5 couples to know in Charlotte’s restaurant industry — all’s fair in love and cooking
For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health … at home and at work?
We talked to five Charlotte couples who are not only partners in life, but also partners in business. These restaurateurs discussed how they got started, what lessons they have learned and how they make mixing love and business work.
While each journey is unique, the common thread is clear — respect, humility, compromise and a giant dose of love.
Greg and Subrina Collier
7th Street Public Market, 224 E. 7th Street
Coming 2020
Uptown Yolk and Leah & Louise owners Greg and Subrina Collier first met 15 years ago — in a restaurant of all places. Subrina was studying, Greg was serving hot wings and five years later they were walking down the aisle.
After bouncing back and forth between Charleston and Charlotte, not having any luck finding a position as a sous chef, Greg decided he wanted to open his own restaurant. “I thought he lost his damn mind,” recalled Subrina, “But I knew he meant it.” Though hesitant, Subrina’s love for Greg and supporting his dream won out.
Inspired by his grandmother’s cooking, Greg has always had a passion for food. He remembers the way his grandmother’s food made him feel and wanted to create that feeling for others in his restaurants. In 2012, he and Subrina brought those ideas to their first restaurant, The Yolk, which seven years later moved to the 7th Street Market and became Uptown Yolk. This year, the couple will be opening Leah & Louise, a modern juke joint that is a tribute to Greg’s late grandmother and sister.
To keep the peace both at home and at the restaurants, the duo keeps their duties separate. Greg covers all things food — he is a James Beard-nominated chef after all — and Subrina takes care of the rest. They make a good team. “I am the worrier and always afraid of intimidating deadlines or obligations,” Subrina admitted. “My personality is that of the child that will walk through the haunted house crying; I won’t chicken out, but I’m still afraid. Greg will always strategize a plan to calm me down. I think that is one of our biggest strengths. We balance each other—the yin and the yang.”
If you are thinking of starting a business with your spouse, the Colliers have one tip: “Hire a business mentor that is unbiased to either of you. It will assist you in making big decisions. You need that third voice that speaks to you both objectively.”
While it is hard to completely turn off ‘work talk’ at home, the couple has made an intentional effort to make time for one another that doesn’t involve the business. An ice cream date, a road trip, heading to the movies. Subrina noted, “The older we get, the more we make it a priority to spend quality time together.” They also appreciate having their partner in life as their partner in business. “The best part of working together is having someone who truly believes in you and gives you their all because they love you,” Greg reflected.
Miriam and Dalton Espaillat
Three Amigos Mexican Grill Cantina
2917 A Central Ave.
Multiple locations
When Dalton Espaillat first proposed the idea of opening a restaurant to his wife, Miriam, in March 2010, the answer was a hard, “No.” Miriam grew up in a family of restaurateurs in Queens, NY, and witnessed the long hours, hard work, struggles and sacrifices that owning a restaurant entailed. While she appreciated and admired her Salvadoran immigrant parents for what they gave up in order to provide for the family, she was certain she didn’t want to follow in their footsteps — especially with a 2 year-old, a full-time job and a recent acceptance into UNCC’s Master’s in Social Work program. But Dalton had an entrepreneurial spirit that couldn’t be quelled.
The doors to the couple’s first restaurant, Three Amigos Mexican Grill, opened later that year. Keeping them open, on the other hand, required sacrifice. “We struggled getting employees to work on Sundays, which meant we had to alternate working Sundays in order to cover management shifts,” recalled Miriam. “This was in addition to our full-time jobs and graduate school for me. Basically, we were sacrificing our family time and days off to keep the business afloat.”
They were also chasing down paychecks—literally, in their cars. Miriam tells the story of waiting for paychecks from their “day jobs” to arrive in the mail so that they could cover payroll. “We would have to drive around our neighborhood and track down the UPS and USPS drivers to see if they had our mail.” Luckily, they avoided ever having an employee check bounce and began to get their footing.
Dalton eventually quit his engineering job to focus on the restaurant full time, and in 2013 he asked Miriam to do the same so that they could open a second restaurant together —Sabor Latin Grill. In time, they found their groove, with Miriam directing all community engagement and Dalton focusing on growing the business as president and CEO.
Having defined roles that don’t overlap has been helpful in keeping the peace both at work and at home. It has also led to expansion. The Espaillats now own 13 Sabor Latin Street Grill locations.
With the sacrifices they made at the outset of starting a business, the opportunity to spend some extra time together is something both Miriam and Dalton have come to appreciate. Whether it’s a lunch break or a business trip, the couple takes advantage of any opportunity they have to enjoy some quiet, kid-free time together.
On the journey to running two successful businesses, the Espaillats have learned a thing or two about going into business with your spouse. The best advice they have? “Decide who will be the boss, because there can only be one boss. Define your roles. Set your boundaries and respect them. Above all, be flexible. It’s OK to step down to take care of yourself and be one another’s No. 1 cheerleader. Your marriage is more important than the business.”
Velvet and Treona Kelty-Jacobs
7945 N. Tryon St., Unit 110
Ten years ago, Velvet and Treona Kelty-Jacobs first met at Velvet’s family cafe in Maryland. They lost touch only to reconnect again after a couple of years later, when volunteering with youth in the community. “We found ourselves joining forces, and I knew she would be my wife,” Velvet said with certainty.
After getting married, the two moved to Charlotte, where Velvet went into business as a private chef and caterer. While working a rather large pop-up event together in 2018, Velvet and Treona looked at each other and knew this was not the path they wanted to stay on. The very next day, they began the search for a brick-and-mortar store to start their restaurant. VelTree opened on North Tryon Street later that year.
Velvet admits, the cliche is true, “The best part of working with your spouse is being together all the time. The worst part of working with your spouse is being together all the time.” The couple has found a division of responsibilities that works for them both at home and on the job. Velvet is the creative force, and Treona is the business-minded disciplinarian. With their business and personal lives so intertwined, the responsibilities naturally carry over at home.
Couples looking to make the leap into running a business together can find inspiration in Velvet’s heartfelt sentiments, “Word up, there is no greater joy. If that’s your soul mate, life partner, or ‘the one,’ that is the person who will have your back no matter what. So be patient with each other, trust each other’s ideas and trust the process.”
Kevin and Stacey Jennings
Urban Food Group restaurants including Charlotte-based
3920 Sharon Road #160
7828 E. Rea Road
After getting dragged out to a restaurant by a friend on her birthday, Stacey Jennings got an unexpected birthday present — an introduction to her future husband, Kevin. The pair was married three and a half years later. Nine days after that? The Jennings opened their first restaurant.
With extensive restaurant backgrounds and a desire to start a business, it made sense for the couple to open their own restaurant. But the process wasn’t easy. Despite having secured seed funding from family, Kevin and Stacey spent three years trying to get a loan from a bank. At the point of giving up on their dream, a restaurant went up for sale that fit their needs and their budget.
One restaurant eventually turned into nine. Operated under the name Urban Food Group, these include Bar Marcel and Civetta in Charlotte; Chow, Coquette, Osteria Cicchetti and Vivace in Raleigh; Brasserie du Soleil and Boca Bay in Wilmington; and Avelina in Denver, CO.
Over the years, the duo has gravitated to the responsibilities that fit their background. Stacey has a business degree and is in charge of the books, while Kevin has years of restaurant experience and keeps his focus on service. Outside of that, when it comes to making decisions on hiring, advertising, menu selections and interior design, the two work together as a team. “We collaborate on nearly everything at home and at work, still to this day,” Kevin shared.
But things did not always run so smoothly. The Thanksgiving after the Jennings had opened their first restaurant, they decided to head out of town for the weekend. On Friday, they received a call saying their chef had decided he wasn’t coming in. He was not sick and didn’t have an emergency — he just decided he wasn’t going to work that day. Upon hearing this, the sous chef panicked at being put in charge, and he too left. The salad/pizza line cook was the only one in the kitchen, so the Jennings hopped in the car and drove back into town as quickly as they could. The next day, they went to the restaurant only to find both the chef and sous chef at work, acting as if nothing had happened. Both were fired on the spot, and for the next few weeks, Stacey and Kevin, neither of whom have any culinary training, teamed up with their line cook to make it all work. “My wife eventually kicked me out of the kitchen,” Kevin laughed.
When you work with your spouse, there is much less of a filter. Kevin joked, “It’s not an office where she can go to HR and complain about me being an idiot.” But the two balance each other out well, Kevin the dreamer and Stacey the voice of reason. According to Kevin, “The best part of working with Stacey is the fact that she is so smart. I also love her so spending every waking moment with her is fun for me. I’m not certain she can say the same.”
As far as advice for going into business with your spouse, in addition to the ideals of listening to one another, apologizing when you’re wrong and being open minded to the other’s ideas, there is one rule that is critical for success, according to the Jenningses. “Do not go into a partnership 50/50. It is a complete disaster. One person has to have the final word, and everyone has to agree to that up front and get in line with decisions once they have been made.”
Katy and Joe Kindred
131 N. Main St., Davidson
20210 Henderson Road, Cornelius
Fifteen years ago, Katy and Joe Kindred met in Chicago, where Katy was working as a wine director and Joe as a sous chef. Even before they began dating, Katy and Joe would joke about opening a restaurant together, saying that they made a good team. The duo even picked out a name —Kindred. So it wasn’t a shock when 10 years later, happily married and still in the restaurant business, they made that dream a reality. Kindred opened in 2105 to rave reviews, and two years later, the couple expanded with the addition of the lakeside Hello, Sailor.
Running two restaurants and a home requires a lot of teamwork. While Katy is generally in charge of the front of the house (all things service) and Joe the back of the house (all things kitchen), they strive to create an environment of collaboration. “I love working with my husband,” Katy shared. “I honestly don’t know how people don’t work together, especially in our business.”
But things haven’t always run smoothly. Katy chuckled telling the tale of the first Friday night Kindred opened. “We had a smoke detector in the kitchen that malfunctioned, and the fire alarm went off with a completely full restaurant. Joe and I looked at each other in horror, and then we just laughed. We had to evacuate everyone from the building, the fire dept showed up. So we grabbed every bottle of champagne we had and just started pouring the guests drinks as we all stood on the street waiting for the fire department to give us the all clear. It was hilarious. Luckily our guests gave us boatloads of grace. Sometimes guests will still bring up that they were there that night as a badge of honor.”
The Kindreds’ parting advice to couples considering working together? “Date your spouse, make time for each other and be honest with each other. Put your marriage first. Period. Work really hard on that.”
This story was originally published February 7, 2020 at 5:30 AM.
