Chef Pierre Hilzim, President of Kajun Kettle Foods, is a NOLA native who learned to cook at the tender age of ten from his father, the Executive Director of the Louisiana Restaurant Association. After spending several years running high-end restaurants in San Francisco and designing kitchens for award-winning chefs from Italy, Chef Pierre returned home in 1981 to found Kajun Kettle Foods. The chef named his signature dish, the Crawfish Monica, after his wife and partner, Monica Davidson, who joined Kajun Kettle shortly after its creation. She has a degree in linguistics from UC Berkeley and has lived in five countries; in addition to English, Monica speaks French, Spanish, and German. Her early career was as an executive with Macy’s, California. Monica now manages Kajun Kettle’s Personnel, Marketing and Public Relations Departments.

Today’s feature affiliate: Bentobox. In need of a restaurant website? Click this link to find out why so many of my guests use Bentobox!

Show notes…

Calls to ACTION!!!

Join Restaurant Unstoppable Network and get your first 30 days on me! Connect with my past guest and a community of superfans.
Subscribe to the Restaurant Unstoppable YouTube Channel
Join the private Unstoppable Facebook Group
Join the email list! (Scroll Down to get the Vendor List!)

Favorite success quote or mantra:

"If you don't love it, you will live it, so learn to fall in love with it."
"Most people underestimate the power of great food."

In this episode with Chef Pierre Hilzim and Monica Davidson we will discuss:

The seasonal nature of retail and restaurants
The benefits to being multilingual
Squashing bribery and corruption in a restaurant
What is a Research Chef?
Food manufacturing and processing
The power of networking
Food science
Going into business with family/spouses?
Women business owners
Trademarking a product or menu item

Today's sponsor:

7shifts is a modern labor management platform, designed by restaurateurs, for restaurateurs. Effectively labor management is more important than ever to ensure profitability and restaurant success. Trusted by over 400,000 restaurant professionals, 7shifts gives you the tools you need to streamline labor operations, communicate with your team, and retain your talent. Best of all 7shifts integrates with the POS and Payroll systems you already use and trust (like Toast!) turning labor into a competitive advantage for your business. Restaurant Unstoppable members get 3 months, absolutely free.

Talk To The Manager – Nowadays, most guests don't want to call you on the phone or give you their feedback face-to-face.
With TalkToTheManager, guests can avoid making a scene by sending you comments and questions anonymously by text message, allowing you to respond and handle issues in real-time. It's easy to set up and simple to use for both staff and visitors. No software integration. No downloads, and no apps to install.

Over 20,000 restaurants trust ChowNow (chownow.com/unstoppable) for their online ordering. With ChowNow, you'll take control of your online presence, connect with more local diners, and keep your hard-earned profits. Join the free ChowNow Marketplace to reach new customers without commissions. Want to go big? Put your restaurant in the spotlight with ChowNow Direct—a full suite of branded ordering and marketing tools, including your own app! For a limited time, Restaurant Unstoppable listeners save 30% on a ChowNow Direct annual plan.

ChwoNow Restaurant Unstoppable Podcast Sponsor

Knowledge bombs

Which "it factor" habit, trait, or characteristic you believe most contributes to your success?
- Pierre: Passion
- Monica: Passion
What is your biggest weakness?
- Pierre: Get tired
- Monica: Passion
What's one question you ask or thing you look for during an interview?
- Pierre: Passion
- Monica: Integrity
What's a current challenge? How are you dealing with it?
- Pierre: Keeping everything focused
- Monica: COVID
Share one code of conduct or behavior you teach your team.
- Pierre: Respect
- Monica: Caring about the customer
What is one uncommon standard of service you teach your staff?
- Pierre: Do all that's possible
- Monica: Learn as much as you can about your customer
What's one book we must read to become a better person or restaurant owner?
- Setting The Table by Danny Meyer
- GET THIS BOOK FOR FREE AT AUDIBLE.COM
What is something restaurateurs don't do well enough or often enough?
- Pierre: Recognize their employees
- Monica: Recognize how important the guest is
If you got the news that you'd be leaving this world tomorrow and all memories of you, your work, and your restaurants would be lost with your departure with the exception of 3 pieces of wisdom you could leave behind for the good of humanity, what would they be?
- Pierre: Passion, love, stick to it
- Monica: Don't forget the people that helped you get to where you are, give back to your community, appreciate the wonder and fun and power of food

Contact info:

Website: kajunkettle.com

Email for Pierre: philzim@kajunkettle.com

Email for Monica: mdavidson@kajunkettle.com

Thanks for listening!

Thanks so much for joining today! Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below!

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for the Restaurant Unstoppable Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates.

Huge thanks to Chef Pierre Hilzim and Monica Davidson for joining me for another awesome episode. Until next time!

Restaurant Unstoppable is a free podcast. One of the ways I'm able to make it free is by earning a commission when sharing certain products with you. I've made it a core value to only share tools, resources, and services my guest mentors have recommend, first. If you're finding value in my podcast, please use my links!

870: Chef Pierre Hilzim and Monica Davidson of Kajun Kettle Foods

Restaurant Unstoppable with Eric Cacciatore

870: Chef Pierre Hilzim and Monica Davidson of Kajun Kettle Foods