One of the main reasons I’ve stayed in the hospitality industry is the comradery and sense of family that are the backbone of every level of restaurant.

I was fortunate to find something very similar in the podcasting world. When I first contacted Eric Cascciatore he was very open and giving to a new and less experienced podcaster. I remember him saying “after listening to a few episodes I may not have started my podcast because I didn’t think I could do it as well”

So, after being a guest on my podcast, he wanted to get me to do an episode on his. Of course I agreed and here is the result. I’ll be posting the video version in a week or two after he gets it loaded to his You Tube channel.

You can find this episode and about a thousand others with the leaders in the restaurant industry at www.restaurantunstoppable.com or on You Tube at https://www.youtube.com/@RestaurantUnstoppable

Enjoy

Wyatt Evans, a participant in the Heritage Fire event coming to Canterbury Park in Minnesota the afternoon of Sunday June 25th. 

Wyatt’s team from Jester Concept’s P.S Steak will be cooking meat over live fire along with other chefs from around the Twin Cities. In other words, it’s a Chef’s idea of fun under the summer sun. Or, Imagine charcoal grilling burgers in your backyard times ten.

The ever-growing food culture of the cities made the Heritage Fire Tour a natural stop to showcase the talent and innovation of the restaurants using local ethically raised heritage breed pork and beef along with local sustainably grown heirloom vegetables and fruit.

You can find more information on the event and tickets on their website, www.heritagefiretour.com

We started our conversation with Wyatt talking about his plans for the Heritage Fire Tour then moved on to learn more about Wyatt Evans and his life in the industry.

This episode was first released in May of last year, only three months into the Ukraine/Russia conflict/war. Kyiv had already experienced a few missile strikes, but it felt to everyobne that the coming spring would be somewhat normal. But, here we are nearly one year later wirh thousands of deaths, destroyed infrastucture and familys. Ive been trying to get hold of Maria, but sketchy Wi-Fi and her constant movement to find safety has made reconnecting very difficult. So in retrospect and to keep awarenss high in an effort to help my friends in Ukraine here is a conversation of resilence and hope.

From the May, 2022 posting;

Maria Banlko is just one of the hospitality people that are the lesser-known heroes of the Ukrainian war with Russia. These restaurant industry veterans are trying to hold their country together with the guts to stay in place and keep their lights on. They’re using their hospitality instincts to find ways to keep their business running while organizing volunteer kitchens that feed their neighbors, the front-line workers in hospitals and clinics and the military whenever they needed it. The voice you heard at the top is Maria Banko. She’s an outspoken, determined woman working with a multi-concept company called The Gastro Family of Restaurants.

Maria is their communications director handling public relations for the constantly pivoting restaurant company while sometimes volunteering in one of the Gastro Family kitchens to help box a few meals, to be delivered to various organizations in need of food. She passionately describes the reasons and results of the war as she sees it.

We came out with so much material I’ve created a special episode with the rest of our conversation on the how essential the food culture will be in re-building the country after the war. It will be posted soon.

 Podcast Music:

Moonlight Night – Traditional Ukrainian Folk Song

Bright Flow – William Benkert

Break The Barrier – Edgar Hopp