Interview: Gather Detroit
The Neighborhood Restaurant Leaving a Mark on Eastern Market
This week, UNLEASHED is heading to Detroit, MI to shoot for #ConnectingThread, a documentary-style film series that profiles entrepreneurs around the world who are positively contributing to their communities. One of UNLEASHED’s Detroit partners is Gather Detroit, a neighborhood restaurant located in the historic Eastern Market district. To generate excitement for the upcoming Detroit documentary, we would like to share interview responses provided by owners Lea and Kyle Hunt and executive chef Jessi Patuano.
KYLE AND LEA HUNT, OWNERS
What are your original professional backgrounds? How did you meet?
We met in 9th grade, started dating in 10th grade, and have been together ever since. We got married after 5 years of long distance during college. In college, Kyle majored in Sustainability and Art, and I (Lea) majored in Business with a focus in Marketing/Management.
Kyle took a job in California then Illinois, implementing processes to make warehouses landfill free. I worked at a Starbucks in both locations because I enjoy serving people, the mornings, and wanted to gain and understanding of the systems and processes of an efficient business.
While away, we both continued looking for jobs that would bring us back to Detroit. We couldn’t find anything in our respective fields, and both took jobs as Mortgage Bankers at Quicken Loans so we could get home and save money. Quicken was a great stepping stone for us into business ownership.
I left Quicken Loans first to work in small businesses in Detroit to gain a better understanding of the small business landscape. I worked at Cafe Con Leche and Detroit Institute of Bagels. I learned a ton in that time being part of such great small businesses in Detroit. Kyle left Quicken when we found the building for Gather and tended bar at Tony V’s Tavern in Midtown during the time we were building out.
Both of you have lived in different states. Why did you decide to come back to Detroit?
We lived in California and Illinois. We were excited to get a chance to live in different areas but always knew we wanted to come back home and open a business near family. Having grown up in the Metro Detroit area, we’ve always had a love for the city.
What would you say to budding restaurant owners to convince them that Detroit is a great place to do business?
Detroit is a big city in the scheme of things, but feels very much like a small town. The sense of hope and potential is still very much alive and contagious in the city. The opportunity to be a part of a growing community of hard working people doing their best to make their business, and in turn their city, great is really exciting.
Detroit has a much different feel than other cities. In Detroit, some things are much harder, but the reward of being a part of such an incredible community and making a difference in an amazing city far outweighs the difficulties.
We were able to open Gather on our own, with our savings and no investors and create our dream, neighborhood restaurant. I feel confident to say, there’s no other big city in the country [where] we would have been able to achieve this.
The sense of hope and potential is still very much alive and contagious in the city. The opportunity to be a part of a growing community of hard working people doing their best to make their business, and in turn their city, great is really exciting.
What inspired your dream of opening up a restaurant?
We had both had internships in Chicago the summer after our 2nd year of college. I was working in sports marketing, and Kyle was working for a company retrofitting light fixtures to save energy.
I had always held a dream of owning my own small business in my mind. At the time, it was something along the lines of a coffee or ice cream shop. We met for dinner midway through the summer one night and Kyle said: “I want to own a restaurant in Detroit.” This was in line with my entrepreneurial thoughts, and I was all in.
From that night on, it became a shared dream. We sent business plans and ideas back and forth throughout our long- distance time in college. We went out to eat with intention, constantly observing and studying the way restaurants functioned. We saved and were frugal, keeping our dream at the forefront of the way we were living. Living outside Detroit helped us gain a better perspective of the restaurant industry around the country.
At our wedding shower five years ago, we were asked “Where do you see yourselves in 10 years?”. We were moving to California the day after the wedding, and many friends and family thought we would be gone for a long time. Kyle proudly answered to a room of 80 of the closest women in our lives: “We will be back in Detroit and own our own restaurant.” I was a bit embarrassed by this answer, because often sharing your dreams out loud feels very vulnerable. Thinking back now, that vulnerable moment was one of my favorites because he let our closest friends and family in on what felt like our secret, and making them aware kept us accountable to keep taking steps to make this dream a reality.
What is your business philosophy?
Respect, on all levels, from food to guests to community. Respect the farmers who grew the food by not wasting [it] and [by] preparing it with love. Respect the hands that prepare and serve the food. Respect the folks who come in. I could go on and on and on with this one, but at the end of the day if you are respectful to those around you and the things you do you will be doing just fine. If you start with respect, everything else falls into place from there.
Keep things simple. Our menu is often about fifteen items long, and we keep a tight wine list from a variety of regions that we can sell at a reasonable price, same with beer and cocktails. We like to keep the options simple so we have the time to learn about and put thought and care into each menu item. We want to be a neighborhood place that you frequent often and bump into a friend when you’re here. We keep the decor simple because the main focus should be the people you are gathered with and the cared-for food you are eating.
Also, we do not take ourselves too seriously. We are here to do the most basic of human activities: feed and take care of others. Humans have been doing this since the beginning of time. We are here to take care of the people that come through their door. Make them feel special (because they are), cared for, and nourished. If we get wrapped up in the little things, there’s no hope of making simplicity and joy our priorities.
What type of culture do you seek to cultivate in your restaurant?
We seek to create a family culture. For our diners, we intend Gather to feel much more like a dinner party than a normal restaurant experience. The open kitchen allows you to watch your food being prepared as you would at the house of a friend or loved one. The communal tables create the opportunity to meet new people and enjoy conversation over the meal.
We want to build community. The best things are when people come in and it feels like everyone in the restaurant knows each other, or when you look over and see two groups that don’t know each other chatting and happily sharing recommendations on food or even sharing food and starting to look like one large group rather than two separate groups.
With our staff, we try to continue that family feeling. We also love the camaraderie that comes along with being a part of a team (both Kyle and I played basketball in college) and strive to create that team feeling amongst the staff.
What are your opinions on the urban farming revival within Detroit?
We are so excited about it. It’s an amazing thing to have such fresh, incredible produce coming from the city limits. Its inspiring to see the hard-working men and woman that are making farming their careers. The importance of food and the hands that grow it is certainly not lost on us. We strive to share the stories of the farmers who’ve worked so hard to grow the food we enjoy with every guest. Urban farming is such an important part of the restaurant community in Detroit.
How does Gather fit into Detroit’s restaurant community and Eastern market community?
We love being a part of the restaurant community and Eastern Market Community.
Detroit’s restaurant community is filled with incredible, hard-working people that we look up to. Being new to the community, so many other business owners have been so generous in lending expertise, contacts or simply empathy. This is not an easy industry and having a supportive group of people that have been through it and understand the ups and downs makes all the difference.
We could not imagine being anywhere besides the Eastern Market neighborhood. The history of art, music, and food is so strong here — it’s inspiring every day. The support and bond of the business owners and community members is hard to even begin to describe. Our location is so important to us on all levels: the mid-west; Michigan; Detroit; Eastern Market — we could not ask for a better place to be.
What has been your favorite part of owning Gather?
Hard to say. I love so many things about owning my own business, [but] I’ll try to narrow it down. I love getting to work with my hands and serve people. I love the opportunity to meet new people every day and get to know folks doing all sorts of interesting work in the city. I love being able to see first-hand the pride people have for Detroit and the communities they live in. I love meeting folks in from out of town and hearing all the ways Detroit has pleasantly surprised them. I love being able to provide jobs for people in a happy work environment. I love having control over my schedule, even if it’s a crazy one. I love working side-by-side with my husband and continuing to dream together.
What has been the most challenging part of owning Gather and how have you worked through this challenge?
The best things in life are never easy, and that is certainly the truth with business ownership. We have worked through so many challenges. I think the most constant one is trying to stay even keel during the ups and downs of the days. There’s always going to be another challenge, and the sooner you can accept that and adjust to that being a part of daily life and not letting it rock you, the better.
There’s always going to be another challenge, and the sooner you can accept that and adjust to that being a part of daily life and not letting it rock you, the better.
Do you have any general advice for aspiring restaurateurs?
The best thing we often tell people is to just do it. There’s never a perfect time, you never have the perfect amount of money, you never have the perfect plan, but if you jump in you will have no choice but to figure it out. We quit our jobs and put ourselves in an uncomfortable situation, we had no choice but to make it work. In many ways this sounds foolish, but I think it’s much more foolish in this short life to continue doing something you don’t enjoy.
JESSI PATUANO, EXECUTIVE CHEF
Tell us about your background.
I grew up in Long Island, New York. I was raised in an adopted household with a single mom and three siblings. I left home shortly after high school to move to Philadelphia to pursue my dream of being a photo journalist or documentary filmmaker. While trying to support myself and put myself through art school, I cooked in many a pubs in Philly. Just shy of a year into my attempt at art school, I realized I couldn’t afford to continue. I took a break to figure out what was next, and continued to cook for a living. I went back to art school two more times before I realized this dream of mine was exactly that — a dream. A few years later, my partner was accepted to the grad program at Cranbrook here in Michigan. He asked me if I was ready to leave Philly, and as much as I wanted a change, I wasn’t sure Michigan was it. Shortly after arriving here and landing in an obscure suburb, I knew I had to find my purpose or lose my mind. After racking my brain to figure out what the next career choice for me was, it hit me like a ton of bricks. My whole working life I have relied on my skills in the kitchen to pay my rent, but it wasn’t really until this moment did I realize it could make me blissfully happy. So, off to culinary school I went. Just as I was preparing to start school, my job hunt was becoming dismal. I was seconds away from accepting a job at Cheeseburger In Paradise when I received the call. A very talented local chef was opening up a new farm-to-table restaurant, the first of its kind, in the area, and he was intrigued by my story. We met, and the rest was history. Three months later I would be starting a brand-new job and my first year of culinary school. Who knew how much I would learn and grow in the next four years — from starting a from-scratch charcuterie program to raising eight pigs on a small plot of land. And becoming a sous chef within the first year, the sky was the limit. After four years, I was ready for a new experience. I switched gears, and again joined the ranks of yet another young and aspiring chef writing his own story. I got the chance to work with incredibly high-end and rare ingredients, sample techniques reserved for Michelin star restaurants, and build layers and layers to my already budding palate. Over the next few years, I continued to follow opportunity as it arrived to me. I have worked in four award-winning kitchens with some of the most talented cooks in the city. Then, like some magical fairytale, I was introduced to the Hunts. I was looking for work, and they were looking for a chef, but what we got out of our union is so much more. They are truly like family to me, and it is a blessing to be working side by side with them each and every day.
What attracted you to Detroit?
Detroit is truly a special place. It is basically a blank canvas waiting to be swept away by the next young and inspired individual. Here, we get a chance to reinvent the conversation about food and dining. We open our doors and sometimes our homes to the people of this city and ask them to embrace us for every bit of diversity and spirit we display. Truly a melting pot, this city showcases some of the best food to never grace a white table cloth. Almost blue collar to a fault, Detroit has embraced its rough-and-tumble demeanor, its badass reputation, and its blight aesthetic. This is, of course, from an outsider’s perspective. I live and work in Detroit, but have yet to feel like a Detroiter. I hope that sticking with the city through its growing pains might make me feel [like] a part of something great.
What sparked your interest in food?
I started cooking at a young age. I was about 13 years old, and a close friend of mine showed me a video called Meet your Meat. Needless to say, I stopped eating meat then and there. My mother, again a single mother of four, was not interested in cooking me a separate “special” meal each night. And so, it began. I was left to figure it out myself, and little did I know [that this would] spark an interest that would continue for the rest of my life.
You have described your food philosophy as “simple and pure.” How did this philosophy come about?
Learning to feed myself as a vegetarian was not only challenging but also eye-opening. There is so much that goes into a meal — from nutrition to flavor, food politics, and sustainability. I dove headfirst, and learned as much as I could. The more I read, the more I realized our ancestors had the right idea: simple and pure. The best quality ingredients are manipulated as minimally as possible in order to enhance the flavor as much as possible. My food as a chef definitely is complicated on a more behind-the-scenes kind of level [due to] the brining, braising, smoking, and fermenting that manipulates enough without losing the essence of the ingredients themselves. But, at face value, the food reads dare I say basic but approachable….identifiable and reminiscent of an incredible home cooked meal, cooked by your favorite aunt or grandma.
Do you have a general working philosophy in your kitchen?
When it comes to workplace culture, the Hunts and I really balance each other out. Work hard and have fun is our motto around these parts. We are a small team, and the hierarchy is barely visible. We want everyone who works for and with us to feel included, heard, and part of something special. I spent enough time in kitchens built to break you down in my youth, and I feel it is my duty to create an environment for young chefs to be able to learn and grow without hostility or degradation of character. I think it is important for all humans to see growth in themselves, and when it comes to my cooks I think it’s so integral [for them] to find [their] own culinary voice. In most kitchens, when coming up the ranks your voice is often not only ignored but [also] disrespected. We don’t stand for that shit here.
We want everyone who works for and with us to feel included, heard, and part of something special.
Detroit is becoming one of the urban farming capitals of the United States. Have you been involved in any of these urban farms before?
The urban farm scene is truly impressive here in Detroit. I work with as many local farmers and purveyors as possible. The more local, the more jazzed we get. I love the attitude of the farmers in this city. Adapt and overcome is definitely their motto and they do just that. One of my most rewarding experiences has been watching the growth of Recovery Park farms here in the city. This organization has completely transformed one of the more downtrodden neighborhoods in the city into an agricultural oasis. They employ ex-convicts living in the city, and provide them with all the tools they need to recreate a life for themselves. Housing, insurance, training and education — this program is designed to do far more than just create jobs. It is all about changing lives.
Do you source any of your food through these urban farms?
Being local is of huge importance to me. It not only keeps commerce in the city but also helps to keep citizens employed and involved in their community. I love meeting the growers and farmers, and talking about the amount of love and consideration they give to their businesses. Being able to bring my staff to a farm right here in the city and talk to the very person responsible for the inspiration of one of our best-selling dishes, that’s priceless. All business owners of all kinds are struggling to make it work here, but there is no shortage of perseverance and dedication to forward, positive, and sustainable change.
My advice to young women entering this field is figure out who and what you are and never allow the industry to dictate it for you. Hold firm to your boundaries and morals, and respect everyone and everything you encounter.
What kind of thought and preparation goes into creating a menu?
When creating a menu, the first concern is seasonality. Because we put so much effort into being local, we really need to keep the growing seasons in mind. Second, we try to make our menu as approachable and diverse as we can. We want you to be reminded of meals long past, but perhaps with a new twist. The creative process here at Gather is a collaborative one. We talk to no end about products we love and flavor profiles that excite us. Together, we create seamless and thoughtful dishes where you can’t identify where one person’s idea ends and the next begins. We experiment until we are happy with the flavors and presentation, all the while keeping cost in mind. We want our food to feed all of Detroit, not just those who have an expendable budget.
How has your identity as a woman impacted your career as a chef? Do you have any messages or advice for women aspiring to be chefs?
It is no secret that being a woman in this industry is tough. We face a slew of misogyny and contempt for our sex. Men will always expect you to come in second, and other women will try to tear you down to raise themselves up. For me, it has always been about letting my work speak for itself. Your guests can’t taste the gender of the cook, just the love and thoughtfulness they put into the dish. Being a woman in a kitchen is a lot about knowing when and how to assert yourself. My advice to young women entering this field is figure out who and what you are and never allow the industry to dictate it for you. Hold firm to your boundaries and morals, and respect everyone and everything you encounter. Be the first to show up, the last to leave, and always ask questions.
