We were lucky to catch up with Jaimie Buehler recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jaimie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

Justin and I brainstormed for years on what we should name our dream restaurant. It’s not an easy task for two very detail oriented people. We wanted something creative, catchy, approachable and maybe most importantly, meaningful. We thought of favorite foods, ingredients and significant places. While brainstorming we thought of our first date and how we talked about a shared dream of opening a restaurant. We decided to revisit the Mexican restaurant in Newport Beach. We remembered the table we sat at and asked what table number it was. “Table Twenty-Five” they answered. 8 years later we found our location on Historic 25th Street in Ogden, UT (Justin’s hometown). The name fit perfectly.

Jaimie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I started working in the restaurant industry in Sydney, Australia while I was attending university. I fell in love with the work. Fast paced, interactive, everyday is a fresh start and FOOD. At the time, Australia’s culinary world was beyond what I was used to coming from Orange County, California. The food blew my mind and my passion for it made me great at selling it! I travelled Europe and worked in a restaurant in the UK and moved back to California in 2009. Justin and I met at restaurant in Newport Beach. He had been bartending in Santa Barbara for several years at the time. He and I shared a passion for dining, food and hospitality. I had already started dreaming of opening a restaurant but our collaboration definitely pushed this along and became more than a fantasy – it was a plan. We worked together well. We studied industry standards, read books and started coming up with a solid restaurant design. We were on a mission to find an ideal location. It took us about 8 years of “almosts” and disappointments before finding our Historic 25th street location. It was an opportunity that came close to the end of the covid pandemic but it was a risk that we were willing to take. By then we had two year old twins, not ideal for the amount of energy it would take to open our doors. We worked with our chef to develop a seasonal menu, featuring as much local produce as we could get our hands on. We are dedicated to fresh ingredients, small details and providing the best service focusing on consistency and guest satisfaction. It takes a lot of training, focus and time. Justin and I are hands on and spend a lot of time in the restaurant making sure that these standards are always met. We encourage our staff to take pride in everything they do and have created a work and dining space that i think people feel the passion and authenticity. We have an incredible team. I am proud of that. I am proud when a guest is impressed by our restaurants ambience and our wonderful team and the level of service that we give. We have many regular guests that have turned into family, they call us family and that truly is what the industry is all about.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

One of our core values as a restaurant is guest satisfaction. If a guests expectations are not met or exceeded we really want to take care of them. I think that this has really helped to grow our restaurant rapidly. Our entire management team is always ready to address and fix a problem and turn around a guests experience. Acknowledging this and having interactions with the guest shows that we really care about them. I think that this is why we have so many repeat diners and have huge supported from our community.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

Justin and I have taken a lot of our service style from some of the best in the industry. Notable books that have impacted our service standards are Setting the Table by Danny Myer, The Restaurant Man by Joe Bastianich, Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara. We encourage our team to read these materials and always go above and beyond for our guests.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://table25ogden.com
• Instagram: @table25ogden
• Facebook: Table Twenty Five
• Yelp: Table Twenty Five