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Restaurateur Jamie Brown dishes on building some of Charlotteās most influential restaurants and helping shape the cityās growing food scene
Charlotteās restaurant scene has changed dramatically over the past two decades, and few people have helped shape it more than Jamie Brown. Alongside her husband, Jeff Tonidandel, Brown has built some of the cityās most recognizable restaurants ā from Growlerās Pourhouse and Haberdish to Supperland, Ever Andalo and Leluia Hall ā while also helping define what Charlotteās food culture can become.
In this episode of The Charlotte Ledger Podcast, host Steve Dunn speaks with Brown about the unconventional path that led her and Jeff from corporate jobs and world travel into the restaurant business, why each concept is deeply personal to their lives and how they approach building restaurants around storytelling, hospitality and design. She talks about the meticulous details that go into every space, from table spacing and plate placement to preserving historic Charlotte buildings and creating restaurants that feel rooted in the cityās identity. Brown also discusses:
The highs and lows of opening restaurants in Charlotte, including projects that never came to fruitionĀ
The importance of paying a living wage and building career paths for restaurant employees, and why her restaurant group adopted ātip poolingā
Her experience with anxiety, panic attacks and the gut-health journey that transformed her lifeĀ
Why Charlotteās food scene is becoming an increasingly important part of the cityās identityĀ
Whatās next for the restaurant group, including Olivelli Deli, Wyattās Superfine and a new commissary project in South End
What is The Charlotte Ledger Podcast?
We talk with Charlotte leaders about important and interesting issues, to make you smarter, tell you things you donāt know and introduce you to people with insights about trends in Charlotte. Itās available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other major podcast platforms.
š§ Previous episodes of The Charlotte Ledger Podcast:
This episode of The Charlotte Ledger Podcast was produced by Lindsey Banks. For more information on The Charlotte Ledger, go to TheCharlotteLedger.com.Ā