Opening Soon
Opening Soon
Podcast Description
Opening Soon is the podcast where we go behind the scenes with founders of brick-and-mortar businesses — from pilates studios to coffee shops, boutiques, medspas, and more. Hosted by Alan Li, co-founder of FotoLab Studio and Signs and Mirrors, each episode explores how real entrepreneurs found their space, designed their store, hired their team, and built something from nothing.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast focuses on entrepreneurship and the journey of establishing physical retail spaces, with topics ranging from the nuances of vintage fashion retail to the intricacies of hair removal salons, fitness studios, and community-focused workspaces. For example, episodes include interviews with founders like Darbe Canady discussing the transition from tech to a vintage store and Cassie Piasecki sharing how she expanded her pilates brand to three locations in just one year.
Opening Soon is the podcast where we go behind the scenes with founders of brick-and-mortar businesses — from pilates studios to coffee shops, boutiques, medspas, and more.
Hosted by Alan Li, co-founder of FotoLab Studio and Signs and Mirrors, each episode explores how real entrepreneurs found their space, designed their store, hired their team, and built something from nothing.
Stephan Courseau is the founder of Travis Street Hospitality and some of Dallas’ most beloved French-inspired restaurants including Le Bilboquet Dallas, Knox Bistro and Georgie. Stephan arrived in New York City from Paris in 1987 with $500 and barely knowing english.
He started as a dishwasher and talked his way into Le Bilboquet NYC and worked under legends like Jean-Georges Vongerichten. In 2013 Stephan moved his family to Dallas to open a small 2,000 sq ft restaurant. Within a few years, Le Bilboquet Dallas grew from a struggling in it’s first winter into a $6M+ annual business that helped establish Dallas as a serious dining city.
Today, Stephan oversees a team of long-tenured operators and a hospitality group rooted in the philosophy that “the guest should always feel welcome, but the customer is not always right”. He breaks down how he rebuilt a failed opening, what most restaurateurs get wrong about service and how Dallas became the unlikely home for his success.
Stephan also shares the unfiltered side of hospitality and how to survive long enough to get your one big break.
In this episode, we talk about:
- Arriving in NYC with $500, no English and landing a dishwasher job
- How a chance encounter led him to Le Bilboquet and a career in fine dining
- Working with Jean-Georges and learning the difference between good and world-class
Leaving New York after 20 years and why Dallas became the right next chapter - Raising under $1M to open Le Bilboquet Dallas and finding investors who cared about community
- Surviving a disastrous first winter and rebuilding a restaurant “one guest at a time”
- Why “the customer is not always right” and how to uphold integrity without ego
- Advice for future restaurateurs: start small, control everything, stay humble
If you're dreaming about opening a restaurant or not sure where to begin with little to nothing, this episode is for you.
Resources & Links
Travis Street Hospitality Website: tshdallas.com
Travis Street Hospitality Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/travisstreethospitality/?hl=en
Sponsored by Signs and Mirrors, the leading sign and furniture shop for events and retail stores.
Opening Soon Links & Resources
→ Signs and furniture for events and retail stores: https://signsandmirrors.com
→ NYC and Houston’s first self-portrait studio: https://fotolab.studio
→ Follow us on Instagram: @openingsoonpodcast
→ More episodes and guest info: https://www.openingsoonpodcast.com
→ Your Host Alan Li: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alan-li-711a8629/
Disclaimer
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