Stay ConnectedWelcome to Weekly Specials, a show hosted by Will Guidara and produced by the Welcome Conference, that explores the changing restaurant and hospitality landscape by sharing voices, creating discussion, and telling stories that can inspire through hope, reflection, and a bit of laughter.
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Copyright: © 2020 Weekly Specials The Welcome Conference
We welcome Chef JJ Johnson of FieldTrip this week who shares stories of Grit from his life and career. From roadblocks he faced coming up as a Black chef in the industry to never closing his business during the ongoing pandemic, JJ's passion and perseverance provide a dose of inspiration. Throughout the month of October we dive into the theme of Grit, something we all need to reinvent and rebuild right now. The Welcome Conference is going digital and we're hosting a range of content for free over the course of the next few months. Register for free at virtual.welcomeconference.org.
For the month of October we're focused on the theme of Grit, something our industry (and many others) needs more than ever to reinvent and recover from this year. We first speak with Jeni Britton Bauer, founder of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams, and dig into moments through her career that are particularly inspiring, including a serious listeria scare back in 2015. Jeni shares with Will Guidara how she navigated uncertain and challenging times and the lessons she learned from them. The Welcome Conference is going digital and we're hosting a range of content for free over the course of the next few months. Register for free at virtual.welcomeconference.org.
Everyone has a story from their first restaurant job, one that they look back and laugh at. Will Guidara chats with Sarah Robbins, COO of 21c Museum Hotels, about a ridiculous story from her first job in the industry.
On our last episode of the season, Will Guidara is joined by Food & Wine magazine's Restaurant Editor, Khushbu Shah. They talk about restaurant criticism and awards in the time of COVID-19, the hopeful reinvention of the industry, and a shared love of Taco Bell.
Renowned restaurateur, Caroline Styne, of the Lucques Group in Los Angeles, joins Will Guidara this week. While the pandemic has turned everything upside down, Caroline shares what her team pre-meals look like in this new world, how they've tried to keep offering hospitality to guests, and what she looks forward to when we can get back to some level of normalcy.
On this episode, Chef Rick Bayless speaks about the simple joy he gets from serving others and how being able to welcome back guests, even from a distance, can be so restorative for those in the hospitality industry. We also touch on the need for kitchen culture evolution and how his restaurant group has been trying to weather the pandemic.
Guest host, Colleen Vincent, is joined by Chef Erick Williams, of the acclaimed Chicago restaurant, Virtue. They discuss Erick's path to opening a restaurant in the neighborhood he grew up in and the meaning behind Virtue. They also dive into the systemic racism of the industry and why Erick believes that now is different than ever before and that real change may be on the horizon.
Legendary brewmaster Garrett Oliver joins us for a wide range of topics. We hear how the craft beer industry has been impacted by the pandemic, dive into the systemic racism that's existed in the brewing industry, and how Garrett's looking to create new opportunities for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color who want to get into the world of brewing and distilling.
Chef Gavin Kaysen joins us this week after announcing the closure of his award-winning restaurant, Bellecour, in Minneapolis. Despite the hard decision, he finds a silver lining in it all and remains optimistic for the industry as it fights to get to the other side of this pandemic.
This week we tap into restaurateur Gabe Stulman for another episode of This Really Happened, the segment when we hear some amazing and sometimes ridiculous stories from colleagues in the industry. It's a good, light-hearted one, and it definitely shows Gabe's resourcefulness and determination.
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