Baked-In with Josh Allen

Episode 35: Wildgrain | Johanna Hartzheim & Ismail Salhi

On this week’s episode presented by Busey Bank,  Josh sits down (remotely) with some wonderful folks – Johanna Hartzheim and Ismail Salhi – the team behind Wildgrain. Wildgrain is the first bake-from-frozen artisan bread, pastry and pasta subscription box. Founded in early 2020, Wildgrain has grown exponentially in the last 3 years, has 15,000+ 5-star reviews and was recently voted the #1 subscription box in the country (a pretty crowded field) in USA Today. Full disclosure, Josh’s bakery – Companion – is one of many artisan shops across the country that are vendor/partners baking products for Wildgrain’s nearly 60,000 active members. They talk about the challenges in scaling a business that relies on outside manufacturers, the power of non-traditional marketing, and their aggressive plans for continued expansion. They’ve passed through milestones of growth in a matter of months that many businesses take years to experience. So many lessons to learn for all-sized companies in this one and their honesty and transparency is super refreshing. If you’re interested in a monthly subscription, be sure to check out all of their offerings at Wildgrain.com.
#directtoconsumer #artisanbakery #subscriptionbox #innovative #bread

Episode 34: Steve & Will Smith | New + Found

On this week’s episode of the Baked-In podcast presented by Busey Bank, Josh had the opportunity to sit down with Steve and Will Smith, the father-son development team at New + Found – the folks behind the City Foundry and lots of other projects in the St. Louis metro area. While the firm works around the country, the Smiths clearly have a strong personal desire to change how St. Louis works, lives and plays. They discuss the back story of the ideation of the Foundry concept that began as simply a food hall and has grown into a multi-dimensional gem for the city, how it brought Will back home to work with his dad, and the future development on the property. It’s really one of the many great things happening in St. Louis. Let’s go…
#architecture #renovation #urbandevelopment #familybusiness #stlmade #cityfoundry
 

Episode 33: Take Root Hospitality

On this week’s episode of the Baked-In Podcast presented by Busey Bank, Josh had a chance to catch up with Tara and Michael Gallina of Take Root Hospitality – who in less than 7 years have opened 4 distinct restaurant concepts in St. Louis and given the community dining and hospitality experiences on par with the best the town has to offer. They talk about the challenges of scaling their roles and their organization and how they define success after years in the industry. The restaurant business is never easy and their honestly and candidness is what makes these conversations so powerful.
#buseybank #takeroot #stlouis #success #cortex

Episode 32: 21C Hotel Team

Can a hotel be more than a hotel? Can it profoundly impact a neighborhood and a community? On this week’s episode of the Baked-In Podcast presented by Busey Bank, Josh sits down with the creative forces behind St. Louis’ newest boutique hotel – 21C Museum Hotel a multi-venue contemporary art museum, coupled with a hotel and chef-driven restaurant. GM JP Roberts, Director of Community Impact Christopher Randall and Executive Chef Matthew Daughaday all share their insights on what makes this place special and why they’re excited about their future in Downtown STL, specifically Downtown West. They discuss the vision for the hotel, the importance and focus on being great stewards and supporters of the neighborhood and attracting not only travelers but also locals to all the great things happening down on Locust street. The intentionality behind what they’re doing to drive more than simply “heads in beds” is certainly inspiring.
 
#art #hotel #intentional #DEI #chef

Episode 31: John O’Leary

On this week’s episode of the Baked-In podcast presented by Busey Bank, Josh had the distinct pleasure of sitting down with world renown inspirational speaker, podcaster and best-selling author John O’Leary. John just wrapped on the film adaptation of his 2016 book - On Fire: The 7 Choices to Ignite a Radically Inspired Life. The movie will tell the story of O’Leary, who was burned on 100% of his body at age nine in a house fire. While this conversation could have gone in a million different directions, they spent the time together discussing the challenges of bringing this movie to the starting line and especially to St. Louis, the on-set culture John helped to foster with his daily presence and the lessons learned on set that had nothing to do with movie making. His infectious positivity is incredibly inspiring. For more on John, be sure to check out the Live Inspired Podcast with John O’Leary wherever you find your favorite podcasts.
#OnFire #inspiration #determination #stlouis

Episode 30: Jodi Allen

On this week’s episode of the Baked-In podcast presented by Busey Bank, Josh celebrates episode 30 with his Companion co-founder and sister, Jodi Allen. In the midst of all of the holiday craziness, they took a few minutes to look back on the 30-year history of the bakery and the lessons learned from family, the value of failure and, most importantly, the role their mom has played in their success. It’s the right time of year for a conversation like this one.
#family #als #baking #stlmade #holidays

Episode 29: Patricia Ryan Madson

On this week’s episode of the Baked-In Podcast presented by Busey Bank, Josh has the pleasure of catching up his former professor from Stanford University in the Bay Area. Patrica Ryan Madson taught acting and improvisation at Stanford for many years and she had an incredible influence on his life as an entrepreneur. Let’s face it, life and business are something that we all make up as we go along. The rules, or maxims as she calls them, of improv – say yes, start anywhere, show up, make mistakes, please – form the basis for finding success when we don’t necessarily feel like we have much control. Lots of fun stuff in this one – save for Josh fumbling through an improv exercise to illustrate an example. If you enjoy Patricia, be sure and check out her book: IMPROV WISDOM – Don’t Prepare, Just Show Up (Bell Tower, 2005).
#Stanford #Improv 

Episode 28: Michael Dorf

On this week’s episode of the Baked-In podcast presented by Busey Bank, Josh chats with Michael Dorf of City Winery. Founded in New York City in 2009, the urban winery, restaurant and intimate music venue has more than a dozen locations across the US with plans to keep expanding. They recently opened their newest spots in Pittsburgh, PA and in St.Louis’ Foundry project. Michael and Josh discuss growing up in entrepreneurial food families, the value of understanding and appreciating the numbers from the beginning and the importance of focusing on your people and their development. They cover lots of good stuff in this one.
For more information about Busey Bank or to schedule a banking consultation, please visit www.busey.com.
#citywinery #entertainment #entrepreneur 

Episode 27: Andy Cohen

On this week’s episode of the Baked-In Podcast presented by Busey Bank, Josh has the immense pleasure of talking to Andy Cohen – TV personality, best-selling author, award-winning producer and his cousin. Josh is always incredibly appreciative of time he gets to spend with Andy and they discuss their shared experience of growing up in their family’s food business, the lightening in a bottle creation of the world’s most popular reality soap opera and navigating celebrity with the two new additions to his family. Andy is, well, Andy – warm, engaging, generous, insightful. This one is a real treat.
#andycohen #realhousewives #realitytv #family #customcookies

Episode 26: Ben Hillman

On this week’s episode, Josh has the chance to catch up with Ben Hillman, president of the chef-inspired burger joint Hi-Pointe Drive-In and co-founder of Chicken Out all through his family’s private equity company, Lewis & Clark Capital. For someone in his early thirties, Ben has his hands in a lot of cookie jars and has found success with a very people-first philosophy. It’s exciting for Josh to talk with young leaders so focused on developing and growing their people even in the midst of the fast-paced restaurant industry. They talk about a ton of stuff including site selection, closing underperforming locations and staying close to your teams.