In this episode, host Kieron Bailey sits down with Falayn Ferrell, Chairwoman of Feed the Soul Foundation and Managing Partner at Black Restaurant Week, to discuss how her organization is revolutionizing support for small culinary businesses across America.

From spotlighting 20 restaurants in Houston to over 1,500 nationally, Falayn shares insights from their groundbreaking two-year industry report, the power of data-driven advocacy, and why restaurants are truly the soul of their communities.

Takeaways:

• Why restaurants are the first to hire and give back, yet often the most overlooked in solving community challenges
• How a simple email newsletter achieved a 50% open rate by becoming genuinely resourceful
• What happens when small restaurant owners finally meet in rooms full of people who understand their exact struggles
• The surprising dual impact of gentrification on 20-year neighborhood restaurant staples
• Why most small culinary businesses aren't connected to the tourism dollars already flowing through their cities
• How starting a business without adequate funding creates invisible operational ripple effects
• What West African cuisine and Caribbean fusion might reveal about America's next flavor wave
• Why telling restaurant owners to "just fix customer service" completely misses what's actually happening behind the scenes
• The counterintuitive advice about chasing success that changed everything for a growing nonprofit
• How refusing press coverage for themselves won the hearts and respect of an entire industry

Connect with the host: Kieron Bailey on Instagram

Connect with Falayn: LinkedIn | Personal Website

Learn More: Feed the Soul Foundation Industry Report

This episode is sponsored by Save Fry Oil — cutting fry oil costs up to 50% while making food crispier. No power, no chemicals. Get your free cost savings estimate.

• (00:00:00) - Restaurant Talk
• (00:00:31) - Restaurant Talk Podcast
• (00:02:05) - Top Black Businesses support hospitality
• (00:04:19) - Black Restaurant Week
• (00:09:06) - The UK's Restaurant Week
• (00:14:00) - Restaurant Owners Need More Help
• (00:18:18) - What Keeps the Soul in the Restaurant
• (00:19:56) - The National Restaurant Association's Report
• (00:22:23) - The Voice of Small Businesses on gentrification
• (00:23:39) - Questions about gentrification in the UK
• (00:29:26) - Small Culinary Businesses Speak Out About Tourism
• (00:32:15) - The Black Restaurant Association's Community Development Report
• (00:35:57) - What's Coming Next Out of Texas
• (00:36:16) - West African cuisine trends in the US
• (00:38:02) - On Day 1 of Starting a Business

In this episode, host Chrissy Symeonakis sits down with Ivan Brewer, Founder and Managing Director of Peiso, the world's first hospitality profitability software. With over 25 years in the industry, from making 2,000 coffees a day as a barista to consulting for top venues, Ivan shares his unconventional journey and reveals why the hospitality industry's approach to profitability is fundamentally broken.

This episode is sponsored by Save Fry Oil, cutting fry oil costs up to 50% while making food crispier. No power, no chemicals. Get your free cost savings estimate.

• Website: Peiso
• LinkedIn: Ivan Brewer
• Instagram: @getpeiso
• Facebook: Peiso Profitability Software

• How a sports injury accidentally changed Ivan's entire career trajectory in an unexpected way
  
  
• The daily coffee volume that would make modern baristas completely freak out
  
  
• What working in both luxury hotels and budget restaurants revealed about the real nature of hospitality
  
  
• The shocking truth about a popular 1980s technique that dozens of consultants still recommend today
  
  
• Why half your restaurant's fate is already sealed before you unlock the doors each day
  
  
• The disturbing pattern Ivan discovered when analyzing tech spending across major hospitality groups
  
  
• What suddenly stopped working for restaurants in 2024 after years of reliability
  
  
• The data nightmare hiding in one venue's point of sale system that most operators never see
  
  
• The harsh financial reality facing Australian venues that nobody wants to talk about
  
  

What happened to Ivan eight years ago that nearly ended everything and changed his perspective forever

• (00:00:00) - Restaurant Talk: Ivan Brewer
• (00:01:26) - Leading the hospitality industry's evolution
• (00:07:15) - Peso: The World's First Hospitality Profitability Software
• (00:10:53) - PESO: The challenge of technology in hospitality
• (00:13:34) - Developing an App for the Future
• (00:15:25) - Top Chef: The challenge of hospitality
• (00:19:26) - What's the future of the Melbourne Cup?
• (00:20:54) - Data driven decision-making in the hospitality industry
• (00:23:53) - Operating in a Challenging Industry
• (00:27:03) - Future of hospitality: AI and the industry
• (00:30:21) - Favorite Experience as a Hospitality Customer
• (00:31:59) - What Would You Do If You Had To Give Advice To Your Guests

In this episode, Susan Tung sits down with Joanna and Jeanette, second-generation owners of Yueh Tung Restaurant, one of Toronto's oldest Hakka Chinese restaurants located in the original Chinatown. The sisters discuss their journey taking over the family business, navigating the challenges of maintaining a legacy while adapting to modern marketing demands, and their personal struggles with gender dynamics in the restaurant industry.

• The moment their father got sick changed everything—including who would actually run the kitchen.
• Why their mom actively fought against the one thing that ended up saving the business.
• The backlash Joanna faced in her own kitchen reveals an uncomfortable truth about the restaurant industry.
• How loyal customers became an unexpected liability instead of an asset.
• The reason Joanna scheduled her own shifts without asking permission as a teenager.
• What happened when they tried to modernize their father's "cowboy cooking" approach.
• The one policy decision downtown that hit harder than any economic downturn.
• Why Chinese wok cooks are in such high demand but so few people pursue it.
• The advice their father gave them that took 15 years to fully understand.
• What they wish they'd known on day one about ego, observation, and letting results speak for themselves.

This episode is sponsored by Save Fry Oil — cutting fry oil costs up to 50% while making food crispier. No power, no chemicals. Get your free cost savings estimate today.

• (00:00:00) - Restaurant Talk
• (00:00:26) - Jeanette and Joanna on Toronto's Chinatown
• (00:04:10) - What Are Your Pre-Childhood Memories?
• (00:06:50) - The Sisters' Return to the Family Business
• (00:11:19) - Toronto's No. 1 restaurant has stayed relevant with social media
• (00:17:47) - Restaurants Open for the New Era
• (00:19:22) - The Challenges of Running a Restaurant
• (00:20:47) - Being a head chef is challenging
• (00:22:47) - When I became the boss of a restaurant, I had to change
• (00:27:16) - Teaching your dad how to cook
• (00:29:08) - Chinese Kitchen's Success Story
• (00:31:53) - Susan and Yitong on Starting Your Business