Michelin Star and Award Winning Pastry chef for Maple & Ash and others, Aya Fukai, dishes on growing Aya Pastry into one of the Top 100 Bakeries in America

Food
Entrepreneurship

So You Want to Run a Restaurant is a podcast from Back of House that goes behind the scenes with restaurant owners and operators across the country to talk candidly about the realities of the restaurant business. Each episode dives into the unfiltered realities of running a restaurant - the wins, the challenges, the late nights, and the lessons learned along the way. Whether you work in hospitality or are simply restaurant-curious, you’ll hear real stories and candid insights from the people who live the business every day.

In this episode, TikTok, the power of social media and its ongoing influence over the foodie scene is discussed, including Chicago’s Beacon’s Donuts rise to instant success that all started from one viral video.

Zach and Claudia then interview Michelin Star and Award Winning Pastry chef, Aya Fukai. Aya owns and operates Aya Pastry in Chicago’s West Town neighborhood which was listed as the Top 100 Best Bakeries in America by Food & Wine Magazine. Her other awards include Eater’s National Pastry Chef of the Year, a 2017 for James Beard Outstanding Pastry Chef nomination, and her award for Chicago Tribune’s Pastry Chef of the Year in 2018.

Aya tells us how meeting Danny Grant, the current Chef/Owner of Maple & Ash and Etta, and David Pisor, eventually led to the creation of Aya Pastry. Although the bakery started out as a primarily wholesale business and a commissary kitchen for Maple & Ash, it has grown to be a huge success in both the B2B and B2C space. Learn how Aya scaled her business, grew her following, and how she’s creatively including Aya Pastry in each Maple & Ash location as the restaurant expands nationally.

References

Social Links

Aya Pastry

https://www.facebook.com/ayapastry

https://www.instagram.com/ayapastry/

https://twitter.com/aya_pastry?lang=en

Aya Fukai

https://twitter.com/chefayafukai

Maple & Ash

https://www.instagram.com/mapleandash/

https://www.facebook.com/mapleandash/

David Pisor

Twitter: @dpisor

Danny Grant

Twitter: @chefdannygrant