Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to HELEN CAVALLO. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, HELEN thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Parents can play a significant role in affecting how our lives and careers turn out – and so we think it’s important to look back and have conversations about what our parents did that affected us positive (or negatively) so that we can learn from the billions of experiences in each generation. What’s something you feel your parents did right that impacted you positively.

My parents were very passionate about family gatherings and everyone sitting together at the table. We had a small house by the beach in NY. There was always family visiting. They drove from a few hours away always discussing the route they took and the time they left and the traffic they endured to get to our house. My mom knowing this would happen always welcomed them into our home with a great big meal. In the summer we sat outside with fireflies and the sound of cicadas and in winter, inside sitting around the table everyone crammed in but happy. My childhood is filled w memories of happy noise and clatter of dishes and the cling of glasses, everyone cheering “SALUTE, DINERO y Amor”! Health, Prosperity & Love! Lots of laughter and good times! We are Italian and Colombian and there was always a few languages being spoken around the house. Everyone bringing something over to eat or drink and share. we had a garden and grew a ot of our own vegetables and fruits. We had a cherry tree and would climb it and eat cherries right off the branches. We had a fig tree right by our swing swing set and would swipe a fig at every interval, so sweet they would burst in our moths. it is no wonder that these memories have filled me with a desire to recreate this in my adutlhood and both my sister and I opened restaurants to share this joy with other. There is nothing like sharing a great big meal together at the table!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

i always loved to cook! i come from a great big italian/ colombian family so when we were eating lunch we were talking excitedly about what we were going to have for dinner. luckily i grew up around incredibly talented cooks! my mom, my aunts, my grandmother. thats how i learned and their passion for cooking, eating and gathering is all because of them.

i used to be an executive producer at a commercial production house and i feel like i got my mba in how to run a buisiness working in production. i applied that knowledge to FOOD & BOUNTY. im lucky to have surrounded myself with a really talented and fun team who are exceptional at what they do and create at our restaurant and its a pleasure to be with them everyday.

Food & Bounty is a proudly strong Latina, woman-owned, LGBTQIA+ business. We are a restaurant and catering company operating 2 locations inside movie studios in Hollywood, Sunset Gower Studios and Raleigh Studios.

At the helm of FOOD & BOUNTY is chef and owner, Helen Cavallo. She has a passion for food and is a champion of social issues surrounding her Los Angeles community, which serve as the driving force of business operations at Food & Bounty.
Helen’s background as the daughter of Colombian and Italian immigrants has shaped her love of food and family. Her cooking style focuses on fresh, locally sourced ingredients and bold flavors.

Food & Bounty is comprised of a super-talented and hardworking team, all from diverse cultural backgrounds and regions of the world, whose contributions are woven into the unique fabric of our daily offerings.

Helen, a former Executive Producer of TV and commercial production, used her knowledge of running a production company toward running a successful kitchen. She has surrounded herself with a strong team that can fully execute events from 40 to 4,000 guests. The day-to-day operation is efficient, while adhering to strict health and safety protocols. Above all, we serve delicious food that keeps hungry guests happy and satisfied throughout the day.

Food & Bounty’s menus are based on everything that is seasonal and fresh, and we are passionate about sourcing only the highest quality ingredients.
Our menus change according to seasonality, and much of our produce comes from what we grow in our own front yard garden — including over 1,000 edible, organic and sustainably raised plants. Everything is grown hydroponically, using 90% less water than traditional farming methods, and we have reduced our carbon footprint, as access to our fresh ingredients is literally right out our front door!

We love what we do at Food & Bounty and our employees have become our family. We build trusted relationships with our vendors and clients, and more often than not our “clients” become our friends. We are the hub of a small community all helping one another. Our passion and commitment makes us strive to be the best! All of this is at the heart of who we are and the food we serve.

We invite you to come join us and share a meal together!

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

i had $8,000 when i started my business food & bounty. my beautiful favorite aunt gave it to me because she knew i didnt have any. i made a promise that id work hard and not squander the money. she gave me her blessing and off i went. my acoountant was like ok you need 6 months of operating capital to start and i said i dont have that, i just have this 8k and thats it. and he told me all the things that could go wrong and how restaurants seldom make it and blah blah blah and i said well this is it, this is all we have. so he said ok, try it out and lets see what happens. that was 11 years ago. today, food 7 bounty operates 2 locations inside movie studios in hollywood. one at sunset gower studios and the other at raleigh studios. were doing the studio tour and its been great. weve also grown the business to a robust catering division specializing in events from premieres, to fashion and brand launches, to weddings and family celebrations.

when we first opened on day one and we had our first customer we were so excited. he ordered and paid in cash. i had forgotten to fill the cash drawer. i was so hung up on getting the POS system to work that it felt like a victory. So theres been a lot of things we learned on the fly. theres a reason they say ignorance is bliss cuz you dont know what you dont know and if you didi maybe that would stop you?! anyway, it didnt stop me and im just getting started.

Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?

the early years of the business were lean. we were getting our feet wet with catering as i really wanted that to be the driving force of our company. there was one time when i couldnt make payroll. we had a few jobs that were supposed to book and for one reason or another, they postponed and it was money we were counting on. i had to cover payroll and i called a friend to borrow the money and i promised to pay it back. at the same time almost by a miracle our POS company sent me an email that said my company was eligable for a loan! so i filled out the application, got the loan, paid my fiend back and the loan and that loan got us over the hump. it was a real nail biting those weeks of waiting to find our if wed get the loan and worrying about how it was all going to turn out. but i had faith that it would. ive never had a doubt that we wouldnt turn into something great. we are a great team, we serve great food, we have fun, we’re nice, we’re good people who care about what we do. like really care. i think thats why it works out.

Contact Info:

• Website: foodandbounty.com
• Instagram: foodandbounty
• Facebook: food&bounty
• Linkedin: helen cavallo

Image Credits
tiffany chung