Episode Highlights
- Lokelani chats about how she got her start in the culinary world, from childhood cooking experiments to her first job in a kitchen in Denmark while traveling overseas.
- Some of the original inspiration she got from experiences with her mother and other great chefs – all directing her to enroll in culinary school at New England Culinary Institute (NECI).
- She mentions her first experience in Los Angeles, meeting Wolfgang Puck and getting a job at Campanile, and working at Thomas Keller’s Bouchon – where she got her Blue Apron.
- She talks about her mentor, Elizabeth Belkind, who “taught her everything she knows” in a span of a two-year period and about working at Beso restaurant, which was owned by Eva Longoria.
- Lokelani breaks down her original experiences with Hattie Jane’s Creamery, which involved the opening of a brand new creamery in Nashville, TN.
- Lokelani talks about the “imposter syndrome” she felt when switching to a commercial scale – using a $32,000 machine to make 20 gallons of ice cream.
- When COVID hit, Lokelani was laid off and this forced her to explore an idea she had with adding “cannabis to something.” She discovered the combination of CBD and ice cream – one is for anxiety and stress, the other is for pain.
- During the last few months, Lokelani mentions how the COVID situation has opened up a window to dreams or other goals you may have as a professional.
- Lokelani mentions the spark she got on social media – a post about about “these amazing black men and women in the culinary world” and how she used that as a jumping off point for her business.
- Lokelani talks about her grandmother, an amazing woman who didn’t leave recipes behind…but did leave a legacy of amazing cooking and baking.
- She shared that there are 3 different forms of CBD – full spectrum, broad spectrum, and isolate powder. CBD is not psychoactive, and she uses the non-addictive, isolate powder : “..it absorbs the best and has no taste” she uses 20 milligrams.
- During the interview, Lokelani discusses what it’s been like to be a black woman within the industry, “so every kitchen I’ve been in mostly…I think I’ve been the only black female in most of them.”
- Lokelani discusses the importance of building a brand and visual framework from the start, “I realized you have to do things right the first time because it makes it a lot harder later on when people are already used to what you have…”
- During the discussion, Lokelani talks about reinventing the structure of restaurants, and knowing that you don’t have to follow the book because there really is no book now.
- Staff is important and Lokelani says “…restaurants have to put more into their staff. Most staff aren’t insured and that mindset needs to change.”
Quotables
- “The last four months have opened up new paths… and nudged the majority of people to move into the place they really want to be, i’m part of that majority.”
- According to Lokelani, “Plant-based is the future…whether anyone likes it or not this is where we’re headed. And CBD is the now and it is going to be the future.”
- Lokelani discussed how she got started, “…so the big thing was I was permanently laid off. That was the number one thing. And that was the catalyst. It was time.”
- Based on Lokelani’s perspective, “I love nostalgia. I use that ingredient the most in everything that I do….People want nostalgia. They want to be brought back to just something that gives them a sort of peace and happiness. And ice cream does a lot of that.”
- Lokelanli mentions “…for me I love telling the story of the black cookbook history and what those stories mean for the flavors…and those recipes and knowing that they can be turned into ice cream.”
- “The world’s your oyster”
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