So You Want to Run a Restaurant?

How This Cookie Company Went from Farmers Market to 10,000% Growth Overnight | Maya Madsen of Maya's Cookies
What happens when a home baker goes viral - and suddenly has 10,000 orders she has no idea how to fulfill?
In this episode, we sit down with Maya Madsen, Founder & CEO of Maya's Cookies, a vegan bakery and nationwide cookie shipping company built from scratch in her San Diego kitchen.
Maya shares the real, unfiltered story of launching a food business with no culinary school background, no investors, and no roadmap - just a great product, a farmers market booth, and an unshakeable work ethic.
Whether you're launching a CPG brand, selling at farmers markets, starting a home bakery, or scaling a food startup, this episode is packed with hard-won lessons from someone who has lived it.
In this episode, we cover:
How to validate your food product at a farmers market before investing big
Scaling a food business from a home kitchen to a commercial kitchen to a retail storefront
Managing a viral moment - overnight e-commerce growth, supply chain chaos, and staff shortages
Building a loyal customer base as the face of your brand
Vegan and plant-based food business trends and what's actually working in 2024
Why subscriptions aren't the holy grail they used to be for food brands
The truth about getting into retail stores as an independent food brand
How to protect yourself from predatory e-commerce platform contracts
Pricing your food product correctly and tracking real costs, not just top-line revenue
Mission-driven branding and why it matters for food entrepreneurs
The personal sacrifices of being a food founder - the stuff no one posts about on Instagram

If you've ever dreamed of turning your recipe into a real business, this episode will inspire you — and give you the real talk you need to actually do it.

⭐ This podcast is brought to you by Back of House.io, the foodservice industry’s most trusted resource for restaurant tech.
Learn more at: https://backofhouse.io/

⭐ Season 5 of So You Want to Run A Restaurant is proudly sponsored by RestauRent, the no-fee booking platform helping restaurants book private and group events.
Try it risk-free with 3 free months at: https://bit.ly/soyouwanttorestaurent

⭐ Follow Us
Podcast: https://linktr.ee/soyouwanttorunarestaurant
Claudia: https://www.instagram.com/claudia.saric/
Spencer: https://www.instagram.com/restaurantspenny/

⭐ Learn More About Maya's Cookies
https://www.mayascookies.com/

food business, vegan business, bakery startup, CPG brand, farmers market tips, food entrepreneur, how to start a cookie business, plant-based food, e-commerce food brand, food startup growth, scaling a food business, home baker to business, vegan cookies, food founder, small food business, black owned business, product based business, how to go viral, food business mistakes, women in business

If you’re a restaurant owner who wants to scale — this episode is a masterclass.

Hengam Stanfield, co-founder of Matengas Pizzeria in San Antonio, shares exactly how she and her husband went from zero restaurant experience to building seven locations.

They bought a failing pizzeria that was $200K in the red, and engineered it into San Antonio's number 1 pizza place.

In this episode, we break down:

• How to turn around a failing restaurant
• Why obsessing over sales comes before building systems
• The Ops Book framework that keeps multiple locations aligned
• How to build restaurant systems that actually scale
• The truth about hiring (and why you don’t “find” great people — you build them)
• Protecting company culture as you grow
• Restaurant marketing strategies that work in 2025
• How to prepare for big PR moments (including a Dave Portnoy review)
• What it really takes to grow to 10, 20, even 50 locations

This conversation is packed with practical advice for restaurant owners and operators who want more than just survival — they want structure, profitability, and scale.

Whether you’re running one unit or planning multi-unit expansion, this episode will challenge the way you think about operations, leadership, and growth.

If you’re serious about building a scalable restaurant business, this is required listening.

⭐ This show is brought to you by Back of House.io, the foodservice industry’s most trusted resource for restaurant tech.
Learn more at: https://backofhouse.io/

⭐ Season 5 of So You Want to Run A Restaurant is proudly sponsored by RestauRent, the no-fee booking platform helping restaurants book private and group events.
Try it risk-free with 3 free months at: https://bit.ly/soyouwanttorestaurent

⭐ Follow Us
Podcast: https://linktr.ee/soyouwanttorunarestaurant
Claudia: https://www.instagram.com/claudia.saric/
Spencer: https://www.instagram.com/restaurantspenny/

Running a restaurant is hard. Running one inside a 130-year-old train depot? That’s a whole different story.

In this episode, we sit down with Kizzy Patel and Jesse Smith, partners at Kimball House in Decatur, Georgia - a restaurant known for its legendary oyster program, classic cocktails, and precise hospitality. But behind the glow of vintage light fixtures and perfectly shucked oysters is the reality of stewarding a historic property, navigating preservation rules, maintaining aging infrastructure, and building a team that treats the space like home.

We talk about:
- What it really takes to open in a historic building
- How they became owners (and eventually building owners)
- Their approach to hiring for hospitality - not just service
- Building a culture people want to stay in
- Winning a $50,000 American Express + National Trust For Historical Preservation grant
- And yes… whether the old depot is haunted

If you’ve ever dreamed of opening a restaurant — especially in a historic space — this episode is a masterclass in vision, grit, and stewardship.

Learn more...
https://savingplaces.org/historicrestaurants
https://soyouwanttorunarestaurant.short.gy/AMEX

⭐ This show is brought to you by Back of House.io, the foodservice industry’s most trusted resource for restaurant tech.
Learn more at: https://backofhouse.io/

⭐ Season 5 of So You Want to Run A Restaurant is proudly sponsored by RestauRent, the no-fee booking platform helping restaurants book private and group events.
Try it risk-free with 3 free months at: https://bit.ly/soyouwanttorestaurent

⭐ Follow Us
Podcast: https://linktr.ee/soyouwanttorunarestaurant
Claudia: https://www.instagram.com/claudia.saric/
Spencer: https://www.instagram.com/restaurantspenny/

This week’s guest is a big one. We’re heading to Traverse City, Michigan to sit down with Chef Andy Elliott of Modern Bird - fresh off being named one of the New York Times’ 50 Best Restaurants in America and now a nominee for the 2026 James Beard Awards.
Andy shares his full-circle journey from Chicago’s fine dining scene (Boka, GT Fish & Oyster, RIA) to building one of the most celebrated restaurants in a small but mighty food town. We talk about starting out selling hand pies at the farmers market, the power of local relationships, cooking within the seasons of northern Michigan, and what it really takes to grow a restaurant sustainably outside of a major metro.
We also dig into the realities of running a business with your spouse, resisting expansion for the sake of growth, and Andy’s candid take on tipping culture in today’s restaurant industry.
If you’re interested in thoughtful, ingredient-driven cooking, building community through food, or what it takes to create national buzz without losing your soul, this episode is for you.
⭐ This show is brought to you by Back of House.io, the foodservice industry’s most trusted resource for restaurant tech.
Learn more at: https://backofhouse.io/
⭐ Season 5 of So You Want to Run A Restaurant is proudly sponsored by RestauRent, the no-fee booking platform helping restaurants book private and group events.
Try it risk-free with 3 free months at: https://bit.ly/soyouwanttorestaurent
⭐ Follow Us
Podcast: https://linktr.ee/soyouwanttorunarestaurant
Claudia: https://www.instagram.com/claudia.saric/
Spencer: https://www.instagram.com/restaurantspenny/

In this episode of So You Want to Run a Restaurant, we sit down with Natalia Lepore Hagan, founder of Midnight Pasta Philadelphia, an immersive, experience-driven pasta concept redefining what dining can be.
Midnight Pasta isn’t a traditional restaurant, it’s a ticketed pasta-making experience where guests arrive for cocktails, jump into a high-energy, hands-on pasta class, and then gather for a five-course, family-style dinner made from the pasta they create themselves. It’s part dinner, part performance, and part community event.
Natalia shares her journey from growing up in a big Italian-American family to performing on Broadway, and how theater, music, movement, and storytelling are intentionally built into every Midnight Pasta experience. She opens up about how the pandemic shutdown of Broadway led her back to pasta-making, enrolling in culinary school, and launching Midnight Pasta - not to fit into a traditional restaurant model, but to create something entirely new.
Natalia also shares her perspective on chefs, creators, and influencer partnerships, and why Midnight Pasta operates outside the traditional restaurant category.
In this episode, we cover:
Building an immersive dining experience outside the restaurant model
Pivoting careers and launching during the pandemic
Going viral without losing control of your brand
Scaling experiential hospitality without sacrificing authenticity

📍 Midnight Pasta - Philadelphia, PA
🍝 Immersive pasta-making experience
🎭 Broadway-inspired dining
🌱 Hyper-local, seasonal, community-driven

⭐ This show is brought to you by Back of House.io, the foodservice industry’s most trusted resource for restaurant technology. Learn more at https://backofhouse.io/
⭐ Season 5 is proudly sponsored by RestauRent, the no-fee booking platform helping restaurants book private and group events. Try it risk-free with 3 free months at https://bit.ly/soyouwanttorestaurent
⭐ Follow Us
Podcast: https://linktr.ee/soyouwanttorunarestaurant
Claudia: https://www.instagram.com/claudia.saric/
Spencer: https://www.instagram.com/restaurantspenny/