Today's newsletter features a couple of stories of culinary entrepreneurs, how they found their way into the kitchen and what lessons they've gleaned from those experiences.

"Top Chef" alumnus Kevin Gillespie has spent his nearly 30-year career in restaurant kitchens, learning key lessons in teamwork, leadership and character along the way. 

"The greatest nights I’ve ever had in a kitchen weren’t about perfection or praise; they were about watching a group of flawed and graceful people, often from wildly different backgrounds, move as one. That’s chemistry. It’s immeasurably rarer than talent," Gillespie writes in Food & Wine.

Rich Baker took a more circuitous route to the restaurant kitchen at Flat Earth Pizzas in east London, overcoming challenges early in life and working demanding jobs for others while learning the business until, nearing 60, he and his wife, Sarah, realized their dream of opening their own restaurant. More challenges were ahead, including the pandemic, which the pair weathered. In 2023, their kimchi fiorentina pizza won a national award and the eatery has been in growth mode since.