Liz Grandchamp shares how she built Grandchamp Hospitality from pop-ups and catering into a consulting practice shaped by years in restaurants, construction-heavy projects, and a deep network in Raleigh’s food scene. Sara Abernethy and Liz talk through the realities of restaurant openings, the emotional weight of ownership, and why flexibility, boundaries, and community matter as much as culinary talent.In this episode:

 
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• Liz explains how her career moved from restaurant work to catering, then into consulting, with a focus on openings, operations, and construction management.
• She breaks down why she sees herself as part coach, part realist, part dream architect when helping clients bring ideas to life.
• She talks about how Glass House Kitchen helped define her niche in construction management, especially translating plans into real-world restaurant function.
• She shares why she looks for an owner-operator or a clear operational lead before taking on a project.
• Sara and Liz discuss how restaurant concepts often evolve after opening and why listening to guests can lead to stronger businesses.
• Liz describes how the pandemic pushed her into porch pickups, meal prep, and eventually a broader hospitality model.
• She reflects on how relationships, trust, and community became essential to both her business and her growth.
• She gets honest about money, forecasting, savings, and the realities of leaving a steady paycheck for self-employment.
• The conversation closes on the idea that people in culinary and hospitality can build their own path rather than follow a fixed career track.

Timestamps: (00:00) Burnout, no calendar flexibility, and needing recovery time (02:50) Introvert or “ambervert” – how seasons and life stage change social energy (03:37) The long-term dream of taking January and July off (04:47) Rainy days, guilt-free reading, and the comfort of slowing down (05:34) Book club picks, escapism, and reading when life gets hectic (06:16) Audiobooks, Throne of Glass, and missing the feel of a physical book (07:12) Kitchen consulting, openings, and what Liz actually did on projects (08:00) A pregnant client, construction pressure, and the moment everyone finally cracked (09:25) Why concepts need to evolve after opening based on guest behavior (10:57) A project becoming more restaurant than café and what that means (11:37) Humility, pivoting, and owners who are too emotionally attached to the original idea (12:38) The realities of restaurant labor, staffing, and what really surprises her now (14:24) Sara’s read on Liz as a border collie, therapist, realist, and dream architect (15:27) What Grand Champ Hospitality really does for first-time owners (16:21) Why the business does not touch HR or accounting (17:14) Fighting hard for decisions that protect the business (18:24) Why location changes everything and why marketing has to follow the neighborhood (20:24) Growing up around Rhode Island, Maryland, and family in New England (21:14) Why Liz ended up at NC State and then worked across Raleigh, Chapel Hill, and Durham (22:24) Choosing Parks, Recreation and Tourism after business school was not an option (23:41) Culinary school in Napa and why hands-on work fit better than school (24:39) Returning to Raleigh and learning hospitality from Mark Day (25:47) What she learned from catering, weddings, and a tough mentor (26:47) Why restaurants always felt like the real path (28:29) The cost and practicality of graduate school versus working experience (29:27) The Shop – her sandwich concept and original business plan (30:03) Building name recognition before launching her own business (31:22) Opening team culture at Crawford and Son and finding community at Pizza Box (32:05) Why Raleigh became her adopted hometown (33:54) Starting the Shop in March 2020 and moving into freelance work (35:15) Porch pickups, pandemic cooking, and feeding the community (36:40) Selling meals, donating food, and building momentum through word of mouth (38:15) How catering and pop-ups snowballed into Grand Champ Hospitality (39:20) Why she chose not to open a brick-and-mortar version of the Shop (40:29) Building a team of people who already share her standards (40:53) Coaching versus managing, and the challenge of high standards (42:08) How construction management became her specialty (43:47) Translating kitchen plans into workable space on site (45:37) Learning HVAC, plumbing, and electrical basics on the job (46:32) Scope creep, project boundaries, and how consulting packages are structured (48:01) Charging enough, learning what work she wants, and what she does not (49:14) Why owner-operator presence matters in restaurant projects (50:13) Grand Champ’s network of branding, signage, marketing, accounting, and wine support (51:25) Matching clients with the right operating partners (52:18) Reducing day-to-day chaos by using an operating company (53:08) Decision fatigue and why clients hit a wall during openings (53:38) Business coaching, therapy, and helping clients see their own bottlenecks (54:55) Meetings, soft skills, and what Sara brings to the process (55:40) Why the episode’s bigger lesson is about creating your own destiny (56:19) Advice for people who want to consult or work for themselves (57:19) Her dad as a brutally honest business coach (57:41) Forecasting, inconsistent income, and staying proactive (59:37) Leaving salary and health insurance behind to go full-time (60:53) Why a business coach helped her turn ideas into an actual plan (62:12) Relationships, community, and why her network is part of the business (63:38) Why she does not hoard connections and prefers to set people up for success (64:06) Where to find Grand Champ Hospitality and Liz online