And, in Miami, amid a panorama of majestic mansion-like eating places with ocean views and corporate-backed mainstays in downtown skyscrapers, we even have fairly the scene of intimate pop-ups, ghost kitchens, and stalls at native markets making a reputation for themselves regardless of a everlasting deal with.
The throughline to success appears to be a pure ardour for cooking, meticulous technique in taking issues one step at a time, and, sure, a want to increase finally. Here’s a glimpse of three Miami culinary hustlers that we are able to all recognize.
A Growing Ghost Kitchen
2 Korean Girls is the brainchild of sisters Jennifer and Michele Kaminski. Jennifer manages a digital advertising company in Miami and Michele is a hospitality guide in Chicago. The sisters function 2 Korean Girls as a ghost kitchen and simply accomplished an in depth pop-up in Miami Beach.
Bibimbap is on the core of its menu, a Korean rice dish with custom-made additions galore. Its bestseller is the O.B. (“unique bibimbap”), layered with ribeye bulgogi, sesame spinach, marinated mung bean sprouts, candy and bitter radish, and extra. The trademark of any bowl is a heart-shaped egg, including extra allure to the expertise. There are snacks, too, like Korean fried hen and Impossible meatballs glazed in a gochujang sauce.
The means of bringing 2 Korean Girls to life was meticulous and research-heavy, starting in 2017 with creating the model and monitoring knowledge on the rise of ghost kitchens.
“Even those entrenched in the industry in 2017 didn’t really know what ghost kitchens were and what it meant,” Jennifer Kaminski tells New Times. “But we saw it as a cool way for us to be in the market. So, in December 2020, with the pandemic and an even bigger rise in ghost kitchens and their delivery platforms, we saw it as the best way to launch.”
2 Korean Girls began cooking up Korean morsels from a Coconut Grove ghost kitchen and have since shifted operations to spots in Edgewater, Brickell, and, new as of January, Fort Lauderdale. They even have a buzzworthy cotton sweet machine put in at 1-800-LUCKY.
All components are readied in prep kitchens in midtown Miami and North Miami Beach after which distributed to the ghost kitchens for remaining meal prep, the place 2 Korean Girls has one to a few cooks per location. In whole, Jennifer Kaminski says, they serve upwards of fifty prospects per day.
Amid an inflow in enterprise and rising pop-up occasions all through the town, the sisters have their eyes on a brick and mortar. Jennifer Kaminski says, “it’s definitely something that is in our plans and something we’re actively working on. We want to find the right place, do it right, and have that full experience of 2 Korean Girls.”
Educators by day, cinnamon bread makers by night time (and weekend): Wicked Bread Co.’s Eddie and Betty Diaz
Wicked Bread Co. photograph
A Home Recipe Goes to Market
What began as a meticulously perfected dwelling recipe that received over household and associates at gatherings, Wicked Bread Co. has advanced from a facet hustle to a booming enterprise. It remains to be very a lot a “two-man show.” Hollywood educators Eddie and Betty Diaz bake and sell the products, with credit to the couple’s 21- and 24-year-old daughters, who help wherever they can.
Wicked Bread opened its doors in February 2020. Shortly after that, COVID-19 shuttered the fledgling business and the entirety of Yellow Green Farmers Market. The couple pushed ahead through the pandemic, setting up an e-commerce site. They hand delivered their fluffy-meets-gooey goodness throughout South Florida and shipped to 16 states.
“Our timing was unfortunate – we launched just a couple weeks before the pandemic and were just starting to see some repeat customers,” says Eddie Diaz. “So, we had to shift gears, and we were literally on the streets while the market was closed, delivering our stuff. And, at times, we were the only people on the streets. But it kept us going – it kept us afloat.”
In April 2021, Yellow Green Farmers Market reopened to nice success. The couple now sells between 400 to 500 loaves of bread per weekend. As the enterprise has grown, so has its menu, with choices like a “Swine in the Sweater” (a Cajun sausage wrapped in a pastry) and a newly unveiled “Black Magic” loaf that’s drizzled in chocolate, peanut butter, and crushed Oreos.
The couple is open to a bigger footprint, with Eddie Diaz saying, “We are looking as we speak, and we have a lot more products to offer beyond, pardon the pun, our bread and butter. We aren’t in a rush and are looking for the perfect location.”
From Pop-Up to Burger Bash
Don’t underestimate the little man. Among the heavyweight cooks converging on Miami for the 2021 South Beach Wine & Food Festival’s prestigious Burger Bash, it was a South Florida-bred pop-up that took dwelling the choose’s alternative prize.
That winner was Ted’s Burgers, the brainchild of Hialeah native Teodoro “Ted” Armas. Perhaps you’ve got seen Ted’s pop-up tent in entrance of J. Wakefield Brewing in Wynwood on Sundays with Armas and a workers of three to 4 smashing burgers on an open grill and cooking them to a memorable sear.
Armas was a long-time chef with the 50 Eggs Hospitality Group – famend for Chica, Yardbird, and others. He had a stint in Brevard County circa 2019 to look after an ailing beloved one, the place he additionally mapped out his burger idea. He ultimately moved again to Miami, had his first official pop-up in November 2020, and hasn’t appeared again since.
“I took a leap of religion and turned a yard dream right into a actuality,” says Armas, who focuses on the idea full-time. “It actually grew organically, by phrase of mouth, which has simply been lovely.”
Armas says his staff churns out upwards of 100 burgers per hour on busy weekends. He says in the future that he and his spouse made and bought 606 burgers that he mentioned, with fun, “nearly led to divorce.”
Beyond his pop-ups – which have included endeavors as distant as Indiana – there are official plans to increase. Armas says a Ted’s Burgers brick-and-mortar location is coming to Little River by October 2023.