No. 58 - Industry Advice from BJ Lieberman
Chef and Restaurateur in Columbus, OH.
When Louis and I were living and working in DC, we both got to work with BJ Lieberman at Rose’s Luxury, the restaurant where we really cut our teeth in hospitality. BJ, who’s an accomplished chef and restaurant owner now, actually got his start on the corporate marketing side of hospitality, working one-on-one with chefs, designing menus, and producing other marketing material for a restaurant group while finishing up his marketing and graphic design degree in Charleston, SC.
Working so closely alongside chefs, he quickly realized that he gravitated towards the kitchen more than his desk. So, at age 25, he applied to Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Hyde Park (the East Coast sister school to the one Louis went to in St. Helena). As part of the curriculum, in the middle of the program, every student that attends CIA needs to do a 6-month externship at a restaurant of their choosing, which brought BJ back to Charleston, where he began his own formative culinary experience cooking with Sean Brock (the then chef of McCrady’s and Husk). While working under Brock, he developed a deep love and respect for the how’s and why’s of Southern cuisine.
At the end of 2012, he was approached by his good friend, Aaron Silverman, who pitched him on the idea of moving back to DC to help him open his first restaurant, Rose’s Luxury. As part of the core opening team, he was a huge part of the success and accolades that put Rose’s on the map; the restaurant was named "Best New Restaurant in America" by Bon Appetit and received the same honor from GQ Magazine. It brought about the infamous line around the block that would form everyday they were open, 3 hours before service. Task rabbits were hired to wait in line for people and I can personally confirm, it was really that nuts! As BJ continued to grow and expand his role within Rose’s Restaurant Group, he helped open two more concepts before deciding to move to Columbus, OH to start a new chapter.
You can’t know BJ without knowing his life and business partner, Bronwyn. Together, they currently own Chapman's Eat Market, Ginger Rabbit Jazz Lounge and, their week-old restaurant, Hiraeth Restaurant all in Columbus, OH with baby Julian West in tow.
Since opening Chapman's Eat Market, you've actually opened two more concepts, could you briefly introduce and describe the personalities of all three of your concepts?
In September of 2019, we moved to Columbus and found a quaint, well-worn restaurant space in the German Village neighborhood that needed a facelift. We signed the lease in March of 2020 (about 2 weeks before the pandemic began) and started slowly building what would become our first restaurant, Chapman's Eat Market. We opened Chapman's in August of 2020 during the height of dining restrictions and were forced to only do to go food at our opening. We came up with a whole menu of food meant to travel, and got branded pints for our ice cream and did our best version of a take out restaurant we knew how. In some ways, Chapman's was the easiest restaurant I've ever opened, and in other ways it was the hardest.
That's not to say the pandemic wasn't tough. We struggled financially, all while gaining a loyal clientele of to-go regulars and, in May of '21 when dining restrictions were lifted, we did a grand re-opening of Chapman's, finally seating guests in our dining room and doing the food we had wanted to do when signing the lease over a year before. Our food is globally-inspired comfort food, and everyone in the kitchen is allowed to work on dishes for the menu. My absolute favorite thing is helping other people get a dish out of their head and on to a plate, and I like to say that our food is like holding a mirror up to our kitchen and the menu is our reflection.
About a month after Julian, our son, was born, I was taking a nap on the couch with my new baby and my phone started buzzing. A lot. Congratulations texts were streaming in and I was like, "did we just win some award?" As it turns out, Chapman's was named one of the "50 Most Exciting Restaurants in America" by the New York Times, and all of the sudden we were full and busy every night of the week.
We had already been considering expanding, and once the New York Times article happened, we figured it was time to look to find a new project pronto. After a bit of searching, we happened to find two different spaces for two very different concepts that we decided to move forward with. One was a renovation of an existing subterranean bar, a former board game-themed establishment that we turned into a live jazz venue called Ginger Rabbit. Construction only lasted 4 months and we were up and running. With speakeasy vibes and live jazz every night, our gin-focused bar is one of my favorite places to hang out, whether I'm working or not. We opened Ginger Rabbit in April of '22 and we were named "Best New Bar" in Columbus.
Simultaneously, we have been developing our third and most ambitious project to date, a live-fire restaurant called Hiraeth. Somewhere between fine dining and a classic steakhouse, our menu is more focused on Mediterranean flavors, although influences from Mexico, Southeast Asia, the American South, etc all have crept into the cuisine as well. Hiraeth is a Welsh term (Bronwyn's family is from Wales) and it does not have a direct English translation, but rather denotes a feeling similar to homesickness, but in a positive way. Like, if you've ever walked into someone's home and a smell or a piece of furniture makes you think back to your grandparents house, or a place you've traveled or a memory from your childhood, that is Hiraeth.
How would you describe your partnership and role in your businesses? And how has it evolved over time?
The one cool thing about opening Chapman's was that it was the first time that Bronwyn and I ever worked together. Bronwyn is a full-time nurse, but when the pandemic started, due to the nature of her specialty, her shifts were getting cancelled pretty often and she was instead spending lots of time in the restaurant. I was really busy in the kitchen and couldn't talk to our guests as much, so having Bronwyn kind of be the face of the restaurant and "Mrs. Handshake" as I used to call her was awesome for our guests and really cool for me to get to see my wife while we were at work.
In August of '21, Bronwyn and I had our first child, Julian West. Through Bronwyn's pregnancy, she was still working at the restaurant at least 3 days a week. I distinctly remember yelling at an 8-month pregnant Bronwyn to get off of a ladder that she was using to water some plants. After Julian was born we definitely had a huge shift. She hasn't really worked in any of the restaurants since, which is a little bittersweet for me as I really grew accustomed to being with her every day. I was really nervous in the beginning that working together was going to be a disaster. Bron and I are very different people and we are both fiercely independent individuals, but through the pandemic, opening this restaurant, and having a kid, we really started to rely on each other a lot more than we were used to and it really made our relationship a lot stronger. She still has her full-time nursing job and plays super mom every other day of the week, but I do miss the days of us being in the restaurant together. It was a cool chapter in our lives for sure.
Knowing that Louis and I are about to open our first restaurant, what advice would you give us?
- Show grace with each other and your team. Opening a restaurant is one of the hardest things to do and you have lots of LONG days ahead of you, lots of emotionally straining situations and lots of decisions to make through it all. You are going to be weaker than you have ever been before in a time that everyone needs you to be strong. It's a miserable, thankless situation to be in and it will be made worse if you don't have each other's backs. Always apologize after an argument or when you snap. Always accept the apology. If one of you is in an especially weak moment, let the other person be strong for the both of you.
- Be ready to pivot. Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth, as they say. I had a plan to have a whole section of Hiraeth that was tasting menu only. After our first soft opening I was like, nope! All the R&D, time we spent training, all the plates I bought just for the tasting menu, all worthless, but it was 100% the right decision. The tasting menu would have train-wrecked the line. I have a saying: not to swim against the tide. If you have a plan and it isn't working, that's the river trying to push you in a different direction. Use intention, but don't fight against where the universe is pushing you.
- Make sure everyone (besides you, but hopefully including you) is taking a day off. It's IMPOSSIBLE to tell people to take a day when there is so much to be done, but tired/sick people are of no use to you. Sacrifice some immediate needs for some long term ones.
- Have fun! As I stated above, this is a miserable process, but try to enjoy the little triumphs every day. Adrenaline will only get you so far and you need the little victories as fuel to get you up and going every day. I make a modest plan of things I want to accomplish every day. It's not nearly enough, but if I can do the MOST important things, and maybe tick one or two other things off the list for the day, that's a good days work in my books. Laugh at the little silly moments and funny things that are bound to happen You can look back on that electrical fire fondly in a year or so, I promise.
What's next for you two? Any dream projects you want to manifest?
I think after Hiraeth, we are going to take a year off before we look to open anything else, and seeing how I'm in the middle of an opening right now, I can't even tell you what another "dream" project would look like. I think 3 will be enough for a minute
