Show 649, October 18, 2025: Chef Andrew Gruel (Co-host) of Calico Fish House with “Ask the Chef”

Chef Andrew Gruel of the Calico Fish House

Our own Chef Andrew Gruel, the menu-maker behind the full-service Calico Fish House (located in the Sunset Beach area of Huntington Beach) provides another timely and informative Ask the Chef segment where he responds to listeners’ thoughtful inquiries.

For a fast casual establishment, or any successful restaurant, what’s the ideal pathway to branching? Should it be a franchise network like McDonalds or company owned stores in the In-N-Out model? Chef Andrew has been there and will provide his informed insight.

Andrew Gruel’s Family Cookbook is available with signed copies at his Calico Fish House on Pacific Coast Highway in Sunset Beach.

Show 49, November 23, 2013: Entrepreneur Dave Danhi the founder, director, and executive chef of The Grilled Cheese Truck

Dave Danhi of the Grilled Cheese TruckDave Danhi is the founder, director, and executive chef of The Grilled Cheese Truck. This was the first gourmet food truck to go national and there are big plans to expand through a novel franchising program. A novel program is in the works to sell franchises to returning veterans and it’s a turnkey concept that’s already been tested with great success. A huge following on social media was the initial key to getting this business going. The Big Cheese himself joins us to recount this unlikely success story.

Dave is also a much sought-out executive recruiter for the Hospitality Industry. His firm is DD Factor. We’ll talk to him about this little known (but vitally important) field, also. You honestly don’t find suitable executive chefs and general managers on CraigsList!