Wax Paper

12/10/21 • 88 min

On today’s episode, Eli welcomes Lauren and Peter Lemos, owners of Wax Paper in LA. With over 30 years of hospitality experience between them, they launched their restaurant in 2015 on a shoestring budget in a shoebox-sized space. Now with two locations of Wax Paper Co., a growing team, and a new restaurant concept called Lingua Franca on the way, Lauren and Peter sat down to share their story of opening a restaurant and truly figuring it all out along the way. If you are an industry veteran looking to start your own thing, this episode is definitely for you. Get ready for a wide-ranging and expansive conversation that touches on build-outs, the health department, trying to get a bank loan, cooking with constraints, how to build a better business for the long term, and of course, navigating a restaurant during Covid.

Photo Courtesy of Marielle V. Chua.

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support The Line by becoming a member!

theLINE is Powered by Simplecast.

Photo Courtesy of Marielle V. Chua.

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support The Line by becoming a member!

theLINE is Powered by Simplecast.

Previous Episode

Talea Beer Co.

On today’s episode, Eli is joined by Tara Hankinson and LeAnn Darland, the founders of Talea Beer Co. After several years of planning, fundraising, and overcoming the many roadblocks it takes to get a physical location up and running, they opened the Talea Brewery and Taproom in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in March of 2021.

Talea is the only exclusively woman and veteran-owned and founded production brewery (and taproom) in NYC. We discuss balancing work and family, ABV, opening during the pandemic, and their future expansion plans.

Photo Courtesy of Talea Beer.

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support The Line by becoming a member!

theLINE is Powered by Simplecast.

Next Episode

Birdie's

On Today’s episode of the Line, I welcome the co-owners of the Austin, Texas restaurant Birdie’s. Tracy and Arjav moved from NYC to Austin with the hope of building an equitable neighborhood restaurant. Birdie’s is a casual order-at-the-counter spot that serves elevated plates. Tracy, a Texas native, handles chef duties, and Arjav, who was born in New Delhi and grew up in Portland, handles the front-of-house and the wine list.

Together they wanted to create a restaurant for the long term both for themselves and their employees, so they built in things like healthcare, an equitable pay and tip model, and a winter and summer break when they shut down the restaurant for two weeks each season to provide a paid vacation for the entire team to recharge.

Among its accolades, Birdie’s has been named a best restaurant in Austin by Eater, and was chosen by the NYTimes in 2021 as one of the 50 most exciting restaurants in America.

On this episode of the Line, recorded in late 2021, we talk about how to build efficiency and maintain momentum while running a busy restaurant, creating a style and a vibe of a casual restaurant while coming from a higher-end background, keeping staff happy while maintaining your sanity as owners, and of course so much more.

Photo Courtesy of Mackenzie Smith Kelley.

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support The Line by becoming a member!

theLINE is Powered by Simplecast.