Interview with Michael Bonacini | MasterChef Canada | Running Over 40 Restaurants #21

In Episode 21 of The Business of Restaurants Podcast, I chat with legendary chef Michael Bonacini. Michael was born in South Wales. He trained classically under legendary Chef Anton Mosimann at London’s Dorchester Hotel. Micheal is today one of the most famous Canadian chefs and has written multiple cookbooks as well as hosting many of his own Tv shows on American Tv.  Micheal partnered up with Peter Oliver in 1993 and founded Oliver & Bonacini restaurants. Oliver & Bonacini Hospitality is recognized as one of Canada’s leading restaurant and event groups. With locations in Toronto, Montreal, Saskatoon, Calgary, Edmonton and beyond, O&B’s diverse portfolio includes a collection of unique and innovative restaurants, event spaces, a bakery, and several strategic partnerships. O&B’s restaurants include à la carte dining, quick service, catering, grocery and special events. The company’s private dining and events division, Oliver & Bonacini Events and Catering, manage several large-scale event venues, including Arcadian, The Carlu, Malaparte, and others. I chat with Michael about his early career working in kitchens in London, opening his first restaurant Jump in Toronto, the tough slog of the first few months in business, why his business partnership works so well, how he runs over 42 restaurants, why it is important to always be in growth mode, the reason for the success of O & B, the core value handbook, the management structure of his business, what criteria they look at when opening a new location and much much more! Click the Subscribe button above or follow us on Spotify or most other podcast platforms to be the first to see new episodes out every Wednesday!

In Episode 20 of The Business of Restaurants Podcast, I chat with the co-owner of the well known Vancouver hotspot Jam Cafe.  Mike has a long and successful career in the restaurant industry and before Jam cafe, was the director of operations of the Aburi restaurant group in Canada where he oversaw 4 restaurants, 400 staff and a yearly revenue of 20 million. Jam cafe opened their first branch in Victoria, Vancouver in 2012 by husband and wife team Jim and Candy Walmsley and Mike partnered up with the company in 2016 to launch their second location on downtown Vancouver on Beatty Street. I chat with Mike about his early career, going into a business partnership with his long time friend, opening Jam Cafe, scaling the business, the importance of a good team, the key behind the success of Jam Cafe, the key criteria that dictates a new location, future expansion plans for the Jam Cafe Group and much more!   Follow us on Spotify or most other podcast platforms to be the first to see new episodes out every Wednesday!

In Episode 19 of The Business of Restaurants Podcast, I chat with the well known Irish business owner Brody Sweeney.   Brody Sweeney is probably most well known for founding O'Briens Irish Sandwich Bars which went from start up  in 1998 to over 200 stores in over 13 countries globally. Prior to that he was involved with the franchise Prontoprint before selling the business back to the U.K. parent in 1988. He has written two business guides, Making Bread and "Small to Tall" - How to grow your business from its entrepreneurial roots".   He founded a Thai takeaway business, Camile Thai Kitchen, in 2010 which has over 30 branches currently now franchised or operating across Ireland and also currently 7 in the London area with plans to expand this to over 100 in the coming years!  I chat with Brody about founding O'Briens sandwich shop, the hardship of the early days, losing money for years at the beginning, the key of failure, growing the business into a global franchise, starting over from nothing with Camile Thai, building the brand to over 30 restaurants currently, big expansion plans for London and much much more!   Click the Subscribe button above or follow us on Spotify or most other podcast platforms to be the first to see new episodes out every Wednesday!

In Episode 18 of The Business of Restaurants Podcast, I chat with legendary  UK chef Phil Howard.  Phil is a co-proprietor for the Michelin-starred Kitchen W8, The Ledbury (now closed), Church Road in Barnes and Union in La Plagne Montalbert, a ski resort and village in France. He also has interests in the London restaurants Lorne and Perilla, and is an investor in The Wild Room, which supplies foraged ingredients, mushrooms and truffles to the restaurant trade. In 2011, he picked up a Catey Award for Restaurateur of the Year (and rightly so!).   In 2016, Phil sold The Square and now focuses entirely on Elystan Street, which offers a more relaxed menu in a casual setting. Despite this more laidback approach (although Phil's definition of 'laidback' may differ to a lot of other people's!), Elystan Street was awarded a Michelin star just a year after opening. Since then, he has also opened another restaurant called Church Road in Barnes with his business partner Rebecca Mascarenhas.   I chat with Phil about his early career in the industry, working under Marco Pierre White, getting his big break as his first head chef role, The success of The Square, winning Michelin Stars, the importance of having business partners in business, one of the biggest mistakes made in his early career, the importance of good recruitment, opening Elystan Street, running multiple restaurants and and much much more!   Click the Subscribe button above or follow us on Spotify or most other podcast platforms to be the first to see new episodes out every Wednesday!

In Episode 17 of The Business of Restaurants Podcast, I chat with Will Beckett who is the founder and owner of The Hawksmoor Restaurant Group. There are 6 Hawksmoor restaurants in London, a location each in Edinburgh and Manchester and most recently the group opened a Hawksmoor in the heart of Gramercy in New York City. I chat with Will about his many 'failures' in the restaurant industry before the success of opening Hawksmoor, the challenges in the early days of Hawksmoor, the London restaurant scene, the dream of opening a Hawksmoor in New York, the main key to running a successful restaurant group, opening Hawksmoor Dublin and much much more!   Click the Subscribe button above or follow us on Spotify or most other podcast platforms to be the first to see new episodes out every Wednesday!

In Episode 16 of The Business of Restaurants Podcast, I chat with Domini Kemp who is the founder and owner of The Itsa Restaurant Group. Domini is a chef, cookbook author, tv personality and the founder of one of the leading restaurant groups in Ireland, The Itsa Group. We hear from Domini about her early career working in Peacock Alley with Conrad Gallagher, opening her first restaurant, a small bagel shop called Itsa in Dublin, scaling the restaurant, opening multiple restaurant concepts, creating a CPU for her businesses, the importance of strong systems fir your business, working in a family business plus much much more!  Click the Subscribe button above or follow us on Spotify or most other podcast platforms to be the first to see new episodes out every Wednesday!

In Episode 15 of The Business of Restaurants Podcast, I chat with Lorraine Heskin who is the founder and owner of The Gourmet Food Parlour Restaurant Group. There are 6 restaurants across Ireland at present and there are also a whole range of other parts of the business under the one GFP umbrella, including a very successful catering side to the business where Lorraine has a 5000sq ft unit in Dublin catering for everything from Weddings to birthday partys. We hear from Lorraine about her early career walking the streets of Manhattan as a sales rep selling Irish food and drinks, the difficult decision to leave the States, coming home and becoming an export sales and marketing manager for a large Irish food company, the journey of creating her own business and why she wanted to create a brand, learning from customer feedback, low points along the way, creating a national restaurant group plus much much more! Click the Subscribe button above or follow us on Spotify or most other podcast platforms to be the first to see new episodes out every Wednesday!

In Episode 14 of The Business of Restaurants Podcast, I chat with Mark Lamming who is the owner, along with his wife Paula, of a chain of bakeries in Canada called Purebread. We hear from Mark about the Covid situation in Vancouver at present, opening his first Bakery, going from street food to brick and mortar, the reasons for the success of PureBread, doing things differently in the industry,  staying on top, the branding process, opening multiple locations, creating a central production unit, growth plan, opportunities post covid, redesigning the shops layouts, the next big concept in food plus much more!

In Episode 13 of The Business of Restaurants Podcast, I speak with Brendan Ladner the owner of Smak Restaurants Group. Brendan currently has 3 locations in Vancouver, Canada. Smak specialises in healthy fast food and has been a real success story since its first store opening in 2013. In this episode I chat with Brendan about his time in business, Healthy fast food, sustainability in restaurants, opening up his own restaurant Smak, replicating the concept in multiple locations in Vancouver Canada, early mistakes in business, layout of his business, identifying your ideal customers, opening a new restaurant, advice to bussing restaurant owners, the future of retail and much more! Click the Subscribe button above or follow us on Spotify or most other podcast platforms to be the first to see new episodes out every Wednesday!

In Episode 12 of The Business of Restaurants Podcast, I speak with Garret Fitzgerald the owner of Chimac Restaurantin Dublin. Chimac is a unique restaurant on the Dublin food scene specialising in two things: Fried chicken and beer. A match made in heaven, right? Koreans love the combo so damn much they’ve dedicated a whole word to it. Pretty much a national pastime, Chimac comes from “chi”, short for “chikin” plus “mac” from "maekju", Korean for beer. ​ Inspired by this fried chicken obsession, Garret and his partner Sofie decided to bring a taste of Seoul to the heart of Dublin. Think crispy free-range chicken that’s irresistibly good and sauce so delicious you’ll question all life decisions so far.