenpost) über die 1:3-Niederlage von Dynamo Dresden in Düsseldorf. Die drei analysieren das Spiel und sind sich einig: Dynamo hat kein schlechtes Spiel gemacht, aber das Momentum fehlte komplett. Sie sprechen über die beiden Düsseldorfer Matchgewinner Cedric Itten und Florian Kastenmaier und diskutieren die Schiedsrichter-Entscheidungen von Tom Bauer. Themen sind auch das Heimspiel am Samstag gegen den 1. FC Kaiserslautern und die Situation von Jonas Oehmichens bei Alemannia Aachen. Dazu gibt es Stimmen von Thomas Keller, Vincent Vermeij und Trainer Thomas Stamm.

Chefs Alen Ramos and Carolyn Nugent have been mentored by some of the world's most renowned chefs. The two, who are now married, met while working for Joël Robuchon, who was awarded the title "Chef of the Century" in 1989. The two decided to pack their bags and learn from the greats of Europe. They've worked in restaurants in France, Switzerland and Spain, and were selected to work in El Bulli and The Fat Duck, judged to be the number one and number two restaurants in the world during their tenure. They strengthened their gastronomic foundation through invaluable classical French training at Pierre Hermé in Paris. "We have been the recipients of priceless training by some of the best chefs of our time," said Nugent. "We are expressing that knowledge at Poulette Bakeshop, offering delicious food, made with care by a team of passionate people, led by experienced chefs." After returning to the United States from Europe, the pair spearheaded the bread and pastry programs at L2o in Chicago, under the mentorship of Laurent Gras, which was subsequently awarded three Michelin stars. The two then built the French Patisserie program at Bottega Louie in Los Angeles and went on to assist Thomas Keller with Bouchon Bakery in Beverly Hills. Next, Ramos & Nugent were part of the team that facilitated Quince in San Francisco going from a two Michelin star rating to three stars. The couple's reputation earned them a Research & Development position at the iconic Tartine Bakery in San Francisco where they pushed fresh milled flours and heritage grains to the forefront of artisanal baking. Finally, working under Chefs Jacquy Pfeiffer & Sebastien Canonne as a chef-instructor at The French Pastry School, the nation's top educational facility for baking & pastry education, finalized a love of education and classical French pastry. In 2020, Nugent was honored to have been selected and cast as Chef Assistant to world renowned Chef & Chocolatier, Amaury Guichon, for his debut television show, School of Chocolate, now streaming internationally on Netflix. In 2024, Carolyn & Alen were honored to be nationally recognized as Semifinalists for The James Beard Awards in the category of Best Pastry Chef and Baker. "Our many years of education allowed us the opportunity to create Michelin star style pastry and confections in a large-scale environment," said Ramos. "The techniques we use at Poulette Bakeshop have been a specialty of the French patisserie for hundreds of years and are difficult to master. We can't wait to bring European and American style pastries, treats, loaves of bread and tasty food made from locally sourced ingredients to Parker." "We believe in the tradition of our craft," said Nugent. "Alen and I have driven the concepts of other great chefs throughout our careers, but feel that now is our time to make our dream a reality." Their artisanal pastries and baked goods can be found at Poulette Bakeshop in Parker, Colorado, every Wednesday to Saturday from 8am-3pm. www.poulettebakeshop.com In this episode, we discuss: How Alen and Carolyn met while working at Robuchon in Las Vegas Soaking up the creative juices at El Bulli in Spain Working hard and learning lots at The Fat Duck On the opening team at L2O in Chicago Being part of the magic at Tartine in San Francisco Opening a pop-up in Parker, CO during COVID The birth of Poulette Bakeshop And much more! Episode Sponsored by  Valrhona, a certified B Corporation, has been crafting exceptional chocolate in the village of Tain L'Hermitage, France, since 1922. Founded by Pastry Chef Albéric Guironnet as the chocolate of chefs, Valrhona is known for its dedication to creating unique, artisan-quality chocolate with complex and balanced flavors. This commitment to excellence reflects the rich gastronomic traditions of the Rhone Valley, ensuring that every bite of Valrhona chocolate offers a consistent and unparalleled tasting experience. Visit valrhona.us for more information.

Michael Puglisi is the Senior Director and In-House Butcher at Herd & Grace, where he leads the company's culinary vision and oversees its signature steak tasting experiences. With a career rooted in craftsmanship and a deep respect for whole-animal butchery, Michael has worked across the country refining his expertise in kitchens and butcher programs at the highest level of the culinary world.Throughout his career, Michael has trained and worked alongside some of the industry's most respected chefs, including serving as Executive Sous Chef for Michelin-starred chef Thomas Keller. He has also worked as a butcher and charcutier for multiple James Beard Award-winning chefs, honing his skills in traditional meat preparation, curing techniques, and nose-to-tail cooking.After building a reputation for excellence in the butcher world, Michael brought his passion and expertise to Herd & Grace. Today, he oversees all culinary operations, curates the company's immersive steak tasting experiences, and educates guests on the art of premium beef, from sourcing and aging to precision butchery and cooking techniques.Michael's approach blends technical mastery with storytelling, creating unforgettable dining experiences that celebrate the craft of butchery and the beauty of exceptional meat.In This Episode, We Explore:How understanding where your meat comes from helps you make better decisions about quality, sustainability, and ethical sourcing.The difference between common meat labels like grass-fed, grass-finished, organic, and no antibiotics, and what they actually mean for quality and nutrition.Why personal dietary needs and preferences should guide your meat choices and how to find the best protein sources for your body.How seasonality impacts meat quality, flavor, and nutrient density, especially when it comes to grass-fed beef.The value of building relationships with trusted butchers, farmers, and suppliers to ensure transparency and consistently high-quality meat.Follow Michael Puglisi on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/michaelfpuglisi/?hl=enShop Herd & Grace here: https://herdandgrace.com/ Stay Connected:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/whitneyaronoff/Instagram https://www.instagram.com/starseedkitchen/TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@whitneyaronoffTikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@starseedkitchenLearn more about Starseed Kitchenhttps://starseedkitchen.com/Shop organic spiceshttps://starseedkitchen.com/shop/code STARSEED for 10% offWork with a personal chefhttps://form.typeform.com/to/CGDu08tEBook a 1-on-1 callhttps://bit.ly/4smXWUfFind more of Chef Whitney's offerings herehttps://linktr.ee/whitney.aronoff

Dave makes an Italian Sunday dinner of braciola and red sauce for "Cousin Sal" Iacono, sports gambling enthusiast and prankster. Dave also surprises Sal with two dishes that Dave didn't make, including his favorite sandwich in Los Angeles. The duo discusses a buffet's worth of topics, from GLP-1s to sandwiches, sports betting to why Vegas is struggling, and hot dog–eating contests. They finish with a game of Inappropriate Dinner Conversations, which gets a little NSFW and a lot character-revealing. Learn more about The Masters: https://www.masters.com/index.html Learn more about Dave and Buster's: https://www.daveandbusters.com Learn more about The French Laundry Cookbook by Thomas Keller: https://amzn.to/4aRjBMr Learn more about White House Subs: https://www.whitehousesubshop.net/ Learn more about Bianco: https://www.pizzeriabianco.com/ Host: Dave Chang Guest: "Cousin Sal" Iacono Majordomo Media Producer: David Meyer Spotify Producer: Felipe Guilhermino Additional Crew: Jake Loskutoff, Dionte Mercado, Dan McCoy, Michael Delgado, Abby Zidonis Editor: Jake Loskutoff Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Adam, Joanna, and Zach recap a few recent news items, including acclaimed restaurateur Thomas Keller's public objections to an affordable housing project in Napa Valley, GALLO's recent purchase of Four Roses Bourbon, and a spate of layoffs throughout the wine industry. Please remember to subscribe to, rate, and review The VinePair Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your episodes, and send any questions, comments, critiques, or suggestions to podcast@vinepair.com. Thanks for listening, and cheers!Zach is drinking: Islay Daiquiri at Scotch LodgeJoanna is drinking: Mary Taylor MuscadetAdam is drinking: NegroniInstagram: @adamteeter, @jcsciarrino, @zgeballe, @vinepair Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

NYC Tax War, Billionaire Backlash, Trump's Ukraine Failure & The Culture Shift No One Wants to Admit Why does New York City bend over backward to protect billionaires while everyday people struggle to survive? Mayor Zohran Mamdani is threatening a 9.5% property tax increase if Albany blocks a proposed wealth tax. He calls it a “last resort.” But let's be honest — why is it always the middle class paying the bill while the ultra-rich get protected? Meanwhile in Napa Valley, famed French Laundry chef Thomas Keller and other wealthy Yountville business owners are pushing to pause an affordable housing project — citing parking and density concerns. But is it really about traffic… or keeping middle-income families out of Wine Country? And remember when Trump said he'd end the Ukraine war in a day? Russian attacks are up. Civilian deaths are rising. Peace talks are dragging. Another promise collapsing under reality. Plus — why is Wuthering Heights suddenly thriving at the box office? Why is steamy drama dominating streaming? Are cultural tastes shifting — and are women now driving the same kind of on-screen sexual demand long associated with men? This episode connects politics, power, wealth, war, and culture — and asks the uncomfortable questions no one else is asking. The Karel Show streams live Monday–Thursday at 10:30 AM PST. Subscribe at youtube.com/reallykarel Support the show at patreon.com/reallykarel #NYCPolitics, #WealthTax, #Billionaires, #ZohranMamdani, #NewYorkCity, #PropertyTaxes, #AffordableHousing, #ThomasKeller, #FrenchLaundry, #NapaValley, #WineCountry, #ClassPolitics, #Trump, #UkraineWar, #RussiaUkraine, #Geopolitics, #PoliticalCommentary, #CultureShift, #WutheringHeights, #StreamingWars, #MediaAnalysis, #EconomicInequality, #TaxTheRich, #LiberalPolitics, #ConservativePolitics, #CurrentEvents, #TheKarelShow, #LGBTQVoices, #LasVegasBroadcaster, #IndependentMedia https://youtube.com/live/S7ihb5dAl98

On this episode we revisit Dettling Cask Strength 50 Month as we talk about stuck thumbs, routine kilt wearing, responsible enough to be a purist, paying homage to the bottle, nostalgia in a class, eating a brownie and drinking a Coke, our finger on the pulse of popular culture, the final season of Stranger Things, Making Of Documentary, huge set designs, Conformity Gate, wish we had more, Dungeons and Dragons, putting your childhood away, time travel and who is going to bite the dust, throwing Frodo into the fire with the ring, brushing your teeth with Schlitz, The Rise of the First Shadow, the sacrifice play, 80 movie trope predictability, emphatic agreement, Thomas Keller serving you a McDouble, and choosing the safe route.  Having a clear vision early on Support Us On Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/DrepandStone We'd love to hear from you! https://linktr.ee/DrepandStone Don't forget to subscribe! Music by @joakimkarudmusic Episode #332

What happens when a classically trained chef who cooked at Michelin-starred restaurants decides the future of cooking isn't fire—it's light? Today's guest is Travis Rea, Head of Culinary at Brava, the company that's reimagining home cooking with an oven that uses infrared light instead of traditional heat. But Travis's path to revolutionizing kitchen technology wasn't straightforward. Born and raised in Houston, he grew up watching his mom cook from scratch and fell in love with the transformation of ingredients at just eight years old. That passion led him to ditch a conventional business career for culinary school in San Francisco, where he spent four grueling years cooking at Restaurant Gary Danko—eventually helping the restaurant earn its Michelin star. But after years of vampire hours and relentless pressure, Travis made a bold pivot back to the business world, spending eight years at Williams-Sonoma developing over 800 food products and collaborating with legendary chefs like Thomas Keller. When he first heard about Brava—a startup claiming they could sear a steak in seven minutes using light bulbs—he thought it was "total nonsense." Now, eight years later, Travis has helped build a product that's been used over 13 million times, with a digital library of 9,000+ recipes. This is a story about knowing when to pivot, surrounding yourself with people smarter than you, and why the best career moves often require you to embrace being a beginner all over again. What You'll Learn in This Episode: How failing a class became the wake-up call that changed everything – Why Travis's freshman year failure was "one of the best things that happened" to him and taught him the importance of living up to his own potential The real cost of following your passion – Why Travis walked away from Michelin-starred kitchens after realizing he loved cooking but couldn't sustain the restaurant lifestyle for 30 years How to know when you're ready for a pivot – The signals Travis noticed (and ignored) that revealed he was reading cookbooks while his peers read marketing journals, and what that meant for his career Why working for the best matters more than the biggest paycheck – Travis's philosophy on taking lower-paying jobs at elite organizations early in your career and how it compounds over time The white belt mentality in action – What it's like to be the only "cook" in a house full of physicists and engineers, and why being the least qualified person in the room might be exactly where you need to be Get your free copy of The Career Pivot Playbook: https://www.omaid.me/newsletter  

Who's better at making functional foods, functional beverages, and/or nutritional supplements taste the best…certified flavor chemists or famous chefs? Unless you're an industry insider like me that truly understands the rarity of certified flavor chemists is equivalent to Master Sommeliers, you most likely believe famous chefs would be able to create the best-tasting products. And I totally get…food television and social media have transformed chefs from behind-the-scenes professionals to household names and cultural influencers. And functional CPG brands are starting to realize they can successfully leverage famous chefs' skills, personality, and culinary philosophies to help differentiate themselves in crowded product categories. So, welcome to the “chef-partnered era” of functional CPG products. Most recently, we've seen IQBAR partner with Michelin-starred chef Thomas Keller and Premier Protein collaborate with the iconic Christina Tosi and her team at Milk Bar. And saving the best for last…Robert Irvine was instrumental in creating FITCRUNCH protein bars that recently was acquired by 1440 Foods.

Edouardo Jordan's ascent to the top of the Seattle culinary world was a long journey that started in his childhood St. Petersburg kitchen helping his mother, when given the choice of that or cleaning his room.  Edouardo takes us through his high school, college and post college pursuits, one of which was working with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays to becoming a food blogger,  He then decided he could do better than many of the restaurants he reviewed, and he pursued his interest in cooking at the Le Cordon Bleu (Orlando Culinary Academy) and got his first kitchen job in Tampa, Florida.  He worked his way from server to the line, working for Thomas Keller at The French Laundry and Per Se, then to Sitka & Sprice in Seattle. With all of that under his belt, he had the chops to open his own restaurant, Salare, in Seattle at the age of 35.  That platform, showcasing his talent to the world, led to Food and Wine choosing him as Best New Chef in 2016.  Shortly thereafter, Jordan opened JuneBaby, his widely acclaimed ode to Southern cooking.  He generated so much attention that the following year he sounded a louder gong by bringing home TWO James Beard Foundation Awards to Seattle.  One for Best Chef Northwest, and the other for Best New Restaurant nationwide.  He was the first African-American ever to win that award.  Edouardo was the baby of the Seattle culinary scene and beyond.   In 2019, Time Magazine named him one of the USA's 100 Most Influential People.    Then, as Edouardo tells it, all of that was erased in one day.  In June of 2021, The Seattle Times published a story featuring multiple accusations of sexual abuse in the workplace by Jordan. As Jordan points out in his recent YouTube Series chronicling his side this story, The newspaper gave him very little time to respond before it was published, and what happened from then on was something unimaginable -- a long, incredibly hard and frustrating time for Chef Jordan.  He found roadblocks everywhere, especially in the media, where he couldn't tell his side of the story.  Over four years later, Jordan is clawing his way back into the kitchen with the business he started years ago, thefoodwithroots.com.   Edouardo joins us on the podcast to talk about his career's rise, its crash, and how he's been emotionally and socially picking up the pieces in recent years, to what he's doing now in work and life, and how he's found balance and answers since the upheaval.   Right at the Fork is made possible by: Zupan's Markets: www.zupans.com  RingSide SteakHouse: www.RingSideSteakhouse.com  Portland Food Adventures: www.PortlandFoodAdventures.com 

Happy Holidays from your friends at "Naked Lunch." To learn more about building community through food and "Somebody Feed the People," visit the Philanthropy page at philrosenthalworld.com.Episode Description.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Happy Holidays from your friends at "Naked Lunch." To learn more about building community through food and "Somebody Feed the People," visit the Philanthropy page at philrosenthalworld.com.Episode Description. 

The holidays are the perfect excuse to enjoy fancy snacks, and this episode—the last in our holiday food mini-series—is your official permission slip to indulge in the most luxurious of them: caviar. Shaoching Bishop, co-founder and CEO of Regiis Ova Caviar, the ultra-premium caviar company she built alongside three-Michelin-star chef Thomas Keller, joins to help us better understand and enjoy caviar this holiday season. From what caviar actually is to why quality, curing, and handling matter far more than prestige or price, she fills us in what it takes to produce one of the finest caviars in the world. Plus, Shaoching shares tips on how to store caviar properly at home and why you might want to consider cucumbers and ice cream (really) when serving. Whether you're caviar-curious, already obsessed, or just looking to elevate your holiday or weeknight table, this episode will change the way you think about this iconic food. Wine Featured on This Episode 2023 Matthiasson Chardonnay Linda Vista Vineyard Napa Valley

Stateline Road Smokehouse co-owner Jeremy Threat is visiting Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell today. This is his first time on the show. During the show, author Marty Nachel called in to talk about his new book. That portion of the live radio show with Marty Nachel is on this separate podcast episode, so that both guests can have their own separately indexed episode page. Darryl Bell, the chef at Stateline Road Smokehouse, comes from Kansas City. He is also Jeremy’s business partner. After college Jeremy worked in operations management in the restaurant industry. So he went from hotel restaurants to a management position. Working for Thomas Keller, the owner of French Laundry was demanding. In previous restaurant jobs, he learned about the business side of the restaurant business. But at French Laundry, he learned how to create a company culture that fostered excellence. Keller was always pushing to improve, along the lines of the Japanese concept of kaizen. How do you do the same thing time after time, while making it consistently as good as it can be? That is the question. Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around!

Ivan Brehm is the chef-owner of restaurant Nouri and the creative space Appetite in Singapore. As a chef, he is known for his thoughtful approach to food, creativity and "Crossroads Thinking”, emphasising the connections and interdependence of all things, extending beyond cooking. This comes partly from his multi ethnic heritage and childhood in São Paulo in Brazil. As a young chef, he left Brazil and worked in some of the world's best restaurants that left a clear mark on his cooking philosophy, like Thomas Keller's Per Se, Andoni Luis Aduriz's Mugaritz, and Heston Blumenthal's The Fat Duck. In this podcast, we will hear Ivan Brehm tell his story, and how he combines cultural exploration, history, anthropology, and culinary traditions into a collective exploration of food and meaning. He will also reveal his favourite restaurants in Singapore and the rest of the world. These recommendations and thousands more are available for free in the World of Mouth app: https://www.worldofmouth.app/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oh we're going back, way back to where it all began - if we're going to talk restaurant cookbooks, how can we not include the French Laundry? Enjoy the youth in our voices, if not the chaotic Michelin-star level failures... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I can tell you it was like sitting with a long, lost neighbor when sitting with Kelly E. Carter.  And in fact, we were neighbors of sorts back in the day. It wasn't until I was searching for images to create the icons for this podcast did I realize I was in the presence of true maverick royalty.  Besides being a New York Times best selling author, she has reported from the greatest sporting events of the world: the NBA FInals, Super Bowls, Grand Slams, Stanley Cup Finals and much more. And more intriguing, she was the woman reporter in the locker room! I was so intrigued and we could have spoken for hours because she is the Founder of the wine tourism group, Napa Valley Noir. sitting down with Kelly E. Carter in the studio for this episode of Wine Talks was like taking a stroll down memory lane while simultaneously hitching a ride on a train heading straight for the future of wine tourism. There's something about Kelly—her energy, her wit, and just her knack for storytelling—that gets you thinking about the wine industry in ways that feel both nostalgic and freshly invigorating. We kicked things off with some good old home turf banter—Kelly's Windsor Hills childhood (Ray Charles and Ike & Tina Turner for neighbors, no less) and my own roots in Inglewood. Instantly, there was this shared sense that, before wine stole our hearts, Southern California had given us some pretty unique perspectives on culture and community. And as Kelly pointed out, “you'll never know everything” about winemaking, which is honestly the very reason some of us keep swirling, sipping, and studying. I know I do. What genuinely impressed me was Kelly's trajectory. She was the first female to cover the Lakers—how many people do you meet who set out in fourth grade to be a sports journalist and actually make it happen? She wasn't just content to report on sports. She made her mark, switched lanes into entertainment, and then into luxury travel writing, which eventually led her to Florence and Positano. It's the kind of layered journey you don't hear about every day. You talk to some folks, they've been in wine their whole lives. With Kelly, it's travel, sports, culture—all converging in the glass. We got into the nitty-gritty of wine and travel writing and how AI could never replace the boots-on-the-ground experience. I had to laugh—when Kelly plugged Napa into chatbots, she got recommendations for wineries that are closed for renovations. "You have to know the latest," she said, reminding me that the best wine stories are always written with real shoe leather, not just code. Her insights into Napa Valley tourism were equally compelling. As the founder of Napa Valley Noir, Kelly's passion lies in creating experiences rich in narrative, not just pouring cabs for folks who made it big in tech and want a taste of the valley lifestyle. She's all about partnerships with wineries that have soul, stories, and a genuine connection to their craft—whether it's a historic vineyard run by women or an impromptu meeting with Thomas Keller that leaves guests starstruck. Frankly, I couldn't agree more. The stories make the bottle—and the memories. That's what keeps this business alive, even as the market shifts. Kelly also talked about the recent surge in African American visitors to Napa, thanks in part to celebrity influence (LeBron, Kobe, you name it), and her drive to ensure these visitors experience the full magic Napa has to offer, not just what's on the surface. She's honest—her intake forms ask straight-up about comfort level on bottle prices. She knows how to match guests with the right wineries, sometimes calling in a favor for an extra pour or a charcuterie board, because that's how relationships form and deepen in this business. There's a lesson in Kelly's methods: whether it's a group of corporate execs, first-timers, or veteran collectors, she makes sure the experience is tailored and memorable. Maybe it's the aftermath of her own battles—her candor about beating a rare cancer got me thinking about perspective, gratitude, and the importance of living fully, whether it's raising a glass or hiking through a vineyard. Talking with Kelly reminded me why I started this podcast in the first place. It's the human stories behind the wines, the journeys of the people who bring them to life—and the shared desire to know just a little bit more, one sip, one story at a time. Cheers to Kelly and to all of us still curious.   YouTube: https://youtu.be/AXGYAhnctSE   Napa Valley Noir  https://napavalleynoir.com Alpha Omega Winery https://www.aowinery.com Brown Estate Vineyards  https://www.brownestate.com French Laundry  https://www.thomaskeller.com/tfl Bouchon Bistro https://www.thomaskeller.com/bouchon Ad Hoc https://www.thomaskeller.com/adhoc Visit Napa Valley (tourism board) https://www.visitnapavalley.com AAAV - Association of African American Vintners https://www.aaavintners.org 1010 Wine Bar https://www.1010wineandsmallplates.com Vera Wang  https://www.verawang.com Tod's  https://www.tods.com Mohawk Industries  https://www.mohawkind.com #WineTalksPodcast #KellyECarter #PaulKalemkiarian #NapaValleyNoir #NapaValleyTourism #AfricanAmericanWineCulture #WineIndustryStories #WinemakingEducation #WineTastings #TravelWriting #ItalyToNapa #LuxuryTravel #AAAV #WellnessInNapa #WinePricing #BordeauxBlends #WineExperiences #WineBusinessChallenges #CelebrityWineCulture #PersonalMemoir #HeadAndNeckCancer

Fr. Thomas Keller is back on the program with Adam to discuss the first Luminous Mystery: The Baptism in the Jordan. Adam shares some thoughts on the day's Gospel. Download the Covenant Network app today! Pray the Visual Rosary at VisualRosary.org For more information on Covenant Network, visit OurCatholicRadio.org

Napa Valley icon Tor Kenward joins host Billy for a wide ranging conversation spanning five decades of wine, food, and culture in the Valley. Tor traces his journey from a 1970s arrival when Napa had fewer than 50 wineries through the post Judgment of Paris boom, his culinary collaborations with Julia Child, Thomas Keller, and the American Institute of Wine & Food, the founding of the School for American Chefs with Madeleine Kamman, and the creation of TOR Wines, a Burgundy minded, single vineyard model sourcing elite blocks from sites like To Kalon, Vine Hill Ranch, Martha's Vineyard, Melanson Pritchard Hill, Hyde, Beckstoffer Dr. Crane, and more. We also dig into Tor's updated book, Reflections of a Vintner: Stories and Seasonal Wisdom from a Lifetime in Napa Valley with forewords by Robert Parker and Thomas Keller and an afterword by Karen MacNeil, plus candid takes on climate, pricing, and Napa's fifth season, the future.Key Topics & Takeaways1970s Napa, up close: fewer than 50 wineries, campgrounds over hotels, and meeting legends like André Tchelistcheff and Joe HeitzJudgment of Paris impact: how one blind tasting accelerated Napa's global credibility and tourismCulinary engine of Napa: Julia Child, AIWF, Copia, and launching the School for American Chefs with Madeleine KammanFrench Laundry era: early friendship with Thomas Keller; hospitality lessons borrowed from Europe and made Napa specificBuilding TOR Wines: why Tor chose a single vineyard Burgundy mindset over a Bordeaux style estate modelVineyard character, not just variety: how To Kalon vs Pritchard Hill vs Vine Hill Ranch show dramatic Cabernet diversityContracts and farming voice: leasing elite blocks, co deciding canopy, crop load, and timing with family growersThe book's format: a vintage year told month by month January to December plus Déjà Vu, the future of NapaHeadwinds and hope: consumption shifts, fire seasons, pricing ceilings, and why recent cool vintages can be outstandingPrice tiers that make sense: maturing region dynamics, icon wines can command premiums while broader tiers stabilizeLinks & ResourcesReflections of a Vintner: Stories and Seasonal Wisdom from a Lifetime in Napa Valley updated editionLink: https://www.amazon.com/Reflections-Vintner-Tor-Kenward-ebook/dp/B0F37B1GMKChapters00:00 Introduction to the Vent Wine Podcast00:23 Meet Napa Valley Legend Tor Kenward03:04 The Impact of the Judgment of Paris05:21 Founding Tor Wines and Napa's Evolution07:48 Reflections on Napa's Culinary and Wine Scene18:26 The Transition from Sweet to Dry Wines23:02 Napa's Hospitality Revolution26:48 Starting Tour Wines: A Family-Owned Venture27:39 Focusing on Single Vineyards: A Burgundy Approach29:49 Leasing Vineyard Blocks: Building Relationships30:55 Production Numbers and Collaborations31:44 The Unique Characteristics of Napa Valley Wines36:28 Writing the Book: Honoring Napa Valley's Legacy42:59 Climate Change and Napa Valley's Future46:32 The Premiumization of Napa Wines50:10 Conclusion and Final ThoughtsThe Vint Wine Podcast is hosted and produced by Billy Galanko. For more content follow Billy on Instagram @BillyGalanko_wine_nerd and for partnerships and collaborations please email Billy@thewinepod.com. Cheers!

Fr. Thomas Keller joins Adam on today's program for an overview of the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary. Download the Covenant Network app today! Pray the Visual Rosary at VisualRosary.org For more information on Covenant Network, visit OurCatholicRadio.org

LinksAlien3Alien | Typeset In The FutureJealousy vs. Envy: Understanding the Difference and Definitions | Merriam-WebsterInside Grace Van Patten's Portrayal of Amanda KnoxThe Night Manager (British TV series) - WikipediaThe New American BibleMeet the Voice of Winnie the Pooh … and Tigger, Too! - YouTubeCritics Pete Wells, Soleil Ho on Thomas Keller and French LaundryWe need to talk about KellergateHow the Ritz-Carlton Creates a 5 Star Customer Experience | CRM.orgThe Nordy Pod: The Truth About Nordstrom's Legendary Tire Story | NordstromFoundations of Our Brand | Ritz-Carlton Leadership CenterEvery breath I take without your permission raises my self-esteem - YouTubeMitchell and Webb: "Are we the baddies?" - YouTubePop-chart flops can turn into latter-day classics.Almost Famous - Tiny Dancer - YouTubeDisney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears - Theme Song | Disney+ Throwbacks | Disney+ - YouTubeFrom Scratch | Curious George Wiki | FandomCurious George

In this Monday episode of Roadmap to Heaven, Fr. Thomas Keller joins Adam to reflect on the fourth joyful mystery of the Rosary, the Presentation of Our Lord. Fr. Zach Samples begins the week's reflections based on the Daily Gospel readings. Download the Covenant Network app today! Pray the Visual Rosary at VisualRosary.org For more information on Covenant Network, visit OurCatholicRadio.org

In today's episode of Roadmap to Heaven, Fr. Thomas Keller joins Adam again to continue their conversations on the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary. Today, Fr. Keller and Adam discuss the implications of the Nativity of Our Lord two thousand years later. Later in the episode, Fr. Brian Alford offers some insights from the Gospel of the Day. Download the Covenant Network app today! Pray the Visual Rosary at VisualRosary.org For more information on Covenant Network, visit OurCatholicRadio.org

If it feels like the grossest summer in city history, you're not wrong. And that could affect air quality in the Mon Valley after the explosion at Clairton Coke Works. Incoming college freshman will be moving in next week – to Oakland and also Downtown – and a lot of them will find themselves in hotels instead of dorms. And we're talking about a bunch of wins for Pittsburgh this week, like an impromptu All-American Rejects concert at Sheetz, the return of the beloved Terrible Trolley, and megastar chef Thomas Keller noshing at Casbah – plus registration is open for the 2026 Pittsburgh Marathon and the Garbage Olympics this September. Vote for us for Best Podcast in City Paper's Best of the Burgh contest every day through Aug. 22. We're in the People & Places category. We're doing our annual survey to learn more about our listeners. We'd be grateful if you took the survey at citycast.fm/survey—it's only 7 minutes long. You'll be doing us a big favor. Plus, anyone who takes the survey will be eligible to win a $250 Visa gift card–and City Cast City swag. Notes and references from today's show: Is this really the muggiest summer in Pittsburgh history? Here's the data. [PublicSource] How Well Do You Know Pittsburgh? Take This Quiz! [Hey Pittsburgh] Point Park University will move students into Wyndham Grand Hotel because of influx of freshman [WPXI] Pitt freshmen living in off-campus hotel frustrated about cost, distance [P-G] College move-in 2025: Dates, traffic plans at high-traffic Pittsburgh schools [P-G] Millvale Community Library's Back to School Bash [Instagram] Pittsburgh Public School's Back to School Bash [Early Learning Resource Center] Pittsburgh Brewing Takes Over Branding of Landmark South Side Clock [Pittsburgh Magazine] Pittsburgh's Trash Problem [City Cast Pittsburgh] John Wells Has Produced Four Decades of TV Hits, Including ‘The Pitt.' He Has Some Advice for Hollywood [Hollywood Reporter] Does 'The Pitt Get Pittsburgh Right? [City Cast Pittsburgh] Do you have a flooding horror story or a hack to keep all your stuff safe? Call or text our FLOOD HOTLINE at 412-212-8893. We're doing our annual survey to learn more about our listeners. We'd be grateful if you took the survey at citycast.fm/survey — it's only 7 minutes long. You'll be doing us a big favor. Plus, anyone who takes the survey will be eligible to win a $250 Visa gift card and City Cast City swag. Learn more about the sponsors of this August 15th episode: Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Overlook Maps Babbel - Get up to 60% off at Babbel.com/CITYCAST Become a member of City Cast Pittsburgh at membership.citycast.fm. Want more Pittsburgh news? Sign up for our daily morning Hey Pittsburgh newsletter. We're also on Instagram @CityCastPgh! Interested in advertising with City Cast? Find more info here.

In today's episode of Roadmap to Heaven, host Adam Wright begins a five week journey with the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary. Adam is joined by Fr. Thomas Keller who breaks open the gift of the Rosary and offers some practical insights for us from the first Joyful Mystery: The Annunciation. Fr. Christopher Trummer joins Adam for a brief reflection on today's Gospel. Download the Covenant Network app today! Pray the Visual Rosary at VisualRosary.org For more information on Covenant Network, visit OurCatholicRadio.org

Kelly and Lillian discuss the Thomas Keller "incident"

Kelly and Lillian discuss the Thomas Keller "incident"

Nutrition Nugget! Bite-size bonus episodes offer tips, tricks and approachable science. This week Jenn is talking about IQ Mix, the trendy electrolyte drink mix from the makers of IQ Bars. Is it truly a clean, hydrating option—or just another product dressed up in wellness buzzwords? Jenn breaks down the ingredients, calls out what's really providing the electrolytes, and raises a few red flags that might surprise you. Could that sweet flavor be messing with your metabolism more than you think? And what's missing from the label that Jenn wishes she could see? Tune in as she unpacks what's refreshing, what's questionable, and what you should consider before mixing up your next electrolyte drink. Like what you're hearing? Be sure to check out the full-length episodes of new releases every Wednesday. Have an idea for a nutrition nugget? Submit it here: https://asaladwithasideoffries.com/index.php/contact/ RESOURCES:Become A Member of Salad with a Side of Fries Jenn's Free Menu PlanA Salad With a Side of FriesA Salad With A Side Of Fries MerchA Salad With a Side of Fries InstagramNutrition Nugget: IQ BarsJenn's Electrolyte MixIQ Mix, Salad With A Side Of Fries, Jenn Trepeck, Electrolyte Mix, IQ Bars, Smart Mouth, Thomas Keller, Fine Snacking, Michelin Star Chef, Zero Grams Of Sugar, Magnesium And Adaptogens, Ultra Clean Label, Certified Non-GMO, Certified Gluten-Free, Vegan And Kosher, Mental Clarity, Elevating Your Mood, Preventing Muscle Cramps, Blood Sugar Balance, Insulin Response, Sweet Flavor, Lemon Lime, Magnesium L-Threonate, Cross The Blood Brain Barrier, Mood And Memory Support, Lion's Mane, Adaptogens, Hydration Blend, Trisodium Citrate, Tripotassium Citrate, Sea Salt, Natural Flavors, Citric Acid, Stevia, Vitamin A, Magnesium Dose, Elimination Changes, Rehydration Support, Gut Impact, Better Quality Ingredients

Besides having a new baby, two restaurants and two cookbooks @chefsuzannevizethann made time to chat with me on the podcast about her beautiful brunch cookbook.Stephanie Hansen:Hello, everybody. Welcome to the Dishing with Stephanie's Dish podcast. We are here today with Chef Suzanne VizethannChef Suzanne has written a book called Brunch Season, and the subtitle is A Year of Delicious Mornings from the Buttermilk Kitchen. And I love a book that takes, like, a single subject but really, like, elaborates on it, because I think when you think of brunch dishes, you have, like, you know, the top five in your mind, and you really have done a comprehensive guide here of how to explore brunch from not just like, egg dishes, but all the way through seasonality. So for me, I love books that either give you seasonal guidance because, like, I'm in summer right now, so how do I make a brunch for friends and what ingredients do I use? I love the way you organize this book. Did you. Is this your first book?Suzanne Vizethann :It's our second book. You know, the first book, “Welcome to Buttermilk Kitchen” Was more of a restaurant focused book, like 100 recipes from the restaurant. So this. This book is, you know, more of a standalone book. It's definitely recipes that you would find maybe as specials in the restaurant, but more as me as a chef, like, my voice as a chef.“Welcome to Buttermilk Kitchen” Stephanie Hansen:So let's talk about that for just a second, because I think a friend of mine, Gavin Kaysen from the Twin Cities, he has, like, a book called At Home that's more of his, like, personality and style. And then he has the restaurant books, which are highly stylized. Obviously, it's a beautiful restaurant. What, after writing the restaurant book, made you want to kind of bring that home into your point of view?Suzanne Vizethann :I think that I love. Well, first of all, I love cooking, and I love sharing recipes with people. And, you know, like you said kind of, you brought up a really good point that chef recipes and restaurant recipes are just that. They're restaurant recipes, and they're sometimes really difficult to pare down to something small and make them accessible in the home kitchen. And so while we attempted to do that in the first book, I think that this was more of an opportunity to say, okay, hey, this is something that I might cook at home, or, you know, this is something that I like to cook in the summer or in the fall, and kind of really bringing that, like, you in my home with me.Stephanie Hansen:So can you tell me a little bit more about your restaurant?Suzanne Vizethann :Sure, yeah. So we actually have two the original restaurants in Atlanta, Georgia. It's been open almost 13 years. You know, brunch focused restaurant, open in the morning, you know, breakfast and lunch primarily. And then I actually just opened a restaurant up in Maine. I live here full time up on the mid coast in a town called Camden. And we have, we took over an 81 year old diner and opened another Buttermilk Kitchen here. And that one's called Buttermilk Kitchen at Mariners to honor the old name.Suzanne Vizethann :So, yeah, same, same style, you know, still a breast brunch driven restaurant, but a little bit more of a coastal flair since we are right on the water.Stephanie Hansen:And did you have a, did you have a move that precipitated opening in another location? Because I'm fascinated by how people can run restaurants. A one and then two, like in two different states. I just don't.

Besides having a new baby, two restaurants and two cookbooks @chefsuzannevizethann made time to chat with me on the podcast about her beautiful brunch cookbook.Stephanie Hansen:Hello, everybody. Welcome to the Dishing with Stephanie's Dish podcast. We are here today with Chef Suzanne VizethannChef Suzanne has written a book called Brunch Season, and the subtitle is A Year of Delicious Mornings from the Buttermilk Kitchen. And I love a book that takes, like, a single subject but really, like, elaborates on it, because I think when you think of brunch dishes, you have, like, you know, the top five in your mind, and you really have done a comprehensive guide here of how to explore brunch from not just like, egg dishes, but all the way through seasonality. So for me, I love books that either give you seasonal guidance because, like, I'm in summer right now, so how do I make a brunch for friends and what ingredients do I use? I love the way you organize this book. Did you. Is this your first book?Suzanne Vizethann :It's our second book. You know, the first book, “Welcome to Buttermilk Kitchen” Was more of a restaurant focused book, like 100 recipes from the restaurant. So this. This book is, you know, more of a standalone book. It's definitely recipes that you would find maybe as specials in the restaurant, but more as me as a chef, like, my voice as a chef.“Welcome to Buttermilk Kitchen” Stephanie Hansen:So let's talk about that for just a second, because I think a friend of mine, Gavin Kaysen from the Twin Cities, he has, like, a book called At Home that's more of his, like, personality and style. And then he has the restaurant books, which are highly stylized. Obviously, it's a beautiful restaurant. What, after writing the restaurant book, made you want to kind of bring that home into your point of view?Suzanne Vizethann :I think that I love. Well, first of all, I love cooking, and I love sharing recipes with people. And, you know, like you said kind of, you brought up a really good point that chef recipes and restaurant recipes are just that. They're restaurant recipes, and they're sometimes really difficult to pare down to something small and make them accessible in the home kitchen. And so while we attempted to do that in the first book, I think that this was more of an opportunity to say, okay, hey, this is something that I might cook at home, or, you know, this is something that I like to cook in the summer or in the fall, and kind of really bringing that, like, you in my home with me.Stephanie Hansen:So can you tell me a little bit more about your restaurant?Suzanne Vizethann :Sure, yeah. So we actually have two the original restaurants in Atlanta, Georgia. It's been open almost 13 years. You know, brunch focused restaurant, open in the morning, you know, breakfast and lunch primarily. And then I actually just opened a restaurant up in Maine. I live here full time up on the mid coast in a town called Camden. And we have, we took over an 81 year old diner and opened another Buttermilk Kitchen here. And that one's called Buttermilk Kitchen at Mariners to honor the old name.Suzanne Vizethann :So, yeah, same, same style, you know, still a breast brunch driven restaurant, but a little bit more of a coastal flair since we are right on the water.Stephanie Hansen:And did you have a, did you have a move that precipitated opening in another location? Because I'm fascinated by how people can run restaurants. A one and then two, like in two different states. I just don't.

Happy Holiday! Enjoy this best of episode from February.  

#102.In this episode, Josh sits down with Gavin Kaysen—the award-winning chef and founder of Soigné Hospitality Group in Minneapolis.Gavin reflects on his upbringing, his mentors like Daniel Boulud and Thomas Keller, and how their examples—especially around discipline and curiosity—shaped not only his cooking but his approach to business and people.Whether it's developing young talent, opening new concepts, or coaching Team USA at the Bocuse d'Or, Gavin shares what drives him: a deep belief in hospitality, personal growth, and giving back.Listeners get an inside look at the stories behind Kaysen's renowned restaurants, including Spoon and Stable, Demi, and Mara, and the meaning behind names like Bellecour. Gavin also shares touching moments about his relationship with the late Paul Bocuse, including the story of why Bocuse flew the American flag in front of his restaurant.Of course, it wouldn't be a Gavin Kaysen conversation without a mention of spoons—yes, the ones he “borrows” from restaurants as mementos of meals that moved him.Links and resources

Chefs tend to have a love-hate relationship with restaurant critics, who have the power to make or break them. Critics try to enter restaurants undetected, while chefs try to spot them, then ensure a flawless experience and a good review. This week, we have a story about one critic's very unusual encounter with a famous chef, and the bombshell article that followed. MacKenzie Chung Fegan was a relatively new critic at the San Francisco Chronicle when she visited The French Laundry, a restaurant of worldwide acclaim helmed by the celebrity chef Thomas Keller. When Keller asked to speak with her, MacKenzie assumed she knew why. But she was in for a big surprise. Read MacKenzie's story in the San Francisco Chronicle here. The Sporkful production team includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Kameel Stanley, and Jared O'Connell. Publishing by Shantel Holder.Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.Right now, Sporkful listeners can get three months free of the SiriusXM app by going to siriusxm.com/sporkful. Get all your favorite podcasts, more than 200 ad-free music channels curated by genre and era, and live sports coverage with the SiriusXM app.

Thomas Keller has built a collection of restaurants that have set new standards in the hospitality profession. As the first American-born chef to receive multiple three-star ratings from the Michelin Guide for The French Laundry and Per Se and one star for The Surf Club Restaurant, he is the most recognized American chef by Michelin. In 2011, he was designated a Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor, the first American male chef to be so honored. He is the author of six cookbooks, including The French Laundry Cookbook, which recently celebrated its 25th anniversary.Alice Waters is the visionary chef and owner of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California. She is the author of four cookbooks, including Chez Panisse Vegetables and Fanny at Chez Panisse. In 1994 she founded the Edible schoolyard at Berkeley's Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, a model curriculum that integrates organic gardening into academic classes and into the life of the school.On May 29, 2025,  Thomas Keller and Alice Waters came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco for an onstage conversation with Phil Rosenthal, the creator of the PBS documentary series “I'll Have What Phil's Having” and Netflix's “Somebody Feed Phil.” 

Jordan and Max are joined by the Jiro Dreams of Sushi man himself, David Gelb, to talk the new season of Chef's Table and all the legends, being a Hollywood hired gun, and passion within the culinary world. Plus, Max lists his five least favorite Chef's Table restaurants to David's disgust, Jordan has ideas for future Chef's Table seasons, Jamie Oliver vs. Emeril Lagasse, A-listers at Saffy's, whatever happened to Wolvesmouth, TK again, and the problem with food criticsm.

It's the return of a special video podcast series: Food Writers Talking About Food Writing. It's available on the TASTE YouTube channel, so make sure to subscribe and check out the video version of this podcast. Every couple of weeks, Matt Rodbard invites a journalist to talk about some favorite recent food writing as well as their thoughts on the industry as a whole.On today's episode, we have an amazing conversation with Jaya Saxena. Jaya is a correspondent at Eater, covering many topics including labor, queer food culture, and “why American potato chips are so boring.” She also serves as the series editor for the Best American Food and Travel Writing anthology, which has a new edition edited by Bryant Terry dropping in the fall.In this great episode, we talk about Jaya's career writing about the world of food, including her memorable piece for Eater, “The Food That Makes You Gay.” We also go over some recent stories and play the game “What would you pitch 1997 Graydon Carter?” That is, Jaya considers her dream no-budget reporting assignment.Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We'd love to hear from you. Featured on the episode:Thomas Keller asked me to leave the French Laundry [SF Chronicle]We've All Been In Thomas Keller's Courtyard [Substack]The 22 Best Pizza Places in New York Right Now [New York Times]The Food That Makes You Gay [Eater]The Best American Food and Travel Writing 2025TASTE on YouTubeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

With one small, clever—and now-trademark—idea in 1990, the chef Thomas Keller turned not only the notion of the ice-cream cone on its head, but the fine-dining world, too. Now, 35 years later, his hospitality group comprises 10 restaurants, including The French Laundry in Yountville, California, and Per Se in New York City—both of them three-Michelin-starred—as well as Bouchon Bistro and Bouchon Bakery in Las Vegas and The Surf Club Restaurant in Miami. Across his entire hospitality operation, a highly refined, expertly tuned set of standards feeds his “one-guest-at-a-time” philosophy and culture. In many respects, Keller was at the forefront of a local-focused cooking movement. He was also a pioneer in making fine dining more relaxed and approachable—and decidedly less fussy. The food world today would not be the same were it not for his wide-spanning influence.On the episode, Keller reflects on how it took two decades of failing and learning from mistakes before at last, in 1994, he opened The French Laundry, which instantly received rave reviews and remains one of the most celebrated restaurants in the world. He also discusses his recent Chef's Table episode on Netflix and his cameo on the FX show The Bear, memory-making as a key part of his operation, and why persistence is the greatest form of pleasure.Special thanks to our Season 11 presenting sponsor, Van Cleef & Arpels.Show notes:Thomas Keller[4:57] “Chef's Table: Legends” (2025)[4:57] The French Laundry[4:57] Per Se[7:24] Grant Achatz[7:24] Bobby Flay[7:24] Tom Colicchio[7:24] Emeril Lagasse[7:24] Le Pavillon[10:13] “The Bear”: Season 3, Episode 10 (2024)[10:13] Christopher Storer[10:13] “Sense of Urgency” (2013)[10:13] Hans Zimmer[10:13] Bouchon Bistro[10:13] “Thomas Keller's Roasted Chicken” (2020)[17:26] “Chef Thomas Keller on Finding Professional Success After 40” (2022)[23:55] “The French Laundry Cookbook” (1999)[25:57] Daniel Boulud[28:24] Graham Kerr[28:24] “The Galloping Gourmet” (1968)[32:27] Roland Henin[33:47] Florence Fabricant[33:47] “Food; Flights of Fancy” (1988)[33:47] “Checkers Has Lost Its Chef” (1992)[38:08] “Sally Schmitt, Trend-Setting Restaurateur, Is Dead at 90”[40:12] The French Laundry Kitchen[40:12] Snøhetta[40:12] “Thomas Keller, an Exacting Chef at a Crossroads”[48:47] “The Reach of a Restaurant” TED Talk[48:47] “The French Laundry, Per Se” (2020)

Enjoy this replay of EP 373 with Joshua Schwartz and Travel Creel. Today on episode 373 of the outdoor biz podcast I'm talking with Travel Creel founder and chef Joshua Schwartz. Joshua and his team love to fish! Their goal is to combine world-class fishing destinations with comfortable accommodations and outstanding dining experiences. Facebook Twitter Instagram The Outdoor Biz Podcast Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! Sign up for my Newsletter HERE. I'd love to hear your feedback about the show! You can contact me here: email: rick@theoutdoorbizpodcast.com   Show Notes How'd you get into cooking? So, my grandfather owned a French bistro, so I kind of grew up in a restaurant as a kid, and he passed away when I was pretty young, and didn't really know how to deal with his passing. Didn't really understand grief and everyone was really upset. My family, my mom, my dad, my sister were all upset and I didn't really know what to do cuz I wasn't feeling upset, but I didn't know how to deal with it. And my mom's like, you, everyone deals with grief differently, so you just need to choose what you wanna do and how you wanna deal with it. And I said, well, I'm just gonna be a chef like grandpa was. Oh, cool. And that was really kind of like, I set my sights on it and I never looked back. So tell us about your cooking career. You cooked at the French Laundry, Bouchon, and Per Se Yeah, so I started cooking at 14 professionally and worked my way through some of local restaurants and met a chef when I was in high school, who was an instructor at the New England Culinary Institute, and he worked for Thomas Keller at his original restaurant in New York called Rakel. He helped me get set up going to the New England Culinary Institute. Which, which is where I went to school in Vermont. And my first externship, from the way that school worked was you did six months at school, six months as an externship working in a professional kitchen. And then back to school for six months and then back out in the field for six more months. And then you graduated. So my first externship was in New York working for David Bouley at the original Bouley on Duane and Houston. And that was my introduction to fine dining. When did you have time to pick up fly fishing? When I was working at the French Laundry we started the project of Buchon and me and another chef friend Jeff Cerciello, we were going to be the sous chefs at Buchon. So we, we were helping with that project and everything was going really well, but it was kind of slow-moving, you know, building a restaurant out and starting it from the ground. , it was slow-moving. So we had, we had a lot of free time. I mean, not a lot, but more than normal. And he asked me if I wanted to go up and fish go fish with him up on Hat Creek. Which is, you know, a beautiful Spring Creek in Northern California. I had grown up fishing as a kid. My grandmother used to take me flounder fishing off the dock on Long Island as a kid. And, and then we moved to Pennsylvania when I was a little bit older and we had ponds in every corner. And I used to use my spin rod and catch bass left and right. And that was kind of like a normal summer routine for me. So I loved fishing. But I'd never fly fished before. And I caught my first fish on a dry fly and that was it. I mean, on the way home, I overdrew my bank account and bought a fly rod a fly. waiters and boots at the fly shop in Redding. I remember it specifically cause I overdrew my account. Right, right, right. But I was dead set on like, I'm gonna keep doing this. It's, yeah. So it's, it's a great sport to participate in. Yeah. And then that summer, like we took another, like, we, we all mountain bike and we took. A mountain biking trip up to Tahoe. And I remember one day we were, we were gonna do the Crest Trail and I was like, I'm gonna take the day off from biking and I'm gonna go fishing. And I went out to the East Carson and, and, and set myself up with a bob or rig for the first time and caught my first Subsurface on a fly rod, on a flash, a flashback, pheasant tail. And then I was just like, now I'm in it. So it was very cool. It was pretty awesome. And that was, that was the beginning. Then a couple of years later, what happened is I went to New York at that point and went to Per Se, and all my fly fishing gear went into a bin. So what was the inspiration for Travel Creel? How did those two things mesh into what you're doing today? So, a friend of mine has an outfitting company AC Fly Fishing out of Redding. And Anthony had approached me about helping him with a travel trip going to Louisiana for Redfish, and he said, you want to come along and you can go fishing and you'd cook for everybody? And I'm like yeah, dude. Like I get to basically go do this saltwater trip for free, right? Get to do some fishing and you know, all I gotta do is cook, like I can handle that. So it was a great introduction to travel and hospitality with travel. And I did it for a few years with him. We would do it every year. We'd set it all up and so he would just do like one, one international trip a year. It was one trip that I did with him. The whole thing is with saltwater fly fishing, there's no guarantee with fishing. And when you're in the business of creating experiences for people, you gotta work on your controllables. And the controllables are hospitality and you know, a good bed to sleep in, nice meals. All those things are controllable when the fishing's not right. And that was like the premise behind it. That's what we talked about a lot. And why it worked and it made sense to me and I was able to kind of excel in that world of knowing how to talk to fisherman because I was one of 'em. Right? On top of being able to create a great meal for them. And it just made a really good vibe in, in the lodge, you know? It's great. Yeah. And now Travel Creel came to life. Tell everybody what Travel Creel is. What do you do? So basically right around when Covid started, we had a trip to Louisiana planned. And what happened is we had the guides lined up, the lodges lined up, and then the clients bailed out because of Covid. And we kind of hit the panic button a little bit, what are we gonna do? And I was like, well, let me reach out to all my clients. I had started working at Del Gado and I had a kid and I got married I transitioned into guiding because it was a way for me to go fishing still Right. And make money. And my wife would be like, yeah, yeah, you can go 'cause you're making money. So I bought a drift boat. I learned how to row a drift boat and I started, on my weekends going up to Redding and guiding the Sac for trout and ended up getting a permit on the Trinity River and guiding the Trinity. Then that led to me guiding for coastal steelhead as well. The whole premise behind my guiding business was, I can't guarantee you're gonna catch a bunch of fish when we go steelhead fishing. But I guarantee you're gonna have a great lunch. So I had all these clients, right? So I told Anthony, listen, let me reach out to some of my guys and see if I can put together this group and we can still go. Literally in like 24 hours got the trip filled up. And that's when it kind of clicked in my head, like, maybe this is something I should be doing. Right. Maybe you know, I could change my role from being just the guy that goes along and fishes and cooks to the guy who puts the trips together. And really step up the hospitality. Take that killer lunch and turn it into a killer experience. And that's where Travel Creel was born. I wanna create a business where I can create these experiences, not just in Louisiana, but all over the country, and possibly all over the world. We should let everybody know as we're talking that Josh was out for a walk with his daughter and dog, so that's why you're activity in the background. So what are some of the most, let's start with most exotic places that you've taken a group to and kind of had to cook, camp, cook kind of thing? You know, I haven't really done much camp cooking. As far as these trips go, I try to make 'em a little bit more upscale. Where I try to find like a nice place for everyone to congregate. Most recently I think probably the out there place has been San Carlos in Baja for fishing, for Rooster Fish and Marlin. You know, it's kind of like the wild west of Baja. It's like old school, Baja. And as far as like logistics go for me and putting a trip together, it's probably been the most challenging, but most rewarding at the same time. So how do you, is it still word of mouth or how do you market the business? I started with just the clients that I have. And it's, you know, I'm only as good as the last trip I did and every, every little trip I do the word travels and, and you know, I have a client then tell four or five of his buddies and say, you gotta come with me on this next trip. and then those guys tell their friends and it's, it's a lot of word of mouth. And the other, the other part is I have a really great network of friends that are in the fly fishing industry that are all very supportive of what I'm doing. A lot of independent guides. I mean, you and I are talking today because of Dave Neal, Dave Neal. Shout out to Dave great guide. Yeah. He's a great friend and independent guide and supports what I do and, and has eaten my food and loves it. And someone like that I can reach out to him with a trip and be like, Hey, listen, I got two spots left to fill on this trip. and if you fill those spots, then I'll throw you a bone. And that kind of, that kind of stuff is really helpful too. And it's, it's come into play quite a few times, so that's perfect. Do you work all, do you also work with any fly shop? I have been working with George Revelle at Lost Coast Outfitters in San Francisco. So he basically puts together all the lists of gear and everything. I send it out to clients and then they get to contact George directly or the shop perfect, and get all those items they need for a trip. And in turn it's a very simple partnership where he helps me put those lists together. I promote him and he helps me fill seats. Do you get to do any other outdoor activities? No, probably not. You know, my kids have been wanting to go snowboarding this year and we're probably gonna get up there and do that. You know, a lot of everything we do is right here. We live in Sonoma County and we have, we have a big boat that we take out on the lake, or we take out in the bay. The kids like to go be pulled around in a tube or go water skiing. We try to get out on the boat as much as we can when there's nice weather. And we love bike rides. We do a little hiking here and there. Do you have any suggestions or advice for folks wanting to get into the fly fishing biz or outdoor biz? I think just get out there and experience it and get on the water and you don't know until you go, you gotta get out there and, and experience it and meet people and network. If you're looking to be a guide, get on that water. Learn from the guys that know the water the best. Obviously learn how to row a boat if you're gonna be running a drift boat. Exactly. Do you have any daily routines to keep your sanity? I'd say as far as daily routines mine is getting in my truck and turning it on some music and driving 45 minutes over the hill. A beautiful drive over through vineyards and the rolling hills here. In that 45-minute ride to and from work, I accomplish more in my head than I do accomplish when I'm at home or at work. It gives me a chance to clear my head. It gives me a chance to think about ideas. A lot of people ask me like, when do you have time to come up with ideas for some of your new dishes and stuff? I'm like, most of those ideas come to me while I'm driving to or from work. Do you read a lot? Do you have any favorite books? Books to give as? My mom was an English teacher and when you presented that question in email, I was like, I can't wait to get to it. I was kind of pushed to read as a kid. I'd say the most recent book that I read is Lords of the Fly. And you know, to me that that book sucked me right into that story. And I actually got to go to Homosassa last year and meet some of the players in that book. Since you're a cook, is there a favorite piece of gear that all of us that cook outside should have in our camp kitchen? Yeah. I think everyone should have, a Japanese Mandolin. They're not expensive. They're like 30 bucks. You can get 'em on Amazon. Watch your fingers cuz they're sharp. But like, it just is a game changer, especially when you're not in the home kitchen. If you're doing some outdoor cooking, then you can slice a slice, a cucumber or carrot, whatever, like within seconds. Okay. And it just adds to being able to work quicker and more efficiently when, you know, chopping onions or shallots or things like that. As we wrap up, is there anything else you'd like to say to our listeners? I'm just really stoked to be here talking to you about what I'm doing and if anyone's interested in doing a fun adventure and has a passion for fishing and fine food and great company to look us up and check out what we're doing. The website is Travel Creel Hospitality

The legendary chef and restaurateur Thomas Keller -- recently celebrated on "Chef's Table: Legends" on Netflix --  comes to his longtime friend Phil's house for a very special and delicious "Naked Lunch" featuring our most elegant meal yet from Farm Shop. Visit here to learn more about Farm Shop: https://farmshopca.com. Chef Keller discusses his remarkable career from his first jobs in the kitchen to his groundbreaking success with The French Laundry: https://thomaskeller.com/tfl. Join us for tasty stories about working on the film "Spanglish" with Phil, consulting on "Ratatouille" and his place in "The Bear" universe. To learn more about building community through food and "Somebody Feed the People," visit the Philanthropy page at philrosenthalworld.com.