How I Built This with Guy Raz - How I Built Resilience: Live with Kyle Connaughton and Daniel Humm

Episode Date: May 28, 2020

Kyle Connaughton's restaurant has been impacted by wildfires, floods, and now, the COVID-19 pandemic. Kyle spoke with Guy about keeping SingleThread Farms afloat while giving back to his community with free meals. When Eleven Madison Park closed its doors on March 21, nobody expected chef Daniel Humm to turn the Michelin 3-star restaurant into a commissary kitchen. Daniel spoke to Guy about serving 5,000 meals daily and what the future of fine dining could look like in a post-pandemic world. These conversations are excerpts from our How I Built Resilience series, where Guy talks online with founders and entrepreneurs about how they're navigating these turbulent times.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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made it feel less like a visit and more like we were actually living there. Plus, taking a trip is the perfect time to host your space on Airbnb. Your place with all of its personal touches and its amazing location could make someone else's vacation even better. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at Airbnb.ca.com slash host. Hey, welcome to how I built this resilience edition. I'm Guy Raz. So most Wednesdays and Fridays, since much of the world shut down in March, I've been sitting down for live video chats with different founders to find out how they're coping with the crisis. And on Thursdays and Saturdays, we're posting excerpts from those conversations right here.

By the way, if you're looking for our regular episodes, they come out every Monday. Okay, so on to today's episode, we've got two conversations with two chefs and restaurant owners. Later on in the show, we'll hear from Daniel Hume, the chef of 11 Madison Park in New York City. But first, we're going to hear from Kyle Connetton, the owner of Single Thread Farms in Healdsburg, California. A single thread has been named one of the 50 greatest restaurants in the world, and it's one of just 14 Michelin 3-star restaurants in the United States. But the past 18 months have been challenging. First, a flood nearly destroyed the farm that grows most of its fruits and vegetables. And then last October, a massive wildfire in Sonoma County forced the restaurant to shut down for a period.

But Kyle says that nothing could have prepared him for the COVID-19 pandemic. Kyle spoke to me from Single Thread where he's preparing donated meals during the day and selling takeout meals at night. Kyle, a lot of people don't understand that restaurants and good times operate on very thin margins. Like they need people to come in to be able to employ the people they employ. A tiny number of restaurants make a lot of money. So even in good times, it's really tough. This is unprecedented, right? I mean, you've been shut down for weeks and weeks.

What's your situation at Single Thread right? though. I mean, first of all, to your point, you know, restaurant business is incredibly tough. Margins are very, very slim. And it doesn't really matter if you're a really, you know, small, small operator or, you know, a larger sort of like fine dining operator. I mean, just for independent restaurants, it doesn't matter where you are. It's just, even in good times, it's really difficult. And so, you know, you put something like this in here, which is unprecedented and just unplanned for. And it almost becomes an impossible, you know, situation. And that's really what we were faced with here is the fact that, you know, you can, being up in wine country,

we kind of saw things coming from, you know, the city at a little bit, you know, a fast speed, but it was like upon us a little bit, you know, later one or two weeks later where the writing was really going to be on the wall. So I think we had some time to sort of think and react at the same time, but we have 80 people on our team between the farm and the restaurant and the inn and the admin and we have a great responsibility to your team and, you know, to your guests, many of whom are planning for weeks and months, you know, out to come and get into contact with them. So it's a giant, you know, shift to what we, you know, decided to do next. So Kyle, once it was clear that you would not be open for business, you basically kind of

reconstituted some of your staff and went back into the kitchen and tell me what you're doing. What's going on? You know, first and foremost, you know, for us, it's about hospitality and we just want to cook and take care of people. It's not so much even about the artistry of what we do. It's about a sense of wanting, of a deep sense of hospitality wanting to take care of people. So, you know, when in times like this, when it's sort of apparent that you're not going to be able to take care of your guests in the way that you normally, you know, do, you look for other ways that you can take care of people. And because of the fires and because of the huge turmoil that's created in wine country, we had an amazing organization called Sonoma Family Meal that was literally born out of the sort of

melee of the fires and all of us trying to get food to those who needed it. You know, we've got a farm full of produce. I've got a restaurant full of food. You know, I've got a team that just wants to, you know, to cook. You know, how about this idea? I'll start reaching out to friends of the restaurant and wineries and investors. and great guests that we have and see if they can start funding Sonoma family meal and we'll start preparing food.

And I'll put everyone to work. We'll start cooking. And then we started the takeout at night in those meals and cooking for, you know, for families here at, you know, at home who could pay for, you know, a really nice meal that we could put together, still at a reasonable price. And then allow them to make donations as well to what we do during the day, which is, you know, a few hundred donation meals today that. are getting distributed to seniors, out of work, agricultural workers, out of work, hospitality

workers, the women's shelter. And so our days are spent doing the donation meals and our nights are spent doing the tick away. So you guys are doing, I think you're doing like 200 meals a day for people in need in Sonoma County. As you mentioned, people in hospitals and old age homes. And we've got a bunch of questions coming in for you. This is Arantelle on Facebook. He asks, How did you pivot your business away from like tasting menus to takeaway so quickly? And can takeaway A sustain your business? Is that enough? And I suspect the answer is no.

And also, can local people afford the takeaway menu? You know, first off, I mean, just to pivot, I mean, I think we've got a lot of creative chefs here. We've got a lot of great products. And, you know, we just started cooking the way that we like to cook and the way that we like to eat, you know, ourselves. And, you know, ultimately, no, the business cannot. sustain on, you know, takeaway. But between that and, you know, everything that we're doing, you know, we're sort of getting by. And I have this amazing partner named Tony Greenberg, who's just working away, just making sure that everything is set and straight and, you know,

keeping the business going and moving forward so that I can really focus on the culinary side and everything that we're, you know, that we're doing operationally. In terms of the affordability, we really wanted to make the takeaway, you know, menu be affordable, not say, well, we are this three Michelin Star restaurant, so we should do this really expensive thing. It just seemed like it was not what we wanted to do and not what guests, you know, wanted.

So, you know, our menus are anywhere between 75 to generally $100, but that's for four people. So, you know, it's like, it comes out to $20, $25, you know, a person and we just, the idea was not to make money. The idea was to, you know, was to cook, to keep people employed, to do something for the community and ultimately support, you know, the donation meals that we do during the day. Right. I want to get to one more question from our audience before we have to wrap up.

This is from Chavon Lee. She asks, how do you plan the day to day with the uncertainty, right? I mean, especially with the planning of the menu, as well as what's growing on your farm, because you've got a 10-acre farm that right now, I should mention your wife, Katina, and one other employee are working. They are working that farm from morning until night to keep it alive and keep it going. So how are you sort of planning day to day with that uncertainty? Yeah, you know, it's a one day, you know, at a time sort of thing. Every day we come in and focus on the day that's right in front of us

and the guests that we're going to be serving and the projects that we're going to be doing. And then, you know, really planning out the menus and stuff, basically like a week in advance, which is all we can really do because, you know, one of the things that's also going on, you know, there's serious supply chain disruption happening right now. So getting things and products and stuff that we're used to being able to just get, you know, it's not can I get this, kind of get this. It's what can I get?

What do you have, you know, working with our suppliers, you know, who, you know, are, you know, really suffering. I mean, all the way down through the chain, the fishermen, the farmers, the everyone who's involved with this is being deeply impacted. So, you know, we're really trying to support our local, you know, farms and our local, producers, but, you know, things that you take for granted, you know, it's difficult to get. We have to be flexible. We have to be sort of like nimble with that planning. Obviously, we know what's coming from our own farm. But when you're cooking for several hundred, I mean, we're

cooking for up to 500 people a day, that's numbers and turnover product that we're just not used to here. How do you think this pandemic is going to transform the food industry and the restaurant industry's approach to serving the community? And when we talk about this time in five years, Kyle, what do you want to have taken from this as somebody who's trying to build resiliency into your business and everything you do? Well, I hope what we sort of take away from this is the need and the importance to, you know, to support the community. It's so easy. We all get very, very busy running our businesses, running our kitchens. And, you know, they're very complex and complicated. And hopefully this is bringing us, not just chefs, but all of us, just sort of like closer.

to need and wanting to address that need. I mean, when this is over, we won't like dust off our hands and say, okay, that's it. Sonoma family meal, you guys good? Great. We're going to go back to a regular thing. I mean, we're committed. We're like, we're in this for the long haul.

I mean, now this is part of our routine. This is just part of our life. This is just the norm for us is to address that need because we always know that it's going to be there. And I do hope that that is more of the norm. And it's just incredible to see, I mean, the list is too long to even start to say across our industry, the amazing people and what they're doing. I mean, it's just, I'm so impressed with what I see from so many, you know, people.

And the second part, I think sort of like our industry and the sort of world surrounding has just been churning and churning and churning for so long. And we haven't really in our lives, like really taking a lot of sort of pause to reflect that much on it. And, you know, like I said, I hope it's leading us to not only a way where we're addressing need, but really, really a focus on more awareness of the choices that we make that surround food, what they have to do with the environment at, you know, at large. And I hope that we do reflect back and say, that was the big inflection point. Like, that's when we really, really sort of like

turned and got a little bit more focused. And I do, I just hope that we have the economic ability and economic wherewithal to actually carry through and realize that. Chef Kyle Conantin of Single Thread Farm and Ann, thank you so much. You're awesome. Thank you for being here. It's been great having you. Thanks for all of your support for everything that we've been doing. Really, really, really appreciate.

If you want to know more about Sonoma Family Meal, you can see that on SonomaFamilyMeal.org. That's an excerpt for my conversation with Kyle Conantan, the chef and owner of Single Thread Farms. To see our full interview, you can go to Facebook.com slash How I Built This or to NPR's YouTube page. When we come back, we'll hear from Daniel Hume, the owner of 11 Madison Park, about how he turned his fine dining restaurant into a soup kitchen overnight. Stay with us. I'm Guy Raz, and you're listening to How I Built This Resilience Edition from NPR. Hey, welcome back to How I Built This Resilience Edition. So Daniel Hume runs 11 Madison Park, which was ranked the number one restaurant in the first one restaurant in the PR. the world in 2017. But on March 21st, as most of New York started to shut down, Daniel also

shut down 11 Madison Park. So with the help of his staff, Daniel turned 11 Madison Park into a commissary kitchen. Daniel joined me from the restaurant where he's been preparing 5,000 free meals a day for the people of New York City. How are you doing, by the way? You know, it's obviously difficult circumstances. But in a way, I've fallen in love with food all over again. And I left school when I was 14 years old and started cooking early. And I've learned languages through food.

I traveled the world through food. I've met amazing people through food. I mean, everything, food has always guided me through all the good times, the bad times. And food has always given me all the answers. And it's amazing that, in this crisis where I had to let go, you know, furloughed 300 people, my closest people, people I've worked with for many, many years. And just in this difficult time, again,

somehow food was there and just to see the magic of food and the power of food. It's just really, I feel blessed that I get to work with it every day. Chef Hume, let's sort of start with the days after the shutdown. I know, like many of us, you were in a days. But within a couple weeks, I think within a couple days, you kind of made a huge pivot and you turned your kitchen into an emergency kitchen. How did you do that? How did that happen?

It really happened overnight. We had a full restaurant on that last Sunday. And then we didn't really realize. We knew we would shut down for a few weeks. But then we realized over the next few days that this is going to last longer, that we had to let people go. people and probably 30% of our staff is from somewhere else. So people went back to their home countries in a business where I think restaurants, the most valuable thing is to are the people, the team, the value of them having worked

together for a long time. That's what makes the best restaurant in the world. Like I was always saying, like, you know, we can have the most beautiful dining room and the most beautiful China and the best food. It's all about the team. So I always said if we want to be the best restaurant in the world, I want someone to walk into these doors. And within two or three minutes,

they know that they're in the best restaurant in the world before they have received food or really service. But just the energy of the team, you can just feel it. You know, you're in a special place. And so to see that crumbling in front of my eyes within days, It's heartbreaking and I haven't even processed it. So we're all in shock. You know, everyone is in shock.

And there are ideas of, you know, are we turning this into a to-go business of sorts? And I explored that a little bit. But then in the end of the day, I was really thinking about, I'm like, New York has been hit really hard. And I'm so happy to be in New York. I didn't want to be in any other place because it feels good. to really feel what's going on and to be able to react to it. I really wanted to be in the middle of it. But as I'm laying awake at night and all you hear is ambulances and the city is just

shut down. I mean, New York City, the city that never sleeps is sleeping. Just really, really, really scary. And so then the to go business somehow, in my mind, it was like, I don't think the world right now needs to have honey, lavender, roasted duck, delisive. in fancy packaging with burgundy wine, that didn't feel right to me. But I was at a loss, I didn't know what to do.

So I went on some longer bike rides over George Washington Bridge and just really thought about it and really listened to the voice inside of me. And I looked at what was in front of me, what are actually the possibilities, what can I do? So I knew that, I knew I had the contacts to the farmers and producers. I knew I had a kitchen.

I knew I could cook and I'm on the board of a non-for-profit organization called Rethink Food. So with all these levers, if I would pull these levers, I could probably get something off the ground pretty quickly. You went around and visited a few like soup kitchens in New York to kind of see how they do it. And I guess you sent out a notice to or a note to like your team and said, hey, can people help out and you got like around 20 people and started cooking. Well, really I got 10 responses out of 300 people, which was quite, you know, that that was a difficult part. I realized that actually

the team I thought I had wasn't really willing to do this. And I understand there's people said you should stay at home and people have, you know, families and elderly and all that. And so safety was, was really important to me. So I went around all these soup kitchens around New York because I wanted to learn as much as I could. I mean, I had no idea. This was, what is a meal like that need to look like? What are the portion sizes? How does it get packaged? What is the price per meal that how do we work safely in a kitchen? How do we make sure that if one person would get sick, that not the whole operation needs to shut down. So working in smaller groups and all this stuff. I mean, taking temperatures of people. You basically have transformed a Michelin three-star restaurant, the world's

greatest restaurant, into essentially an emergency kitchen. I think you're making like almost 3,000 meals a day right now. Yeah, so we're making 3,000 meals a day here at 11 Madison. And by this Monday, we activated the second kitchen of our fast casual restaurants. And we're doing 2,000 additional meals. So we're producing 5,000 meals a day right now. So that's where we partnered with rethink food and they are bringing it to, you know, senior homes, hospital, like the people working in the front lines. I mean, you know, all the soup kitchens closed because of they rely on volunteers and a lot of volunteers are concerned about their health and obviously. So there are a lot of people out there who need food and need a meal. And for me, what's been so incredible,

I asked myself, four years ago, when our restaurant was named the best in the world, I was chasing that goal for so long for 10 years. And I understood intellectually that that was sort of a carrot to motivate everyone involved. And that was a very simple goal. One was very easy to talk about very easy to give direction. And then the day that happened, I remember the next day that carrot was gone, and when you spent 10 years chasing that carrot, the day that carrot isn't there anymore,

even if you understand that it was a carrot, you feel very disoriented. At that time, I was 40 years old. I knew I had a long career ahead of me, but what is the goal now? What is this new carrot? You know, giving back was definitely, that was part of it.

but I didn't really had the answer. Or even like, but now by doing this work, it's become so clear to me. I was asking myself day three, I'm like, why have I not always wanted to do that? I know it has changed my life. I know that our restaurants will always, from now on, produce meals for people in need.

And another part that has bothered me for almost all. all of my career was that food is so magical, so powerful on so many levels. You know, the best food memories and the most important food moments are probably not in a three-mishan-star restaurant. They're probably somewhere around a family table or on a vacation somewhere. Yeah. You know, so food is just so fantastic and so wonderful.

And to eat at 11 Madison Park, it's really only there for a few select people who can afford it. But I always wanted to share my experience with food and my gift with food with many, many more people. And now I feel like sort of a light bulb went on and I feel like I figured out how to do it. I mean, it's clear that this experience of committing your time and your effort and your talent to providing food for people who don't have it has been transformational and is something that will now inform the way you do what you do for the rest of your career. Yeah, that's right.

That's really become very, very clear to me. Like, it's so clear. It's so clear as it was clear when I was 20 and I wanted to get three Michelin stars. It is that clear. It's definitely given me my new carrot. And I, you know, I do believe that the recipe that I really want to write is the recipe of a restaurant

that can feed everyone that can feed the privileged but also, you know, the underprivileged and that can do it all under one roof. And I think that's the recipe. I hope many other restaurants will want to copy and adapt because it makes sense. And what I'm also realizing is like preparing inexpensive but delicious meals. Every restaurant does that because we cook for our teams. Right, you have family meals before the evening starts, the service starts, yeah. And those are based on leftovers, portions of ingredients we don't use, and we supplemented with things we order, we buy to it.

And so that intelligence is already incorporated in every restaurant. So if we cook more family meals and we give, you know, every restaurant gives 200 family meals a day to people in need. And somehow we figure out through the government, through tax cuts, through fundraising, we figure out that we can pay for these meals. And it's a benefit for the restaurants to do so. We can end hunger in this country. Restaurants could end hunger if every restaurant essentially did like 200 free meals a day. That's right.

How are your days? Are you just, are you working harder than you've ever worked before? You know, it's definitely reminding me of the very early days. What was tough, like the first few days as we were taking on this project, as I said, it was very hard to convince people to come work with me that this was a good idea. And in 2006, when I started at 11 Madison Park, this was a giant restaurant that was a brusory. My idea was to change it and turn it into one of the great restaurants in the world.

the world. No one knew who I was. I just started and I needed a team and I didn't really, I needed them to work 14, 15 hours a day. We didn't really had a big budget. The kitchen wasn't really so great and like just so many obstacles. So it was almost like asking them to do the impossible. You know, I was on the phone constantly with people, you know, trying to convince them to come work for me and this is a good idea. And, And it was tough. It was so, so tough. And I had to give compliments 40 times a day. I had to tell them they're doing an amazing job, even if they didn't just so they would just show up again. Sometimes it was like, we just need a body. It doesn't, you know, it was like that. And so to find myself at this point in my career, and like a few weeks ago, I was here at like 6.30 in the morning and there's like two dishwashers and like one cook. And I was on the phone calling people to try. to convince them that this was a good idea. But, you know, I've never been scared of work and I really enjoy it. And the week where I wasn't working and I was at home worrying about it,

are we saved? I mean, you know, what's going on? And that made me feel worse. And then when I was, you know, trying to convince them to come work, but then when they do show up and when there is some momentum going, it's very gratifying. It's beautiful. Daniel Hume, Chef Hume, it's been so awesome having you. You are so inspiring. I just, I want to cry. You won't make me want to cry. I'm just so inspired about what you're doing. And I thank you for that. And thank you for being with us. I really appreciate it. And I think we can all come together. And I think it's an incredible opportunity to make a real difference. Thank you for having me. That's an excerpt for my conversation with Daniel Hume, the chef and owner of 11 Madison

Park. To see our full interview, go to facebook.com slash how I built this. And if you want to see all of our past live interviews, you can find them there or at YouTube.com slash NPR. And if you want to find out more about the How I Built This Resilience series or other virtual NPR events, you can go to nprpresents.org. This episode was produced by Candice Lim, with help from John Isabella, Julia Carney, Gianna, Capadona, Neva Grant, and Jeff Rogers. Thanks for listening. Stay safe. And I'll see you back here in just a couple days. I'm Guy Raz, and you've been listening to How I Built This from NPR.