The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Chef Jonathon Sawyer shares how he ‘Cleveland Hustles’
Chef Jonathon Sawyer has found great success, tries to pass it on in CNBC show
Jonathon Sawyer says that if he or his interviewer cannot hear the other, he can pull his motorcycle over to finish the chat. ¶ “I’m on a Moto Guzzi v7 heading from the office to Trentina,” says one of Cleveland’s most prominent chefs, referring to his relatively upscale Italian restaurant in the University Circle area, as he talks loudly above the wind. ¶ Hey, this is a busy guy. The restaurateur’s portfolio also includes downtown spots The Greenhouse Tavern, a new-American eatery, and his flagship operation, and Noodlecat, where he puts his spin on ramen, as well as locations at two of Cleveland’s major stadiums.
The Cleveland Heights resident says he starts his day about 5:30 a.m., gets his kids up for breakfast and then off to school; answers emails with his wife, Amelia, who’s a partner in his business Team Sawyer; and then ventures off for stops at Trentina, his midtown office, and then downtown to one or both of those eateries.
“And then I do the whole thing back, sort of in reverse,” he says.
Sawyer took time in recent months to be a part of “Cleveland Hustles,” an unscripted CNBC series that counts Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James and business partner Maverick Carter among its producers. Sawyer is one of the Northeast Ohio-based investors on the show, each of whom picked a small business looking for help in launching a brick-and-mortar store in Cleveland’s Gordon Square neighborhood.
Since the show’s debut on Aug. 24 — the show’s new episodes appear at 10 p.m. Wednesdays — Sawyer has backed Fount, a company focused on producing leather bags.
While Sawyer’s buddy Michael Symon is the first name in Cleveland celeb chefs and is on TV regularly, Sawyer isn’t that far behind. In fact, he’s been Symon’s sous chef on a few “Iron Chef” episodes, competed on his own and appeared on various other cooking shows, most recently on “Chopped Grill Masters.”
“To be a chef these days, you do need exposure, and it can come in many forms, whether it’s YouTube or podcasts or television,” he says, adding there are times during the year that allow for TV appearances and others that do not. “We tend to make sure we have enough appearances so people know who we are, but I can’t change my career to be 100 percent television personality because that wouldn’t work with the business, either. I don’t have someone to replace me, so to speak, as CEO and lead recipe creator and whatever else my title is.”
All that said, he sounds as if he would have made time for “Cleveland Hustles,” given the spotlight it’s shining on the city, regardless of what else he had on his docket.
“I think I’ve become the defacto spokesperson for Cleveland in that our point of view is very unique and very modern, and people like what we have to say about why we moved here and what we achieved when we moved here,” Sawyer says. “And the opportunity to talk about our city on a prime-time, national basis came along, and almost no matter what I was going to say yes.
“My wife and I understand that a vibrant downtown Cleveland is going to affect all of our businesses — not just (ours) — for a long time,” he continues.
“I think that we have a very modern approach to business, and we don’t think it’s any harder or any easier than any other business.” — Jonathon Sawyer, Clevelandbased chef and restaurateur, on the restaurant business
“It’s very important to us to encourage people to move there, plant their businesses there or open their new start-up there.”
In “Cleveland Hustles,” each investor first had to pick two businesses that intrigued him or her and, from there, pick one after giving both the challenge of opening a one-day pop-up store. However, Sawyer was impressed enough by Fount and Akron Honey to offer both an investment. But then Akron Honey owner Wesley Bright turned the money down. Maybe it was for the best.
“I was a little trepidatious about Wesley and Akron Honey because he’s also in a band, and he also works for a tech company, and he’s also a father,” Sawyer says. “He was and still is — because we still talk all the time — he’s a little hesitant to commit full on to Honey. So, to me, maybe he didn’t believe Honey could make it and support his family and allow him to quit his other jobs.”
Fount did, of course, take the money, and Sawyer says he is excited about the partnership.
“Fount, in terms of the business, is really well-puttogether,” he says. “Their need was more infrastructure. And how we built our company is how we’re helping them build their company.
“Fount is sort of a younger version — involved with leather — of me and my wife,” he continues. “They started a business out of passion as hobbyists and then became artisans, and they’re now full-fledged manufacturers. … Their deficiencies were organization, decision-making and focus. They don’t have a problem with creativity or design; they needed help in all the other areas.”
Before the season concludes Oct. 12, Fount and the three other businesses will be shown working in a very short time period to acquire storefronts and open for business.
“I think this is actually when the drama and the theater of being a business owner comes in,” he says. “There’s guaranteed tears and fights and joy in these (final) episodes.
“And not to be a spoiler, but one of the tears comes from a very tough-love moment I have with my partners,” he adds. “We have a great relationship. I’m really proud of their growth, especially now, nine months removed from the beginning of the project. They’ve just grown an immense amount.”
Fount probably could learn much from Team Sawyer. After all, the restaurant business has been known to chew folks up and spit them out, if you’ll pardon the food pun, but they’ve been highly successful.
“I think that we have a very modern approach to business, and we don’t think it’s any harder or any easier than any other business,” he says. “It’s our job to adapt to it day to day. It’s just like having kids — they’re not any easier or harder from kid to kid or year to year, but it’s our job as parents or the owner of the company to adjust day to day, week to week, month to month.”
In the glow of events such as the Cavaliers’ championship and the city’s hosting of the Republican National Convention, Sawyer’s pretty bullish on his town.
“I’m encouraging everybody to re-sign their lease or re-sign their house or move downtown,” he says. “We just signed new 20year leases on all of our spaces because it is real now, and it’s going to get more expensive real soon.”