Benjamin Berg is the founder and CEO of Berg Hospitality Group, the team behind B&B Butchers and more than a dozen restaurant concepts across Texas. Ben started out as a bellman at the Lake Placid Lodge, worked his way through fine dining in Las Vegas, Mexico City, and New York, earned his master’s at Cornell’s School of Hotel Administration, and spent over five years at Smith & Wollensky before striking out on his own. In 2015, Ben opened B&B Butchers in Houston with $1.7 million...

Arnold Byun is the co-founder of Maum Market and Store. After nearly a decade managing some of New York’s most acclaimed restaurants including Eleven Madison Park, Bouley, and Atomix, he found himself jobless during the pandemic, sitting in Los Angeles with no plan, no network, and plenty of time to think. What started as a $1,000 experiment with 10 folding tables and 22 Korean American friends selling ceramics, art, and baked goods would soon become MAUM, a growing platform for Asian-o...

Amadeo Falce is the founder of Blue Dove Coffee, a viral coffee brand that started as a cart in Union Square and has since expanded to a brick-and-mortar café on Canal Street. A former Army paramedic turned entrepreneur, Amadeo started Blue Dove Coffee in September 2023 with a welded cart, a disabled-veteran permit, and a relentless work ethic that had him waking up at 2:30 a.m. and getting home at 9 p.m. seven days a week for 6 months straight. In less than a year, his viral “day-in-the-life...

Tyler Burnett never planned to reinvent dentistry. But after a 2017 visit where a dentist told him he needed eight fillings on the spot, he walked out skeptical and down a path that would lead to founding Wally, a membership-based dental company built around no insurance, no drills, and no surprise bills. A serial founder from Canada with exits in digital media and fintech, Tyler applied his obsession with customer experience to one of the most outdated industries in healthcare. He and his co...

Ann Cantrell thought she was building a career in fashion. She spent over a decade in product development at Ralph Lauren, Coach, and Brooks Brothers, turning sketches into products and learning the vendor, margin, and production game. But all the while, she was quietly stockpiling binders of ideas, gift products, fixtures, and concepts, planning for the day she’d open her own store. In 2007, after securing a $150K home-equity loan and leaving corporate life behind, Ann opened Annie’s Blue Ri...

Jonny thought he was headed for a JD/MBA and a career in tech. Instead, a chance encounter with the founder of 7th Street Burger pulled him into the restaurant world. He hustled through cashier shifts, shadowed build-outs, and cycled through ice cream shops like Cafe Panna and il laboratorio del gelato before landing in the pizza game. In June 2024, at just 24 years old, he opened Jonny’s Pizza on Orchard Street in the Lower East Side. The buildout cost $250–300K, with a $16.5K/month lease, a...

Victor Del Valle went from aspiring dentist to NCP bodybuilder to scrappy trainer hustling through the pandemic, literally converting his NYC apartment into a one-on-one gym. Within weeks he was booked 6am–9pm, charging $100/hr and even spinning up daily Zoom classes for eBay employees. He parlayed that traction into Aesthetic Lab: first a bright, SoHo studio, then a larger TriBeCa flagship. Today he leads a 9-trainer team focused on high-touch personal training, nutrition, and recovery (cold...

In this episode, Alan talks with Marissa Martin, Nashville-based colorist and co-founder of House of Tone, a boutique salon in the Wedgwood-Houston neighborhood. After three years of college, Marissa followed her instincts into cosmetology, building a loyal clientele and a decade-long career that included high-profile clients and a front-row seat to how salons scale, and bloat. In 2025, Marissa and her partner Gabby opened House of Tone in a clever live–work space rather than taking on a seve...

In this episode, Alan talks with Yoseph Raja, co-founder of Thin Cookies, a fast-growing cookie brand with locations in Long Island and Manhattan’s West Village. Trained as a pharmacist, Yoseph never expected to be in the food business, but during COVID he and his wife began baking at home, experimenting with a softer, chewier version of Tate’s. What started as Instagram pickup orders quickly grew into wholesale accounts, and eventually their first retail storefront. When they opened in Hicks...

In this episode of Opening Soon, Alan sits down with Nicole, the founder of Glo Up, a thriving beauty brand and spray tan studio based in Chicago. Nicole shares her journey from working in hospitality and nightclubs to discovering spray tanning while living in Boston, and eventually building Glo Up from her basement in 2019 into a full-scale brand with a storefront, product line, and loyal client base. We cover: How Nicole turned a $417 first month into $70,000 monthly revenue business.The ro...

In this episode, Alan talks with Edouard Benitah, co-founder of Pari Pari, a hand roll bar in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood. Originally from Paris, Edouard came to the U.S. in 2015, working his way up through the restaurant industry in New York and Los Angeles. He fell in love with the streamlined, high-impact concept of a dedicated hand roll bar after experiencing Kazunori in LA: minimal staff, efficient operations, and a focus on quality. When he moved to Miami during the pandemic, he was su...

What if you could launch a profitable coworking space for $65,000, with no staff, and scale that model to thousands of locations? That’s exactly what Robert Kellman is doing with Enclave, a suburban coworking company he founded just before the pandemic. Today, Enclave operates 20+ profitable locations across the U.S. and has raised $6 million in venture funding to fuel a bold plan: build 5,000 no-staff coworking spaces where people actually live. In this episode of Opening Soon, Robert shares...

Before Sheridan St. Claire opened her boutique Pilates studio in St. George, Utah, she was a former gymnast with two bad shoulders, a sore back, and no clear path forward. That changed when she discovered Pilates—not as a workout trend, but as a way to heal. Her journey took her from Utah to Florence, Italy (where she noticed how Europeans stayed healthy without ever stepping into a gym), and then to the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, where she found a movement community that inspired her to cr...

Jordan Feise spent over a decade working in B2B SaaS marketing at companies like Gong and early-stage startups. But after years of struggling to find consistent, high-quality brow care, she saw an opportunity to build something different. That idea became Two of a Kind — a brand-forward, service-first beauty studio in Los Angeles that's now profitable, growing, and known for its ultra-personalized approach. In this episode, we talk about how Jordan went from side hustling pop-ups out of a bra...

After eight years in tech and a detour into custom resort wear with her brand Malibu Darby, Darbe Canady followed her instincts, and her wardrobe, into the world of vintage fashion. Today, she runs Sunset Club Vintage, a highly curated, appointment-only shop in San Diego known for its timeless designer pieces and stunning aesthetic. In this episode, we talk about the highs and lows of manufacturing, how she bootstrapped her way from pop-ups to a brick-and-mortar store, and why tr...

On this episode of Opening Soon, we sit down with Shobha Tummala, founder of Shobha, one of the most trusted names in hair removal. With six locations across New York City and Washington, D.C., Shobha built a category-defining brand around threading, waxing, laser hair removal, and sugaring—before most people even knew what those services were. A Harvard Business School grad and former Bain & Procter & Gamble consultant, Shobha walked away from a fast-track corporate career to open a...

In this episode, Alan sits down with Samantha Score, the founder of Bodhe, a beautiful coworking and social club for creatives, professionals, or freelancers based in San Diego, California. Sam shares her inspiring journey of moving cross-country, building community from scratch, and launching not just one, but two thoughtfully designed physical spaces, all while working a full-time job in tech sales. They cover: How a spontaneous move from NYC to San Diego during the pandemic sparked the ide...

In this episode of Opening Soon, we sit down with Cassie Piasecki, the powerhouse behind The Full Routine — a pilates meets full body transformation brand that expanded to three locations in just one year. Cassie shares how she built her fitness empire from the ground up, her approach to finding the right locations, hiring instructors, and marketing to a loyal client base. Whether you're dreaming of opening a fitness studio or scaling your retail business, you'll find practical, actionable ti...