Michael Irish is the second part to the Emmy's Spaghetti Shack story, as he carries forth the business as its new owner. As a former bartender, he has plenty of romanticized views on the industry, but he also provides sound, practical ways to think about making the financials of a business work. Hint: the path to customer acquisition may not always be what it appears.

One recommendation from Michael was Patrick DeWitt's book Ablutions. If you love hearing Michael's take on the life of a bartender, you'll want to dive into DeWitt's writing as well.

Meet Emmy Kaplan: founder of Emmy's Spaghetti Shack in San Francisco. 26 years ago, she opened this iconic neighborhood spot with no money, no permits, and a baby on the way. With grit and a sense of punk rock and fun, she brought the restaurant to life and ushered it into its next phase.

And after surviving the Dot Com Bubble, Housing Bubble, and COVID, her biggest advice: keep your accounting tight and don't spend what you don't need to.

Carla Marina Marchese is the founder of Red Bee Honey and The American Honey Tasting Society, as well as the author of 4 books. She has made a career out of being a foremost honey sommelier, having a deep understanding about the plants, regions and bees that define the diverse flavors of honey. If you've ever had a question about honey – from flavor, to health benefits, to edibility – consult Marina.

Fun fact from this episode: you sure can eat honey from 10,000 years ago. But should you bother?

Books

The World Atlas of Honey, 2024

Honey for Dummies, 2021

The Honey Connoisseur, 2013 (this one lives on my shelf, and I highly recommend)

Honeybee: Lessons from An Accidental Beekeeper, 2009

Malyna Si is Florida's first female chef with a Michelin Star, and the road to getting it wasn't simple or easy. But somehow, at the end of an 16-hour shift, she'd still manage to make herself a 3-course dinner at home. And she's never yet had boxed mac and cheese...

In this conversation, she tells us what keeps her in the industry, what makes it hard to stay, and how she climbed her way from cleaning a dairy production plant to the top of Florida's cooking scene.

Since recording, Malyna has also featured on America's Culinary Cup! You can find it on Hulu, Amazon Prime, CBS, and more!

One note of apology: I waited a long time to publish this episode because it has some intermittent sound issues. I hope you enjoy it nonetheless!

In this episode of Burnt Woman, I chat with Gabrielle Smith. Personally, I love hearing about other cultures and grand adventures of moving to new places, so I loved hearing about Chef Gabrielle's experiences moving from the U.S. to Norway, back to the U.S., and then going from fine dining kitchens to a country club, and then male-dominated kitchens to female-dominated kitchens. Talk about cultural shocks!

And, whether you've been in the industry 10 days or 10 years, she's got some great advice for you and your career.

In this episode I chat with Luke Bowanko, former NFL player turned farmer. Luke isn't trying to build out a massive farm to make millions – as he points out, no one is trying to get rich from farming anyway – but rather build out a small farm in the middle of his Denver community. From there, he hopes to inspire his neighbors to become growers themselves. And from there... who knows? Maybe he can help inspire a movement of community growing.

Throughout the interview, Luke mentioned different documentaries and books he found inspiring. I'm listing them below. I'm also putting a link for Farmshare Austin, where Luke got his farming formation. For anyone looking to grow the movement, each one of these resources may help.

Luke's Mentions

Kiss the Ground

Common Ground

Clarkson's Farm

One Straw Revolution

Farmshare Austin

In this episode, I chat with Ali Cohane, co-owner of Persephone Bakery, Picnic, and Persephone West Bank here in Jackson, Wyoming. What I love about about Ali is that she explains what it feels like to be in the grind of starting a new business - and then a couple other businesses - without dramatizing it. And have you ever wondered if having kids actually does change your perspective? Spoiler alert: it does. You've never heard that before, I know.

In this episode, I chat with Abigail (Abby) Olson about working in bakeries versus restaurants, the grind at Alinea, and most importantly, the lessons she's learned about management. I have not stopped quoting Abby's words of wisdom, and I'm sure you'll get just as much out of it.