Restaurant

Jason Schofield shares how he went from filing bankruptcy as a restaurateur to building Hive V.O.C, a supply chain company that saves restaurants thousands in unclaimed rebates and brings manufacturing back to the US.

Layla Ebersole shares how she went from high school dropout to COO and partner at On Call Restaurant Accounting, growing OCRA to 400 clients by closing books weekly and catching the financial problems operators never see coming.

John Gelastopoulos arrived from Greece at 17 and built Broken Yolk Cafe into a 40-location franchise doing $2.7M per unit by putting people first and never stopping at a fall.

Matt Stanfield shares his journey from civil engineer to seven-location pizza owner—overcoming fraudulent financials, employee sabotage, and third-party delivery economics to win Pizza Today's 2024 Pizzeria of the Year at Mattenga's.

Haley Nutter-Sitek shares Crown Restaurant Group journey—Father's Day breakdown to Cincinnati Magazine validation, 2-2-2-2 rule creating family table culture across seven restaurants.

Alec Gropman shares journey from CIA grad to Charleston rising star—launching bodega COVID pop-up drawing 200-person lines, burning out at 25 with overcomplicated menus, pivoting entirely in two days, and breaking front-house-back-house walls with transparent pay structure.

Austin J. Crawford shares journey from Ocean Club door-knock to Del Mar GM—learning genuine Cameron Mitchell culture, recovering never-returning guests now bringing Christmas cookies, admitting conflict avoidance struggles, and teaching slowing down purposefully speeds everything up.

Matthew Ridgway shares 2007 rock bottom girlfriend left lost job economy crashed father sick 30 living at home sweeping floors, mother's advice don't fuck this up married elementary school girlfriend 37, kill old self move forward can't mourn path—now leading Pomegranate Hospitality New Orleans.

Scott Pinocci shares his journey from busing tables at Italian restaurant to F&B Director at Ocean House—one of 14 Forbes triple five-star properties worldwide—earning James Beard recognition and mastering luxury service excellence.

Dana Canalichio shares Vegas Palms Casino bartending earning more than Ghost Bar management, Eagles stadium dream job lost in 2009 recession, pandemic riot window creating Rosie's takeout doubling revenue, and managing 14 FCM Philadelphia concepts coaching teams through guests forgetting how socialize.

Sara Connery shares journey from law school Food Network therapy to CEO of Handcrafted Restaurants—navigating compassionate divorce after husband came out, closing all Hawaii locations during COVID, building 40+ manager 10-year retention through monkey pod tree philosophy where sustainable profitability means ecosystem thrives together.

Ryan Wilson shares fourth generation CEO journey at Lawry's Restaurants—training in Michelin-starred Italian kitchens, living with grandparents four years, negotiating 17-year licensing battle with McCormick, managing 18 family shareholders, and becoming CEO during COVID shutdown after opening 11 international locations.