Wilson Santos has been thinking about opening a French fry-centric restaurant for years. “This concept is like decades in the making,” Santos said. “To be honest, I went to Amsterdam, the first trip was in 1994. I was doing a study abroad program in England and on the weekends, I would try to take a trip around Europe. And I just took a trip with some friends that I met in England, went to Amsterdam and I saw these fries.” The fry shops became a common snack for Santos during his visits. “I just thought, ‘Why don’t we have this in the U.S.?’” Santos said. He got his first chance to try the concept when his first restaurant concept, Vinyl Arts Bar was undergoing a rebranding during COVID. Vinyl Cafe served as Santos interpretation of an Amsterdam coffee bar, but instead of marijuana, he offered hemp. He also offered fries. “So I put about six different sauces on the menu, I did the cone fries, and then you have the hemp,” Santis said. “Now people are smoking hemp They’re eating the fries and they get the whole Amsterdam experience.” Santos sold the space about six months later. That was in 2020. In March, he was finally able to open The Fry Shoppe at 489 N. Semoran Blvd. “We’re a few blocks up from Full Sail University — just light up from University Boulevard to Aloma (Avenue) so we’re right on the corner of Semoran Boulevard and Aloma (Avenue) — really high-traffic intersection for us,” Santos said. The business owner truly believes in the concept and is taking a big gamble on himself to get The Fry Shoppe up and running. “I was looking for investors for a long time, I had presentations and meetings and nobody wanted to invest. Nobody believed in it. You know, people said I was asking too much,” Santos said. “I’m glad I didn’t get any investors at the end of the day. It would have been a mistake. So things happen for a reason. I ended up — I couldn’t get funding for it and I didn’t have the money. I just — I’m a risk taker, I sold my house.” Santos is now renting a place near his restaurant. He believes the concept is ripe for a franchise. “I’m not gonna stop until we have multiple locations. I’m persistent,” Santos said. He believes The Fry Shoppe could find itself in mall food courts, food halls, or at airports. However, he needs to get this original location firing on all cylinders first. I know that in the next month, we’ll be at 100%. We have to add delivery — so we have to add DoorDash UberEATS are the two big ones. We haven’t even marketed heavily to the student population right down the street at Full Sail They have over 20,000 students. This is affordable food for students,” said. On the latest episode of Florida Foodie, Santos talked more about his trips to Amsterdam that inspired his restaurant. He also gives Candace Campos a rundown on his most popular sauces. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The pandemic was a trying time for people across the food service industry, but Jay and Johnny Nartowicz and their partner Colton O’Dwyer ended up opening the right business at the exact right time. They opened Ghost Kitchen Orlando in February 2020, just weeks before COVID-era restrictions started taking effect. “It was very strange timing because it was almost like we were building this business just for COVID because all the restaurants were shutting down,” Johnny Nartowicz said. We were planning the idea back in October of 2019. So, yeah, four or five months later COVID hit — all the restaurants shut down and we were planning this delivery pickup-only restaurant for five months.” Ghost Kitchen Orlando went on to be a success during the pandemic, especially with its heat-and-eat meals, but as the world began to reopen their lunch and catering business became the focus. Because of that, the team decided to expand into a brick-and-mortar location. The first Bricks & Bowls location opened in the Mall at Millenia in 2022. “The way people are eating is changing and there’s a lot of really bad processed food out there,” Jay Nartowicz said. “And so we want it to be wholesome, nutritious — we don’t want to come across as super healthy. We have a really good balance. We have a lot of superfoods and then we have a lot of indulgent foods and wholesome foods.” The restaurant offers sandwiches served on focaccia bread along with a variety of bowls featuring proteins, grains and vegetables. The Millenia location has served as a testing ground for the concept and now it is going to expand. “We had to go from pickup and delivery only to now having a full storefront with staff interacting with customers,” Johnny Nartowicz said. “It’s completely different. So it’s definitely been a learning curve but we feel it’s been (a) proof of concept over the past two years and we’ve really kind of nailed it and are excited to open this new store in Winter Park.” For Johnny Nartowicz and O’Dwyer, opening a store in Winter Park is something of a homecoming, as the pair met while attending Rollins College. “Winter Park is cool for us because where we’re opening is like 100 feet from where we graduated,” O’Dwyer said. “We’re going to have a couple exclusive offerings. We’re going to have focaccia pizza, which is baked actually using our focaccia bread, and we’re gonna have beer and wine, as well as some seltzers and things like that.” The new restaurant is set to open at 331 S. Park Ave. by the end of April, no official opening date has been set. On the latest episode of Florida Foodie, the trio talked about their plans to expand their businesses further. They also share their favorite sandwiches with Lisa Bell. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Christina Hollerbach is carrying on her parents’ life-long dream. “My parents always wanted to run their own restaurant and obviously my dad, being from Germany, wanted it to be a German restaurant,” she said. That dream became a reality in 2001, when her parents bought Willow Tree Cafe. The restaurant was tiny then but has since ballooned with the success of the business. “They actually bought the restaurant with 60 seats and six employees for $60,000,” Hollerbach said. “And of course, since then, we now have about 160 employees and see almost 10,000 guests a week between all of our businesses.” Hollerbach’s German Restaurant has since taken over a large portion of the building it sits in. The family has also expanded to have a market, selling baked goods and imported meats, and an outfitter full of authentic German costumes and outfits. In the more than 20 years since the restaurant first opened, Hollerbach has taken the reins of the business as its CEO. Hollerbach said the businesses are selling more than just food. They are selling a feeling of warmth and friendliness expressed best by the German word gemütlichkeit. “That’s what we’re trying to achieve all the time for these guests,” she said. “It’s why people like to celebrate special occasions here because you get that energy and like yes, the food is a huge part of it because it adds to that experience, but it is just one part of it.” Part of that effort to provide a cozy experience is by offering something for everyone, including its main restaurant which mimics a German beer hall with live music, a lodge for more of a bar atmosphere and the upstairs restaurant, Uber Keller, which offers a more laid back experience and serves German tapas. Hollerback feels as though the restaurant has helped to drive some change in Sanford — helping to take it from a sleepy suburb to a destination. “I would definitely consider us as a catalyst of making people believe that Sanford had a nightlife and a future because, you know, (the restaurant) was lunch only and we used to open for dinner on just Fridays and Saturdays and we would have like 10 covers. Now, there’s a line out the door,” she said. Hollerbach is very active in the community as well. She is an advocate for the city and works closely with the Sanford Main Street organization to push for improvements in the city. “I can still pause and appreciate and be grateful for what is happening right now while still simultaneously going ‘Alright, well, we got to fix this,” she said. On the latest episode of Florida Foodie, Hollerbach shares more of her family’s history and how it is woven into the fabric of the restaurant. She also shares some of the food that can be found there with Lisa Bell and Candace Campos. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chef Jill Holland found her path later in life when she went into culinary school at age 36. “It took a lot of soul searching to figure out what I wanted to do when I grew up and now I just need to grow up,” Holland said. Holland worked in retail, real estate and was even a swim instructor for several years, but she found a love for cooking when she went to a birthday party. “I went to a friend’s birthday party who was doing like an in-home cooking class and it just really intrigued me,” she said. “A couple of weeks later, her sister had a birthday party with the same person and I, of course, went back and I’m like, ‘I think I could do this. Yeah, I think I could do this but I’m gonna need a lot more information.’ So I went back to college and graduated from Valencia in 2011.” From there, Holland worked in several kitchens, but she found her true calling when she became an instructor with Second Harvest’s Culinary Training Program. “Second Harvest actually started a catering company,” Holland said. “I came on to Second Harvest as a part-time instructor and six months later, I took over the position as head chef (of catering).” The company, now called Plate Above Catering, offers full-service catering for large and small events with all of the proceeds going back to funding the culinary training program. Second Harvest said it costs about $7,000 to put a student through its intensive training program. The proceeds from Plate Above help to keep the classes completely free for those students. “(It) is an amazing program — building up adults who have some sort of hardship in their background,” Holland said. “It could be as — and I use this term very loosely — it could be as simple as being underemployed all the way to the extreme of homelessness — we’ve had students who are living in shelters, living out of their cars, living on a friend’s couch — and everything in between those two scenarios.” Plate Above offers pick-up and reheat menus for families during holidays, but it can also cover events of nearly any size. “We’ve catered wedding receptions, we have a rehearsal dinner and a couple of weeks that we’re doing. We’ve done retirement parties, birthday parties, we’ve done some Bar and Bat Mitzvahs,” Holland said. She added that the company is willing to work with customers to offer up nearly any kind of menu they like. On the latest episode of Florida Foodie, Holland shared more of long and varied resume. She also sampled some delicious candied bacon, cookies and a frittata for Lisa Bell and Candace Campos. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Olivier Saintemarie was raised in Paris but he has spent a portion of his career bringing the flavors of the City of Light to Central Florida. Saintemarie has spent time working Chefs de France in Epcot but is now in the process of opening his own business in Orlando’s newly expanding Packing District — La Maison Du Macaron. “I’m really happy to bring all these exciting products here,” Saintmarie said. As the name implies, the bakery specializes in macarons — which are a small cookie made by combining meringue and almond flour to create shells that are then sandwiched around a filling. “It’s one of the favorite things I make,” he said. “I mean, it’s very popular. All the times I go to a party it’s like, ‘Hey, where are the macarons?’” The chef and his team plan to deliver a variety of macarons for people to enjoy, including coffee, coconut lime, caramel with sea salt and back currant, among others. “In each box, we’re gonna have a description of all the flavors so it’s depending on your on your taste,” Saintemarie said. “I’m pretty sure you can find something you’re gonna like.” The bakery is not open to the public as it is focused on volume, but customers can order boxes of macarons online. “We’re gonna have different collections — we’re gonna have a classic collection with the caramel, the spice, the coffees the vanilla. We’re gonna have a fruit collection,” the chef said. “We’re gonna have 100% chocolate. So we’re going to have a fudge we’re gonna have a regular chocolate, chocolate passion (fruit), chocolate orange.” Saintemarie’s operation is still being built out and he is planning to expand into making chocolate candies. For now, the chef is focused on his macaron operation. “I want people to really taste the macarons like we have them in France,” Saintemarie said. “It’s something I grew up with, macarons. I learned to make macarons a long time ago.” The chef is ready to introduce his taste of Paris to a lot of people. He said his operation can produce 10,000 to 12,000 macarons every day. On the latest episode of Florida Foodie, Saintemarie shows off his operation and goes deep on how macarons are made. He gives Candace Campos and Lisa Bell a lesson on how to fill the cookies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pine & Oak Tavern sits inside the newly renovated Rio Pinar Golf course, but despite its new look, the walls are covered in history. “Arnold Palmer’s trophy is on the wall behind us and Lee Trevino is a champion here and Hal Irwin and a lot of the great old golfers. The history is just priceless. That’s one of the reasons why the property is purchased. You can buy a golf club, but you can’t buy the history,” said Greg Allowe, the president of Delaney Hospitality, which owns Pine & Oak. Allowe partnered with the new owners of Rio Pinar to bring Pine & Oak to life. The golf club had been mothballed for several years before it was purchased, so it was in need of an update by the time Allowe came to it. “So we had to start from the beginning and the vision was not to be a stodgy old country club,” Allowe said. “We wanted to modernize it — make it more relevant with keeping some of the traditions in place. So if you look in the main part of the restaurant, you’ll see the artwork is not typical for for a golf club. We wanted to build a restaurant that was a restaurant that just happened to be located at a golf club, not a golf club restaurant.” Allowe was not a stranger to restaurant ownership. He also owns Delaney’s Tavern, inside the Delany Hotel, in downtown Orlando. The businessman brought in Anthony Albino, his corporate chef who had helped to develop the menu at Delaney’s Tavern. “Some of the flavors of (Delaney’s Tavern) are here but we wanted also make this property a little bit more unique so, the menu is tailored a bit more for this market,” Allowe said. Albino came to the culinary world following a career change. Previously, he worked as a mortgage broker until 2008. “That’s when I put myself through college,” Albino said. “I went to attend Le Cordon Bleu.” Albino said he got his passion for cooking from his family, especially his grandmother. “I grew up with a single mom. So every year she sent me down to Puerto Rico to live with my grandma,” the chef said. “And my grandma cooked every day, no matter who was coming by, or who was who was in the house. She cooked every day and people just stopped buy to eat — so I just got a passion and love for cooking from her.” On the latest episode of Florida Foodie, Allowe shares more of the history behind Rio Pinar and Pine & Oak, while Albino shows off some of the menu. Please follow our Florida Foodie hosts on social media. You can find Candace Campos on Twitter and Facebook. Lisa Bell is also on Facebook and Twitter and you can check out her children’s book, “Norman the Watchful Gnome.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Barnie’s Coffee has gone through a lot of changes over its 43 years in business. The name comes from one of the founders of the business, Phil Barnie Jones. “He was an inventor himself,” said Shannon Wolfgang, director of marketing for Barnie’s. “And he was like, ‘You know what, no one’s doing flavored coffee.’” According to Wolfgang, Barnie’s became one of the first companies to offer flavored coffees. “You can have all the flavor within the coffee and you don’t have to worry about adding the sugar adding the creamers or adding the whipped cream and all that goofy stuff because that’s not really what we’re about,” she said. The company saw nationwide expansion at one point, predating Starbucks, opening several locations inside malls across the country. “Then our investors and our business managers decided to change plans and then at that point, we closed down our mall locations and we decided to keep our flagship location (in Winter Park),” Wolfgang said. “Then we kind of just did our online store for barniescoffee.com.” In addition to its online sales, the brand is also available is several supermarket chains, including Publix and Winn Dixie, among others. Barnie’s is also now focused on partnering with Central Florida businesses. “We’ve already had our Publix of flavored ice cream(s),” Wolfgang said. “Then there’s Ten10 Brewery who’s doing a beer with us. We have Se7en Bites, who’s done a brownie with us and also a cookie with us with the flavoring. So we have a lot of local collaborations.” The company is also working with colleges in the area, such as the University of Central Florida. “So we closed down all of the mall cafes and now we’re opening businesses or collaborating with businesses through schools and the reason we did that was so that we could also do a give-back donation to the school,” Wolfgang said. “We created three different blends with (UCF) — flavored coffee, like our Pegasus blend — and if you purchase that coffee, not only at the UCF cafe that they have, but purchase it online from Barnie’s Coffee, $1 of that bag actually goes back to their food insecurity program.” The company also works with Stetson University, Rollins College and the Orlando Science Center with similar give-back programs. Despite the brand’s reach, Barnie’s is a relatively small operation. Its roasting facility only has 13 employees “doing everything by hand,” according to Wolfgang. On the latest episode of Florida Foodie, Candace Campos and Lisa Bell learn all about the coffee roasting process. They also get a peek at how Barnie’s flavors its coffees. Please follow our Florida Foodie hosts on social media. You can find Candace Campos on Twitter and Facebook. Lisa Bell is also on Facebook and Twitter and you can check out her children’s book, “Norman the Watchful Gnome.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jake Wheeler is no stranger to the restaurant industry or Tex-Mex cuisine. Both have always been a part of his and his family’s livelihoods. “Back in 1995, (my dad) launched Tijuana Flats. In 2015, he sold it. So now we’re here and it’s my turn to take the reins and do something new,” Jake Wheeler said. The family also owns Tibby’s New Orleans Kitchen and Jake Wheeler had been working there as a manager, handling events and marketing. Jake Wheeler and his father, Brian Wheeler, opened Big Taco in Casselberry in early November. Jake Wheeler said his dad had been getting restless since retiring. “The way this went is my dad, he retired about four or five years ago,” Jake Wheeler said. “He got bored in retirement — like one day, I walked outside and he had our dog on the jetski in the backyard. So he gets bored. He always wants something new and he thought, ‘You know if I’m going to be spending my money and resources to do something, how about I help out my kids?’ So he said, ‘I was good at Tex-Mex and I think we could do it again.’ So then he came up with Big Taco and the whole idea of this was to provide an outlet for me and my brother to take the reins, run, do our thing and hopefully create another Tex-Mex empire.” Jake Wheeler said Big Taco had been a nickname for his dad since the elder Wheeler opened up Tijuana Flats. “He’s been called Big Taco since 1995,” Jake Wheeler said. “His friends gave it to him. They would hang out, ‘Hey, Big Taco, what’s up?’” Taking command of Big Taco has proved something of a challenge for Jake Wheeler. He had restaurant experience with running Tibby’s, but Big Taco is a completely different setup. “I had no clue of how to run a fast-casual restaurant,” Jake Wheeler said. “Luckily had the training of the full service, which is a much bigger operation. I wouldn’t say it’s easier or more difficult than this, but once I came here to the fast-casual setting, it was kind of refreshing.” The decision to open in Casselberry was a strategic one. Jake Wheeler said the idea was to save money on rent while building up a reputation. “We thought Casselberry is a great place — you have a family environment, a good town, and we’re not breaking the bank and we could really build a good community here. Our neighboring restaurants — Bagel King and Anthony’s — they’ve been here for 20-plus years. They’re all very respected. So we decided we go next to them so we can build that same reputation that they have.” On the latest episode of Florida Foodie, Jake Wheeler talks about what makes Big Taco unique from Tijuana Flats. He also talks about the artwork on display inside the restaurant and shows off some of the most popular menu items. Please follow our Florida Foodie hosts on social media. You can find Candace Campos on Twitter and Facebook. Lisa Bell is also on Facebook and Twitter and you can check out her children’s books, “Norman the Watchful Gnome.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aly Lalani has poured everything into making his restaurant, Build My Burgers, a success. Lalani and his wife started looking into purchasing a franchise of an established business in 2018, but they could not find any options in their budget. “The ones that were reasonably priced, they did not have a presence in Orlando,” Lalani said. “We’re big foodies, and we love eating burgers. So we were always looking for something where you get a good quality burger, but the price is ridiculous or the quality is not there. So we decided to we’re gonna have let people build their burgers the way they like.” That was the idea that became Build My Burgers. The pair started the lease on their restaurant — 3402 Technological Ave. Suite 136 — in 2019 and the restaurant was originally supposed to open in April 2020. “And then we know what happened in March — and actually, it happened March 19 which is my birthday — so literally, I found out that the country’s shutting down on my birthday,” Lalani said. Despite that, Lalani continued to work on the restaurant and was finally able to open in January 2021. “It took almost a year and then I was maxing out all my credit cards,” Lalani said. “In November, we had a baby and, and then I took two more months off and I said, ‘I’ll start the new year fresh,’ and thankfully, as soon as we were opening, the country was opening, and they had made the dining like 50% (capacity). So people were excited. People were excited to get out of their house.” The restaurateur said the reaction to Build My Burgers has been positive, so much so that the business has been able to rely on word of mouth to draw in customers. “We don’t really spend money on advertising or any of that. We just believe in our product. We believe in our food. And we believe in our customers,” he said. Build My Burgers is situated close to the campus of the University of Central Florida and Lalani offers a lot of deals for the students there. “I always tell people, as long as the community is supporting me, I’ll keep supporting them,” he said. Now, after two years of hard work, Lalani is getting ready to franchise Build My Burgers and he is actively looking for people nationwide to buy into the business. On the latest episode of Florida Foodie, Lalani talks all about what makes his burgers stand out from the rest. He also talks about working with his family and building the business all while raising two children. Please follow our Florida Foodie hosts on social media. You can find Candace Campos on Twitter and Facebook. Lisa Bell is also on Facebook and Twitter and you can check out her children’s books, “Norman the Watchful Gnome.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It took Joe and Ginger Leigh more than two years to realize their dream of opening Orlando’s first meadery — a winery focused on making honey wines. The effort has seen the pair put in long hours. “It’s incredible. We’ve been doing 120-hour weeks for the past year,” Joe Leigh said. “It’s just the two of us. We have wonderful bartenders. But we do everything else.” The pair opened their taproom at 1121 N. Mills Ave. in August after a successful crowdfunding campaign in 2021. After that, they had to find a location and then jump through all kinds of red tape. “Alcohol production is highly regulated with the government. It’s both state and federal. So every formula needs to be approved, every label needs to match the formula — so every word is regulated,” Joe Leigh said. Beyond the regulatory hurdles, Ginger Leigh, who is also an artist under the name Synthestruct, designed the entire taproom while also working with the city for various grants. “We complement each other really well,” Ginger Leigh said. “Alongside with doing the creative, the fun parts, there’s also applying for the permits and things. It couldn’t possibly have gone faster because we were working on that — we would wake up in the morning, and then pretty much until we went to sleep at night.” All of the hard work has paid off for the couple, as their taproom has been a big draw in Orlando’s trendy Mills 50 neighborhood. “People notice as they’re driving down Mills Avenue, big black building, and a lot of people the logo catches their eye,” Ginger Leigh said. “They don’t know what it is, so it intrigues them. So, yes, we’ve had so many people say that they were driving by and they had to do a quick U-turn to see you know what exactly is this big black building.” The pair said they get a of people who have never tried mead before entering their taproom. “They don’t realize that it can taste very different depending on the honey that we use,” Ginger Leigh said. “And there’s different styles — it can be fruited, it can be spiced — and so even if they’ve had it before, a lot of people that come in, they’re still trying it like it’s the first time they’ve had it because they’re trying something new.” On the latest episode of Florida Foodie, Joe and Ginger Leigh walk us through the mead-making process. They also share insights on the different kinds of honey they use and all the different styles of mead they offer. Please follow our Florida Foodie hosts on social media. You can find Candace Campos on Twitter and Facebook. Lisa Bell is also on Facebook and Twitter and you can check out her children’s books, “Norman the Watchful Gnome.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kee Gainey spent 25 years as a stay-at-home mom before starting her culinary career. “I decided it was time for me to get back out there and I was like, ‘Well, what can you do? No one is going to hire you after this long You don’t have any experience,’” Gainey said. “And I was like, ‘Well, what can I do? You can cook? So I said, Well, I do need credentials, where can I go?’” This self-appraisal led her to Second Harvest’s Culinary Training Program. “I was highly blessed to be able to get into that program,” Gainey said. “They have these fabulous chefs. They teach you everything from A to Z. In my case, I already had experience. So it was a little bit easier for me than for some people, but it really was a great learning experience.” Gainey, a native Floridian, said she grew up learning to cook from her grandmother and mother. She took those lessons with her to Second Harvest. Through the culinary training program, Gainey was able to find work at Nourish Coffee Bar + Kitchen, which features a scratch-made menu focused on nutritious foods. “It’s been four years, this past October, and I love it there. It is a really great place to work. There are great people there,” she said. Gainey also started her own cottage business out of her home, Kitchen Arrabon. “In the Greek, (Arrabon) means downpayment,” Gainey said. “I am a Christian. I read my scriptures every day and one morning in the devotionals this word ‘Arrabon’ (appeared) and I was like, ‘I like the way that sounds!’ And it was there, explained that it means downpayment. So I chose Arrabon because I considered at that moment, this would be the downpayment on my new life.” Gainey said the business has been a confidence booster for her. “One of my secret issues is a low confidence level and when people enjoy my food, I do feel really good because that means that I did good because I didn’t really grow up with a lot of encouragement from the family that I had,” she said. “But I get it from other people and I’m growing in that area and I feel so blessed to be able to share my experience with others.” On the latest episode of Florida Foodie, Gainey shows off some of the delectable treats she offers through her business. She also tells the story behind her first cake and how she made her way onto the podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A family’s shared love of anime has grown in three restaurants serving up ramen, pho and other pan-Asian delicacies. Soupa Saiyan first opened its doors in 2016 at 5689 Vineland Road, near Universal Studios in Orlando. “It all started with my (brother-in-law),” Jimmy Chhun, the manager at Soupa Saiyan, said.”He loves food. He’s always wanting to create it. One day (he was) trying to figure out ‘What’s a good way to have like a soup-themed restaurant.’ So when they were just watching anime, he sees Goku eating soup noodles (and said) ‘You know what, that’s what I’m gonna call it.’” Soupa Saiyan is themed on the wildly popular Dragon Ball anime. The name Soupa Saiyan is a reference to the show in which several of the main characters come from an alien race called Saiyans who can power up and become Super Saiyans. The restaurants stand out, as they are heavily decorated with Dragon Ball-themed toys, statues and art. However, they didn’t start out that way. “Everybody coming in here loving it. Even when we started, we started off with very small figures and artwork and then everybody started donating art,” Chhun said. The menu came from a blending of cultures. Chhun said his brother-in-law’s family is Lao while his wife, Chhun’s sister, is Vietnamese. “So we put that together — combined it,” he said. Chhun said the Dragon Ball theming helps to bring people in, but added that it is the food that keeps people coming back. “It’s just what’s in our broth,” he said. “Our soup cooks for about 12 to 15 hours — savor the flavor. Everybody loves it and you can build it the way you want it here.” Despite the growth of Soupa Saiyan, success did not come overnight. “(My brother-in-law) was just doubting (himself),” Chhun said. “I’m like, ‘No, you give it a shot.’ Then after like a couple of months later he’s like, ‘We just started blooming.’” Chhun was living in Utah when Soupa Saiyan first opened. He was invited to come to Florida to help out with the business about five years ago. Since then, two additional locations opened — Soupa Saiyan 2 in Jacksonville and Soupa Saiyan 3 near the University of Central Florida, which is the location Chhun manages. “The college kids there love it. The artwork and everything,” Chhun said. On the latest episode of Florida Foodie, Chhun shares more about how Soupa Saiyan has grown over the years. He also shows off some of the most popular menu items. Please follow our Florida Foodie hosts on social media. You can find Candace Campos on Twitter and Facebook. Lisa Bell is also on Facebook and Twitter and you can check out her children’s book, “Norman the Watchful Gnome.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A trip to Denver led Andy Sheeter down a path that has him getting ready to move his business into a 40,000-square-foot brewery. I went on a ski trip with some friends. We were out in Breckenridge and then we were in Boulder, Colorado, and we went to a brewery,” Sheeter said. “And there were three of us and we thought ‘This is really cool. We should try this,’ and so on the flight home from Denver, by the time we landed, we had a brewery concept.” Crooked Can Brewing Company officially opened for business in March 2015. Sheeter said he knew he wanted to open in Winter Garden. “We just felt that Winter Garden was where it was at,” he said. Sheeter and his then-partners, he has since bought them out of the business, purchased an empty apartment complex that had gone into disrepair and become a nuisance property. They had the place leveled and began building what would become the Plant Street Market — a brewery and food hall. “Once we started building the brewery, I knew instantaneously it was going to be a hit because we would go there on a Saturday or Sunday and would go to the worksite and it was literally like a parade of bikes, golf carts, cars, everybody going by and everybody staring at us trying to figure out when we were going to be done,” Sheeter said. Sure enough, he said the brewery saw instant success. “What I’m surprised in is that we continue to grow year after year,” he said. “Because every year, I look at the amount of business we do, the amount of customers that come through here and I say to myself, ‘I don’t know how we can handle more than this,’ then every year we do.” However, even though Crooked Can has handled the growing business up to this point, it is time for the business to grow. The brewery is starting construction on a new flagship brewery in Minneola. “It’s going to go into what’s called the Hills in Mineola, which there’s a new turnpike exit on Hancock Road,” he said. “There’s going to be a roughly 132-acre development there that’s going to have mixed-use section. It’s going to have a hospital. It’s going to have a hotel. It’s going to have a lot of retail, grocery and, last I heard, roughly 1,000 apartments that are going to be on top of the retail.” Sheeter said he hopes to have the new brewery open by 2025. On the latest episode of Florida Foodie, Sheeter talks about why he is so focused on keeping his brewery in Central Florida. He also talks more about the new brewery and his possible plans for the future. Please follow our Florida Foodie hosts on social media. You can find Candace Campos on Twitter and Facebook. Lisa Bell is also on Facebook and Twitter and you can check out her children’s book, “Norman the Watchful Gnome.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rob Bair is no stranger to the restaurant industry having already built two successful Central Florida chains, Gringos Locos and Tin & Taco. Now he’s building a third chain, but this time he is stepping away from the Tex-Mex cuisine that brought him so much success and moving toward a flavor of his childhood — Detroit-style pizza. “I’m originally from the Detroit area,” Bair said. “I left when I was 15 years old but I grew up on — we didn’t call it Detroit style pizza — you either get a square pizza or a round pizza and we always loved the square pizza.” In 2022, Bair opened SoDough Square, which serves a version of the “square pizza” he grew up with. However, he did not set out to open up a pizza place. “During COVID, I really dug into this style of pizza,” Bair said. “I’ve been making it for a long time, but I’ve never really gone down the rabbit hole, so to say. So I started making it for my family and every time I would do something different whether it’s the flour, whether it’s the fermentation.” Bair said his kitchen turned into a lab for pizza dough. After multiple tests, it was Bair’s wife who finally told him when the pizza was perfected. “I brought it out to my wife and she took a bite and she said, ‘Whatever you just did, stop right there. That’s it. That’s it,’” he said. Around this time, a Hungry Howie’s pizza place next door to the SoDo location of Tin & Taco closed up shop making the space available. “I took over the Hungry Howie’s spot and it was nice because it was all built out and all I had to do is swap out the equipment,” Bair said. Since then, Bair has opened a second location of SoDough Square in Winter Park, taking over the space from a former Tin & Taco location. He also has plans in the works to open a third location in Lake Mary. On the latest episode of Florida Foodie, Bair goes into great detail about what makes a Detroit-style pizza unique from other regional variations. He also shares memories of eating pizza at Red Wings’ hockey games and how he might expand the menu with another Detroit favorite. Please follow our Florida Foodie hosts on social media. You can find Candace Campos on Twitter and Facebook. Lisa Bell is also on Facebook and Twitter and you can check out her children’s book, “Norman the Watchful Gnome.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Daniel Mercedes Jr. started the business that would become The Dancing Empanda by selling food out of the trunk of his car. “I was looking for a little side hustle to do and I just remember grandma making the empanadas,” Mercedes said. “So that’s what I decided to do. So we talked about it and she gave me the recipes and I started making empanadas and going to barber shops and mechanic shops out of the car and just to see how we grew and they loved it.” At the time, Mercedes was working at a transitional home through the Department of Corrections. He was selling his empanadas on the weekends. “Then once I got to the place where I was making the same as my check, that’s when I decided to give my two weeks’ notice and I ran with that,” he said. “I was very surprised to see that if you put into work, you know, and the product is good, you can make money off of it.” That was eight years ago. Since then, Mercedes has expanded his business into two food trucks — which he’s been running for four years. His wife has also become a part of the business. “The hardest part is what my wife does, which is making the empanadas and also getting us job contracts,” Mercedes said. “I’m driving the food truck — it’s the easiest part — working it is easy because we only have empanadas.” Now, four years into running his food trucks, Mercedes is getting ready to retire. “Now we’re actually selling the business with the recipe, the empanada machine, everything that comes with the business — the name, the brand,” he said. Mercedes has parlayed his success with The Dancing Empanada into purchasing property in North Carolina, which he has outfitted with some tiny homes he plans to use as vacation rentals. “(The Dancing Empanada is) a great business to have is just our journeys over with it,” he said. On the latest episode of Florida Foodie, Mercedes shares more about how he built his business. He also talks about working with his wife and children, as well as his plans for the future. Please follow our Florida Foodie hosts on social media. You can find Candace Campos on Twitter and Facebook. Lisa Bell is also on Facebook and Twitter and you can check out her children’s book, “Norman the Watchful Gnome.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Vinnie Nguyen and his wife, Phi Phi Lam, started their food truck, Pho Wheels, so that they could have more time to spend with their children. “The hours and restaurants are just really long,” Nguyen said. “You go in — opening, you’ve done everything — by the time you go home, it’s almost midnight as well. I miss a lot of time with my children. I was a stay-at-home dad at the beginning when they were born for like five and a half years and when going back to the workforce, it just felt like I was missing a part of myself.” Nguyen has spent much of his life around restaurants. His family has been in the restaurant business and he has worked in a number of kitchens around Orlando, such as Umi Japanese Fusion in Winter Park and Hana Sushi in Altamonte Springs. “I just love how food makes people feel and any kind of a field that you’re in it’s really hard to try to please a lot of people,” he said. “But if you get the correct ingredients, the correct food, it makes people happy and that’s our kind of occupation.” However, after spending time as a stay-at-home dad, Nguyen decided it was best to be his own boss. “If we don’t make enough money, we’ll just spend less money. So that’s that’s our scenario,” Nguyen said. “We’re not as successful as some restaurants are but we do get to spend the most amount of time with our kids. We try to work during the time when they’re at school so that when they come home, they don’t even know that we left for work.” Even though Pho Wheels gives the couple the freedom to spend plenty of time with their children, it does still keep them busy. “We’ve been all the way to Winter Garden. We’ve been to Tampa, we serve a lot over in Titusville, in the Space Coast area, but most of the time we are headquartered in Winter Park and we serve a lot of the outer Orlando area — downtown a lot,” Nguyen said. Getting ready for each event also has the couple working long hours. “The prep time is a lot. We do wake up early, and we do stay up late, but those are the schedules that we picked so that we can have the time with our child. It is a lot different from a brick-and-mortar where you have enough water, enough electricity — so it does take a lot of adjustment,” Nguyen said. The couple serves a variety of Asian street food including Vietnamese dishes like pho, Korean fried chicken and even some sushi. So we just love that we’re able to accommodate a lot of the Asian culture and a lot of different food for all our events,” Nguyen said. On the latest episode of Florida Foodie, Nguyen and his wife talk about what it is like to work together in their food truck. They also show off some of their favorite dishes. Please follow our Florida Foodie hosts on social media. You can find Candace Campos on Twitter and Facebook. Lisa Bell is also on Facebook and Twitter and you can check out her children’s book, “Norman the Watchful Gnome.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A.J. Haines — the chef and owner of The Hen & Hog in Winter Park — has been relatively open about his health struggles. “The first time it hit — as far as the diverticulitis attack — it was a Tuesday morning,” Haines said. “(I was) like, ‘I don’t feel good. This is really hurting me today.’ I woke up at like 11:30 at night drenched in sweat — took the thermometer, I had 104 degree temperature. I’m like, ‘I’m in bad shape.’ So drove myself to the hospital and four and a half hours, five hours later was emergency surgery.” This happened in January. The restaurant had just opened a few months prior in October. Haines said this first stint in the hospital forced him to shut down his restaurant for two and a half weeks. “I couldn’t move. I couldn’t do anything. So the whole restaurant just was closed,” he said. When he was finally able to return to work, Haines posted online about the experience. The post ended up getting a lot of attention from the community. “When I did my little post it was more of like, ‘Hey, we’re back open’ and I didn’t expect it to go as viral as it did,” Haines said. “I’m just telling everybody we’re back. Come help out, come support local.” The chef has had to deal with a few more stints in the hospital and is still experiencing “a lot of pain.” Despite that, Haines remains active in his business, though not as much as he would like. “They (doctors) told me three months of nothing over 25 pounds. So (my) staff has been great as far as carrying me — you know, grabbing stuff, doing deliveries, coming with me to go shopping and pick stuff up,” Haines said. “It’s been tough and I always feel like I’m not the go-getter anymore. I can’t be. I have to watch myself and say ‘No, no, I can’t. Can you come grab this please?’ Because I don’t want any more surgery. I never want to go back.” In addition to his health problems, Haines has also had to contend with rising food costs and parking issues around his restaurant on West Fairbanks Avenue. “We have our own parking lot across the street, but it’s always full,” he said. “There’s a couple of other businesses in the area that fill it up and cars sit there for two or three hours and very hard to rotate in and out.” Fortunately, Haines has cultivated some strong relationships with his neighboring businesses that have helped him with his parking woes. “Fannie Hillman (& Associates) is great and has been wonderful to us. So we get their parking lot which is about 45 spots. That’s great,” he said. Other nearby shops and restaurants are also willing to let Haines’ customers use their spots after hours or on the weekend. Despite the hurdles put in his path, Haines is pushing ahead with The Hen & Hog and he hopes that customers will keep his restaurant in their regular rotation. “You got to stay afloat,” he said. “This is our first year. I’m not planning on making any money and never was.” On the latest episode of Florida Foodie, Haines talks about growing up in Wisconsin, his family’s restaurant and coming to Orlando. He also shares his plans to write a cookbook and talks about the career he had before starting his culinary journey. Please follow our Florida Foodie hosts on social media. You can find Candace Campos on Twitter and Facebook. Lisa Bell is also on Facebook and Twitter and you can check out her children’s book, “Norman the Watchful Gnome.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The chefs at Universal Orlando are looking to raise the bar when it comes to the food guests can expect to find at a theme park. “We really want to reinvent the thought of what theme park food is,” Ron Cope, executive chef of Universal Studios Florida, said. “We’ve really tried to elevate everything we do here — from our simple little desserts, a sandwich, a soup, whatever it is. That’s our real goal is to get out of that old school this is just carnival theme park food. This is really a dining experience that you’re gonna have.” Cope said a lot of thought was put into the menu at Universal’s new Minion Café, bringing both creativity and whimsy to the menu. “We thought about what would an adult like, but what would a kid say,” he said. “You know, it’s something for everybody and we think we really nailed it.” The menu features dishes like Otto’s noodle bowl, which features a tonkatsu broth, braised pork, a shrimp dumpling and roasted corn. It also showcases sugary, sweet drinks featuring whipped cream and Pop Rocks. It’s a wide range of flavors for both adults and children. The level of thought and creativity in the menu is also reflected in the amount of time it took to develop everything. “We probably did it for about a year, year and a half,” Cope said. “We wanted to really capture what would be fun for everybody. So with the Illuminations partners, they really pushed us to get playful things in and we’re really happy with the way it came out.” The chefs at Universal work closely with the creators of the intellectual properties they are representing with their food. This is also true for the park’s annual Halloween event, Halloween Horror Nights. “With Halloween Horror Nights, we get to have the most fun,” Christoper Colon, executive sous chef of research and development at Universal, said. “You don’t get to see a cordyceps corndog or a meat stew somewhere on your day-to-day restaurant tour. So it’s definitely the most fun that we have.” Colon worked to bring dishes inspired by the hit video game “The Last of Us” to life for the 2023 event. “We have an amazing research and development team,” Colon said. “We love to do this. We all played the game. We all did our research by playing some games and then we get to bring it to life with Chef Ron Cope. His team comes out here and executes at us for us every single day.” Colon said it took his team about six months to develop the menu items that guests will be able to enjoy during HHN. On the latest episode of Florida Foodie, the chefs share more of the development process for the highly themed items being served up at the park. They also show off several of the dishes and how they are prepared. Please follow our Florida Foodie hosts on social media. You can find Candace Campos on Twitter and Facebook. Lisa Bell is also on Facebook and Twitter and you can check out her children’s book, “Norman the Watchful Gnome.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Austin Blake started his business, Stackd Brownies, while playing around in the kitchen with his family. “COVID hit and that’s when everything kind of shut down,” Blake said. “Everything was not what was expected. So during that time, my parents were not doing much. I wasn’t doing much during that time and during that time we were in the kitchen. We were playing and food was always in our background. We love food. Going through social media and seeing how viral other baked goods places were all over the country — we’re like, ‘Man, it’d be cool to get in that world.’” As the family was looking for the best way to break into the bakery business, they discovered that brownies were under-represented online. “We took it a little bit further and made round crispy edge delicious brownies — because that’s what is everyone’s favorite — it was either ‘Hey, I want the crispy edge’ or ‘I want the fudgy inside.’ So we created a combo of both to create everyone’s happy middle,” Blake said. Stackd specializes in brownies, but their menu doesn’t stop there. “We make more than just brownies; brownie stuffed cannolis, brownie ice cream, brownie croissants — brownie, everything. So we’re a full bakery of brownies, which makes it more exciting than just one brownie,” Blake said. Once they settled on a concept, Blake and his family dove in headfirst and opened a brick-and-mortar location. “Our first location in Lake Mary was kind of in like a building type place — if someone looks up, they’ll see we were in an office building,” Blake said. “We were there purposely to prove the concept, to see if we had legs in the market to bring brownies into a retail setting.” It took a lot of hard work just to get people through the door of the first location. “It was in an office building. When we told people — because on social media we started posting and people like ‘Where’s this place?’ It’s not like it’s an easy ‘Hey, it’s right next to Publix.’ We’re an office building. So we were outside. We were at the farmers market to start to tell people who we are and where we are — like we’re actually a real company,” Blake said. The work paid off and the family business has now expanded to four locations around Central Florida. Two of the locations have since been sold as franchises. “We have great owners that were able to see the opportunity and want to be a part of it,” Blake said. “Things are going very well. We’re actually turning our two other stores into franchises. We’re going to sell those off as well. So then we can basically go full steam ahead into franchising and create a foundation to grow all over this state.” On the latest episode of Florida Foodie, Blake talks more about his plans to franchise Stackd Brownies. He also talks about the myriad of flavors available to customers and balancing his work while caring for a newborn. Please follow our Florida Foodie hosts on social media. You can find Candace Campos on Twitter and Facebook. Lisa Bell is also on Facebook and Twitter and you can check out her children’s book, “Norman the Watchful Gnome.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jamilyn Bailey and Lordfer “Lo” Lalicon, the owners of Kaya, know that Filipino food is not normally associated with “fine dining,” they are looking to change that perception. “I think everybody and not just our parents, even our friends are doubtful, like ‘You’re opening a Filipino restaurant? Casual fine-dining Filipino restaurant? Are you crazy? You can make Filipino food fine dining.’” Lalicon said. “And one of the misconceptions too is that Filipino food is ugly and no, it doesn’t have to be.” The duo like to describe Kaya as offering “casual fine dining.” They want people to feel comfortable in the space but offer food with close attention to quality and detail. “We do karaoke on Wednesdays. We have these festivals and farmers’ markets,” Bailey said. The pair opened Kaya at the start of 2023 but in that short amount of time, they have managed to get some prestigious accolades including recognition from the Michelin Restaurant Guide. “I sometimes sit back and just like realize how great that is for the community and for a restaurant,” Lalicon said. “And it’s cool to see that they’re paying attention to a small restaurant like us who’s doing a very unique thing and Filipino food.” The name Kaya means “capable,” which has become a mantra for the “small restaurant.” “It’s like saying, since we were one of the few Filipino restaurants in Central Florida, we’re saying that Filipino food is good enough. It’s flavorful enough. We can live our dreams and do what we want to do,” Lalicon said. In addition to the food, the pair want Kaya to be a space to build and support their community. “We actually just had a ‘know your farmers market’ yesterday. We invited our farm partners to come and talk to the community about how they can also source their vegetables more locally and support the local ecosystem,” Bailey said. “It takes a lot for a meal to come together on your table and we want folks that be a little bit more connected to that process of eating.” The support of the community has been big motivator for the pair. “It’s really amazing. I’m so proud. Like, I get emotional sometimes just looking around,” Bailey said. “You really can’t put a finger on what our guests are. I mean, every kind of ethnicity, background — it is just really amazing to see that and to share that.” On the latest episode of Florida Foodie, Bailey and Lalicon talk about how they first met in college and how they built their partnership after reconnecting years later. They also talk about how the restaurant has evolved since it opened and how they hope to expand the business moving forward. Please follow our Florida Foodie hosts on social media. You can find Candace Campos on Twitter and Facebook. Lisa Bell is also on Facebook and Twitter and you can check out her children’s book, “Norman the Watchful Gnome.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices