Julie Fontes writes about addiction and other consequences of living from a quaint coastal community in southern California. She enjoys being weird and can’t decide whether to write or exercise first in the morning. One thing that she is sure of is that she will be waiting tables in the evening, and that this is a very professional interview. Like a Normal Person is Julie’s first book. Listening in Columbus, Oh? Care about where your food comes from? Head to yellowbirdfs.com to sta...
Dec 18, 2024•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast Joel has spent over 20 years helping businesses grow and making a difference in the hospitality world. He was the founder of Heard and Saint City Culinary Foundation, which focused on mental health for service industry workers and is now the managing partner at Hagan Rivas Marketing and Media Group. His work has been highlighted in places like Bon Appétit Magazine, and he’s passionate about supporting those effecting change in their communities. Listening in Columbus, Oh? Care about where your f...
Dec 11, 2024•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast Chris Cardone, founder of Continuous Beverage Solutions, has over 24 years of experience in bartending, hospitality, and consulting for diverse establishments in New York. He was named Bartender of the Year in 2017 at the Diageo World Class US competition, later becoming a judge and educator for the competition. Chris is the Chief Mixologist for Via Carota Craft Cocktails and a partner and director of mixology for Astraeaus Single Malt Gin. Listening in Columbus, Oh? Care about where your food c...
Nov 27, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Transcript available on Metacast 2024 'Best New Chef: Mountain' James Beard Award Winner Chef Matt Vawter and his business partner and director of hospitality, Patrick Murphy, both veterans of Denver's F&B scene, made personal choices to stop drinking alcohol in recent years. Upon recognizing the limited options for non-drinkers dining out, they expanded Rootstalk's booze-free offerings (their restaurant in Breckenridge, CO). They recently launched a NA pairing option for their tasting menu. Listening in Col...
Nov 13, 2024•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast Robert St. John, a native of Hattiesburg, MS, is a restaurateur, author, philanthropist, and international travel guide dedicated to community and service. He founded Onward Hospitality, managing concepts in Hattiesburg and Jackson, MS. Since discovering his passion for restaurants at 19, St. John has opened over a dozen eateries, including Crescent City Grill and Ed’s Burger Joint. He writes a weekly food column, authored ten books, and leads culinary trips to Europe, focusing on Italy. Committ...
Oct 30, 2024•48 min•Transcript available on Metacast Growing up on California's coast, Michelle started drinking at 14, where binge-drinking was common through college. Despite attempts to abstain for health reasons, social and cultural pressures made it challenging, especially with work centered around alcohol. Over time, she realized alcohol heightened her anxiety and drained her energy, becoming a crutch. In Spring 2021, influenced by the impact of alcohol on her family, she quit drinking. What started as an indefinite amount of break led t...
Oct 16, 2024•52 min•Ep 14•Transcript available on Metacast Justyn Brogan is the General Manager of Urban Farmer Denver and The Cruise Room (one of the oldest bars in Denver, born the day after Repeal in 1933). He has been sober for over eight years. Justyn spent the first three years of his sobriety as a server and bartender. He then took a step back from management to focus on "cleaning up his life" before returning in 2019. He is active in the sober support group Ben's Friends Hope, an industry support group similar to AA. In fact, he ju...
Oct 02, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Transcript available on Metacast Emily Hyland’s debut poetry collection, Divorced Business Partners , is forthcoming with Howling Bird Press in October 2024. Hyland's poetry has appeared in The Brooklyn Review, Frontier Poetry, and The Hollins Critic, among others. She earned her MFA in poetry and her MA in English education from Brooklyn College. Her cookbook, Emily: The Cookbook , was published by Ballantine Books, an imprint of Random House, in 2018. Hyland is the eponymous co-founder of the international restaurant grou...
Sep 18, 2024•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast Mel is a 15+yr industry veteran based out of Arizona. They are a proud Mestiza, Mom of 3, and recovering addict. They believe the Universe is always conspiring for us. Listening in Columbus, Oh? Care about where your food comes from? Head to yellowbirdfs.com to start your order for farm fresh food, and enter NOPROOF30 for 30% off your cart. Founded in 2016, the mission of Ben's Friends is to offer hope, fellowship, and a path forward to anyone who strugg...
Sep 04, 2024•51 min•Ep 11•Transcript available on Metacast Best-selling author, TedX speaker, James Beard semifinalist, mental health advocate, and restaurateur Steve Palmer is a food & beverage industry leader with more than 40 years of experience. As founder, managing partner, and chief vision officer of the award-winning Indigo Road Hospitality Group (IRHG), Steve has played an integral role in growing the Charleston, SC-based hospitality company from one restaurant in 2009 to a portfolio of more than 30 restaurants and independent hotels through...
Aug 07, 2024•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast Laura Silverman is an alcohol-free trailblazer. She’s been sober since 2007 and is the founder of Zero Proof Nation and Booze Free in DC , two platforms focused on highlighting non-alcoholic beverages and the culture driving their growth. She serves in advisory roles to for and non-profits in the wider industry, bringing her expertise and lived experience to the table. Laura has given university lectures on non-alcoholic beverages and inclusivity in hospitality, two areas of deep passion and adv...
Jul 24, 2024•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast Gabriel + Cliff: Gabriel Rucker, Executive Chef and Co-Owner, Le Pigeon and Canard Two-time James Beard Award winning Chef Gabriel Rucker is Executive Chef and Co-owner of Le Pigeon and Canard in Portland, Oregon. Over the years, his highly original, off the cuff creativity and recipe-free approach to cooking has gained him national acclaim. A native of Napa, California, when school no longer piqued his interest, Rucker moved to the kitchen. In 2003 he moved to Portland and landed a coveted job ...
Jul 10, 2024•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast Kristen Bear is an actor, writer, and sobriety hype girl based in Nashville, TN. After years of bouncing from coast to coast Kristen found herself back in her home state in February 2020, disillusioned, and desperate for change. Now, at over four years sober, one of her biggest passions is sharing her sobriety journey and helping others find their own way to freedom. Find Kristen on IG and Substack @creativesobriety and join her in Costa Rica this fall for a booze-free vacation! https://trovatri...
Jun 26, 2024•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast Drawing on 15+ years of experience managing bar programs in San Francisco, Phoenix, Oakland, and San Diego, Karl Goranowski is the Fenton Family Restaurants’ tenured Beverage Director across all five of the brand’s restaurant/bar concepts in Tucson, AZ. On a weekly basis, Karl can be found curating five distinct cocktail lists, a 250+ bottle wine program, and four craft beer programs –– across BATA, barbata, Tough Luck Club, Reilly Craft Pizza + Drink, and Fentonelli’s Pizzeria + Bar –– using lo...
Jun 05, 2024•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast Chef Ricky Bella is a Portland native who's been cooking since the age of 17. Trained on the job and without culinary school, he has worked in some of the best kitchens in Portland for 16 years. He's been sober for 4 1/2 years now and has been pushing for the subject of addiction and mental health to be more openly talked about in his community ever since. Listening in Columbus, Oh? Care about where your food comes from? Head to yellowbirdfs.com to start your order for farm fresh foo...
May 01, 2024•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast "Sean is an aging midwesterner with no intention of being an old man. He loves service and cultivating social vibes for everyone." Listening in Columbus, Oh? Care about where your food comes from? Head to yellowbirdfs.com to start your order for farm fresh food, and enter NOPROOF30 for 30% off your cart. Founded in 2016, the mission of Ben's Friends is to offer hope, fellowship, and a path forward to anyone who struggles with substance abuse or addiction. By coming to...
Apr 10, 2024•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast Kim Lerner is a consultant, leadership coach for hospitality businesses and professionals at only yummy, always. She is also a professor on faculty at CUNY Kingsborough and The Institute of Culinary Education. On this journey through an ever-changing landscape, she defined the fundamentals of her own leadership style: kindness, trust, community, and building an in-house culture that transcends its four walls . It is this style of leadership that has made her a pioneer in the industry, challengin...
Mar 15, 2024•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast In 1982 Mickey Bakst lost his first restaurant to alcohol and drug addiction, and it was also in that year that he found sobriety, after a long and painful struggle. For the next 40 years, Mickey watched countless peers lose their lives or destroy their careers due to their addictions. And for 40 years he asked himself, “What can I do to make a difference?” After witnessing the death of yet another industry professional in 2016, Mickey and fellow restaurateur Steve Palmer founded Ben’s Friends, ...
Jan 31, 2024•42 min•Ep 2•Transcript available on Metacast I've been so fortunate to have shannon as a friend. Anytime I've been in a room with her I'm in awe of how she makes those around her feel. She's welcoming, funny, honest, and humble. In an industry of personalities, it is rare to find someone so great in all they do, yet so approachable. I'm also fortunate to have been close enough to shannon to see the ways she's grown. In this conversation we chat about some of the positive outcomes of her decision to remove alcohol. F...
Jan 10, 2024•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast It was great getting the chance to chat with brittany, someone who is not only a consumer of n/a beverages, sober, but also a creator of a new non-alcoholic amaro called 'namari.' We chat through her decision to remove alcohol, how she creates n/a beverages at The Dutchess, and what led to the creation of namari. Thanks for the time and honesty, brittany. Brittany Naing is the Assistant General Manager, and also oversees the bar/non-alcoholic cocktail program for The Dutchess , an all-da...
Nov 08, 2023•44 min•Ep 17•Transcript available on Metacast Michael Moberly is fun. Plain and simple. Every time I have been around him has been more rousing and laugh-filled than the last. When he removed alcohol from his life it felt like we only grew closer. My greatest friends at the moment have been those that have been filling their existence with good, and balance, and hope for themselves in the future. This is a departure from previous episodes, only in that Moberly is the first to roast me (I don't own a Corvette) and the first to feature bi...
Oct 25, 2023•46 min•Ep 16•Transcript available on Metacast It was nice to chat with jon. His story sounded like the start of others I had heard, but jon is unique which in turn, so is his story. It was staggering to hear his moment when he put his foot in the ground and became an individual who would live without alcohol. I'm inspired by what he's done, how he talks to himself, and the values that find their way into his business. Thanks for the honesty, jon. Born and raised in the South, but a traveler at heart, Jon Murray is changing the hospi...
Oct 11, 2023•30 min•Ep 15•Transcript available on Metacast i finally got to meet grace at tales of the cocktail. we chatted at an event surrounded by friends and mentors and shared in the excitement of what's happening and what's to come. this conversation picks up from where we left off in new orleans. grace has been leading the charge with delicious drinks, and a knowledge that surpasses many when it comes to what's in the n/a bottles. Founded in 2016, the mission of Ben's Friends is to offer hope, fellowship, and a path forward to any...
Sep 27, 2023•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode Charley and I talk about the struggles of the decision to remove alcohol, but what awaits on the other side. This was a great conversation about the practice of sobriety, and how making the decision isn't the fix, but what follows can be. Charley was one of the Focus on Health scholarship winners for the 2023 Tales of the Cocktail and currently bartends in Maine. Founded in 2016, the mission of Ben's Friends is to offer hope, fellowship, and a path forward to anyone who s...
Sep 13, 2023•33 min•Ep 13•Transcript available on Metacast brooke sets goals and crushes them. it was exciting to chat with someone so bought in on their own story, who finds every way possible to improve themselves. whether it is training for multiple marathons, or founding a company with their sights set on helping others, brooke goes all in. Brooke LeBlanc is the Founder & CEO of Edge, a coaching and community program designed to help you stop drinking alcohol. She got sober during the pandemic living in New York, and has been creating content ar...
Aug 02, 2023•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast Tori, aka mocktail girlie makes getting started with n/a beverages easy as ever on her social media channels. Offline she's on a path of discovering herself, viewing the positives in life through the lens of a person that is alcohol free. We both live in Columbus, Oh, a city we're proud to see thrive with more and more n/a options becoming available, and great places to start thanks to people like her. Tori, aka Mocktail Girlie, wanted to find a way to enjoy drinks without adding alcohol...
Jul 19, 2023•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast Chatting with Sam was another great example of what is gained when we decide to remove alcohol from our lives. A celebration of the flavors, moments, and people you get to be around, and how you blossom as an individual. She references discovering she’s awkward, but wears it as a badge of pride. I’ve discovered so many things about myself since removing alcohol, deep things, hidden things, and yes, silly things. Thank you, Sam. Sam Bail is the founder of Third Place Bar, a series of non-alcoholi...
Jun 14, 2023•36 min•Transcript available on Metacast Kristina brings a portion of the n/a narrative to the table, that many of my guests have brought before: That sobriety can be fun, and we don't lose a part of ourselves when we give up alcohol. This is represented in the way that Kristina talks about her own journey, and also through the branding and voice of her brand MIXOLOSHE. So much of what we encounter arrives when we shift our mindset. The first couple of times I took a monthlong break from alcohol I looked at it as depriving myself o...
May 31, 2023•43 min•Ep 10•Transcript available on Metacast I'm a huge fan of three spirit drinks. they fit that perfect mold of unique, and delicious, and aren't trying to be something they're not. I was excited to chat with tati and dash about how these remarkable n/a spirits came to be, and everything they aren't hiding. Three Spirit is a functional non-alcoholic drinks range created by bartenders, winemakers, and plant scientists. By harnessing the potential of active botanical ingredients, we push boundaries to make alcohol-free mean...
May 17, 2023•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast Laura Louise Green, LPC is a licensed psychotherapist and founder of Healthy Pour, a consultancy that helps creative organizations and professional communities address issues of well-being in the workplace. After working in hospitality and drinks for two decades, Laura utilizes her knowledge and skills as a mental health practitioner to facilitate training, growth, and healing within the hospitality industry and other creative sectors. Laura Louise is currently pursuing a second masters in Organ...
May 10, 2023•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
