Andrea Borgen, owner and general manager, Barcito

Los Angeles

Borgen, a student of Danny Meyer’s school of hospitality, rose through the ranks to become general manager at Union Square Hospitality’s Blue Smoke in New York City before decamping back to her original home base of Los Angeles. In 2015, just 27 years old, she opened Barcito, a neighborhood small plates Argentinian concept, in downtown L.A. Borgen’s practices swim against the tide: Rather than pad guest checks with health care surcharges, additional gratuities and more, she opted to raise wages and fold those charges into menu prices. Servers do not accept tips. The strategy is paying off in employee loyalty. The move also supports Borgen’s belief that restaurants are pillars of the community.

Expert advice: Stick to a core vision

“Currently, we’re in a neighborhood that desperately needs more counter-service, grab-and-go concepts. But that kind of QSR would completely contradict Barcito’s mission: To be a neighborhood restaurant that’s an integral part of its community. I firmly believe in the unique hospitality a full-service restaurant is able to provide, and bet that our staying power supersedes that of the next hot counter concept. I feel quite strongly about my stance on this, but can’t begin to pretend I’ve overcome the uncertainties it raises. In fact, I think it’s an internal struggle that will never quite subside — and maybe that’s the best kind of challenge.”

John Seymour, owner, Sweet Chick and Ludlow Coffee Supply

New York City

Seymour sees restaurants less as a place to eat than as part of a total lifestyle. He learned the business growing up in his father’s Irish pub, tended bar for a time, then teamed up with his wife on their first place, Pop’s, which quickly became a fixture in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood. In 2013 he launched Sweet Chick, serving eclectic versions of chicken and waffles; a second New York location followed in 2014, and he’s eyeing a national rollout this year. Seymour also figured out a way to extend the Sweet Chick concept beyond the four walls of the restaurant into a lifestyle brand, Sweet Chick Life, which aggregates a number of his passions: social networks, food, hip-hop, fashion and the arts. The line offers T-shirts, hats, totes and branded sneakers.

Expert advice: Think beyond the restaurant

“We have always imagined Sweet Chick as a restaurant and a lifestyle brand that engages customers. Every day we are continuing to expand our lifestyle brand in creative ways. One is cobranding with brands we respect that aren’t restaurant specific. For example, I met a friend from [sportswear brand] Fila who made a custom Sweet Chick sneaker for us. We held a launch party in [New York City’s] SoHo at one of the cooler

R.J., Jerrod and Molly Melman, managing partners,
Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises

Chicago

The offspring of restaurant concept icon Richard Melman, all under the age of 40, do it all: Oversee, conceptualize, hire, train, taste and design killer new restaurant concepts. Growing up in the business, these siblings have rotated through nearly every position, both front of the house and back, giving them an invaluable insider’s understanding of logistics. They’re the trio behind some of LEYE’s most innovative and popular concepts, including Three Dots and a Dash, RPM Steak, RPM Italian, Bub City, Ramen-san, Hub 51, il Porcellino and Studio Paris. This year they expanded their horizons to a second RPM Italian, in Washington, D.C. And there’s plenty more in the pipeline. R.J., Jerrod and Molly Melman also are driving Windy City Smokeout, a barbecue and country music festival that draws about 40,000 attendees to Chicago.

Expert advice: Culture counts

“When we opened RPM Italian in a new market, Washington D.C., we wanted to be sure to hire people who maintained the [LEYE] culture. To do this we spent a lot of time hiring and training the team. We also had our new management team spend some time in the restaurants in Chicago so they too could learn and bring our culture back.” — Molly Melman

Kyle Noonan, co-founder and owner, FreeRange Concepts

Dallas

After 13 years opening new locations for Pappas Restaurants, Noonan teamed up with former Southern Methodist University classmate Josh Sepkowitz to form FreeRange, a portfolio of individual brands scattered across cities in Texas. Noonan has a sharp eye for concepts with universal appeal. They range from The Rustic, which features home cooking with Texas craft beers and live music, to Mutts Canine Cantina, a dog park/beer garden, to Bowl & Barrel, an adult-oriented bowling alley and full-service American tavern. And finally there is The General Public, a lively neighborhood tavern devoted to wholesome eats. This year, FreeRange has plans to open three new Rustic units as well as a food hall. The company says it’s in line to double revenue over the next two years.

Expert advice: Keep entrepreneurship alive

“Over the last four years, we’ve grown from two people … to 700 team members at seven different restaurants in three different cities. Managing that exponential growth from both a personnel side and a cash flow side has tested our skills. … You often find you need the team in place to help you grow but don’t necessarily have the financials in place to get those people. We are overcoming that by hiring people with an entrepreneurial mindset, just like our own. … Building a team that’s hungry, can stay flexible and is always excited for the next challenge has helped us grow.”

Danny Grant, partner and
executive chef, Maple & Ash

Chicago

Grant quickly earned his status as the darling of Chicago’s culinary community after becoming the youngest U.S. chef to earn two Michelin stars while at RIA. The raves have followed him to his latest venture, Maple & Ash, where he maintains lofty standards while having fun with steakhouse staples. From housemade pastas and soaring stacks of roasted seafood, to steaks dressed with unexpected accents like black truffles, Grant pushes the boundaries of wood-fired cooking while also relying on classical French technique. One reviewer noted, “…take them up on the $145 chef’s tasting menu entitled ‘I Don’t Give a [email protected]$.’ Kick back, relax, and let Maple & Ash take you to a meaty, magical paradise.”

Expert advice: Fight for your personal life, too

“I’ve come up with a few tricks that have helped me separate both my [personal and professional] worlds. To start, I have an alarm that reminds me it’s time to go home. I may have to press the snooze button a few times but eventually it gets me out the door. I try to have at least one day off a week. … I make an effort to step out in the middle of the day to grab a coffee or a quick lunch with the family or friends. I also like to bring them in to have dinner. That way I have dinner with them and keep an eye on work at the same time.”

Julia Momose, head bartender, GreenRiver

Chicago

An innate passion for and deep knowledge of cocktails drive Momose’s wildly creative and ever-changing selections at this cocktail bar, the brainchild collaboration of Union Square Hospitality Group and the Dead Rabbit/Best Bar in the World team. She’s known for creating an entire menu around a single seasonal ingredient, using unexpected springboards such as burdock bitters, celeriac, dandelion, fukujinzuke and mascarpone cheese. Her menu forces guests to look at their choices differently, as it’s organized not by spirit type, but by key ingredient: rye, corn, barley, wheat and oak, agave, sugarcane and molasses, green and apple, juniper. Her approach has drawn positive buzz: Food & Wine dubbed her a best mixologist, and Playboy called GreenRiver a best new bar.

Expert advice: It’s the work that matters

Momose wanted a job at a popular bar in Ithaca, N.Y., where she was attending Cornell University, and she said the owner held a bias against females behind the bar, thinking they weren’t serious about mixing drinks. Momose won the owner over with her work ethic and innate talent, started as a bar back and worked her way up to bartender. Sometimes the work simply needs to speak for itself.

Alexandrea Elman, co-owner/interior designer, Black Eye Coffee

Denver

Elman has taken coffee hospitality and innovation to new heights, weaving time-honored and cutting-edge brewing techniques and repurposed and funky designs for her two coffee shops. Elman has created spaces big enough to support two concepts: coffee house by day with a breakfast/brunch menu, and craft cocktail lounge at night with hearty fare such as beef tartare with bone marrow or pork with sushi rice and coconut. A Denver Post reviewer summed up the space: “Black Eye Coffee in Denver’s Capitol Hill neighborhood brews a great cup of java, but there is so much more going on in this restaurant that you shouldn’t even think of the place in coffee-shop terms, the espresso mavens and morning Wi-Fi surfers notwithstanding.” Elman also recently launched her own hospitality design and consulting firm, Return to Lovely.

Expert advice: Sometimes business comes first

“There have been a few individuals that I became quite fond of, but it was clear that they were no longer working to their potential, or had become complacent. Letting someone go is very personal ... no matter which way you slice it. I’ve become more comfortable owning that this is just part of being a business owner. Sometimes you have to be in uncomfortable positions and put emotions aside and do what’s best for the business.

Tracy Chang, chef/owner, Pagu

Cambridge, Mass.

Chang has worked with some of the best in the business — Martin Berasategui at his three-star Michelin restaurant in Spain’s Basque country and then at Harvard Science + Cooking, where she was a teaching fellow with the likes of Ferran Adria, Jose Andres and David Chang. Over the years, the Boston native has worked at private events involving professors, tech innovators, artists, musicians, designers and visiting culinary personalities. “They have seasoned palates, and the enthusiasm to innovate, share and collaborate,” she says. “Together we throw pintxos parties, we fundraise for nonprofits and we create dining experiences using food and drink as a launch pad to learning math, physics and history.” With Chang at the helm, and a location between MIT and Harvard, Pagu is positioned to bring those thinkers, creators and problem-solvers under one roof.

Expert advice: Sell more than a business plan

“My friends in the community raised me up. I had been searching for a restaurant space, unsuccessfully, for four years and ultimately realized the recipe was not right. In the end, what won over the landlords was not the business plan or concept deck; rather it was the Pagu experience, a gathering place for the community to collaborate over food and drink.”

Andrew Gruel, executive chef and owner, Slapfish

Various locations

Gruel is on a mission to change the way chefs see seafood, especially lesser-known varieties that don’t regularly make it to the table in U.S. eateries. He’s partnered with Sea to Table, a firm that connects independent fisherman and commercial docks with a wider market for their catch. Slapfish, the fast-casual concept he founded as a “boat to plate” food truck in 2011, has blossomed from seven Orange County, Calif., locations and will extend its reach this year to Utah, Idaho, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Texas, the U.K. and South Korea — a total of 50 units in development. Each will have a regional and flexible menu. Slapfish’s unique approach to its menu and sourcing won it the Trendsetter of the Year award from Nation’s Restaurant News and its MenuMasters program, sponsored by Ventura Foods. MenuMasters celebrates culinary excellence in menu development.

Expert advice: Invest in talent

“This is a human-based industry that cannot be automated — as much as people like us to believe — and therefore personalities are our best assets. I have learned to solve the staffing problem by targeting passionate and competitive talent and paying them far above average, both in dollars and beyond. This is the most important investment in the industry and will hands-down return the most.”

Iso Rabins and Matthew Johansen, co-founders, Forage Kitchen

Oakland, Calif.

Forage Kitchen, a restaurant incubator that opened last fall in Oakland’s Uptown district, provides a fully equipped kitchen space, business support and public café where aspiring chefs, artisan producers and other would-be tastemakers can perfect their craft without betting their life’s savings. Rabins has made a living foraging for chefs like Alice Waters and Chris Cosentino, and by hosting The Wild Kitchen popup dinners and monthly Underground Markets where neophyte food producers get a chance to sell their products to the public. He financed Forage Kitchen through a four-year Kickstarter campaign that raised over $150,000. Johansen, formerly a partner in eFranchise Inc. and founder of San Francisco’s Biergarten, teamed up with Rabins (his cousin) three years ago and handles all logistics.

Expert advice: Relationships are paramount

“Funding was secured through relationships and patience and the development of trust over an extended period. I believe strongly in the old-fashioned business ethics of a beer and a handshake, I make phone calls rather than email and text and have a lot of faith in the power of the personal connection. … This instinct of mine paid off, as it was community banks that believed in the vision and understood the importance of the projects as they relate to the community that ended up getting us funded.”
—Matthew Johansen

Kelly Fields, executive pastry chef and partner, Willa Jean

New Orleans

Complementing Willa Jean’s bakery/bar menu, with its contemporary take on Southern favorites, Fields has transformed standards like sticky buns, fried chicken sandwiches and cornbread into revelations. She’s pushed the envelope with inventions like a coffee-and-doughnuts ice cream and a Satsuma Creamsicle Slushie, and she is the brains behind the frozen rosé cocktail — “F’rosé, Y’all” — a darling of summer drink menus and Pinterest boards. Eater New Orleans editors and readers recently named Fields and partner Lisa White Chefs of the Year. “It’s an incredible transition for the duo who put the Besh Group’s pastry game on the map and they’ll no doubt continue to push boundaries for the empire in years ahead,” Eater says.

Expert advice: Lead by example

“I take pride in leading the charge to constantly engage and inspire chefs, cooks, stewards, servers, bartenders, managers and all of our guests who come through our doors. It leaves me as satisfied as I hope each and every one of them feels at the end of each day and every meal. I constantly challenge myself to be better, to set a positive example and to create a supportive and encouraging space.”

Johan Engman, founder/owner, Rise & Shine Restaurant Group

San Diego

The timing on his first restaurant, October 2008, couldn’t have been worse. But once he bounced back three years later, Engman was on a roll. Today, he operates six eateries and has plans for six more in the next year, some of them brand expansions and others springing from his seemingly boundless imagination. He made a splash last year with the opening of Breakfast Republic, introducing a breakfast cocktail menu to complement the food; he also debuted Como Ceviche, a fast-casual seafood restaurant. On deck are North Park Breakfast Company, which he describes as “elegant yet approachable”; Pizza Republic, spotlighting Neapolitan-style pizza, pasta and house-cured meats; and El Jardin, a Mexican-Mediterranean mashup.

Expert advice: Cash is king 

“When my first restaurant opened, in October 2008, I was very excited and just wanted to reach my dream of owning and operating my own restaurant. So I looked past the advice of being cautious [or] making sure I had strong cash reserves and so on. Within three months of opening, the restaurant was completely out of money. I got a job in addition to running the restaurant and pushed on for three years until the restaurant finally started to turn a profit. …
It taught me to watch every dollar, to negotiate for every penny.”

Ashley Shelton, executive chef, Pastaria

St. Louis

At 27, Shelton quickly earned her spot as a trusted leader in Gerard Craft’s growing St. Louis-based army of restaurant concepts. She commands a bustling kitchen at Pastaria, the popular high-volume Italian eatery, plating up to 400 covers a night. When the going gets rough, rather than falling back on a chef’s time-honored practice of yelling, she sings and passes out candy and Kool-aid to the line cooks.

“I like to run a fun line,” she says.

But she’s a serious cook, too, and followed up her Culinary Institute of America studies with a stretch in Florence, where she immersed herself in Italian cooking traditions. That’s where Craft discovered her, recruited her as a line chef for Pastaria four years ago and ultimately gave her reign over the kitchen last year.

Expert advice: Communication is key

“Recently, we had all the printers go down on a Saturday night, and we had to rely on hand writing tickets. It was crazy because we usually get tickets in three places, so trying to transcribe server shorthand, getting orders to the right station, and expediting the line was insane. … The first thing that we had to do was stay calm. The second was communicate. As executive chef, my role as leader was more crucial than ever to ensure that everyone was working together. … Recognizing the team’s hard work in the face of a hiccup is the most important step to ensure a healthy, functioning team.”

Dan Kluger, chef/owner, Loring Place

New York City

Native New Yorker Kluger brings deep knowledge of some of the city’s finest hospitality, culinary and restaurant design traditions to the fore at his first solo effort, Loring Place, which opened last month in Greenwich Village. He’s worked his way through the front and back of the house at the likes of Union Square Café, where he learned about hospitality as a maître’d, then found himself drawn to the kitchen. He went on to Tabla, working under Floyd Cardoz, then Tom Colicchio, followed by Jean-George Vongerichten at ABC Kitchen and ABC Cocina, where his cooking drew raves. Loring Place — with its shared-plates menu, a killer cheeseburger, seasonal cocktails and a New York-bred design, with contemporary furnishings and art from One Kings Lane – is destined to be a favorite.

Expert advice: Work your way through

“I just wanted to learn but I had no idea what I was doing. I was fortunate to work with really great people at Union Square Café who were patient. And I worked really hard and tried as much as I could on my own until I got better.”