We caught up with the brilliant and insightful James R Smith a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi James R, thanks for joining us today. Crazy stuff happening is almost as certain as death and taxes – it’s technically “unexpected” but something unexpected happening is to be expected and so can you share a crazy story with our readers

A nearby business to the winery/food truck that we work with often, The Big Bend Fungi Company, reached out about a chef competing in the 2022 World Food Championships in Dallas, TX who was seeking sponsorship from local Texas farmers for his dishes. We both decided to join together to sponsor and kept in contact leading up to the competition. The day before the competition, we found out his sous chef’s flight was canceled and he needed assistance in the kitchen. We talked over the phone about the recipe, met the following morning around 8 am, and competed an hour after that. We ended up advancing and ultimately winning our category of Rice & Noodle not once but two years in a row now. After our first win we competed at their Final Table event with other category finalists and won third best overall after multiple challenges. The main chef of the team Dan Reighn has begun filming for his TV/streaming show “Bringing it to the Table” and is currently meeting with producers to pick up the show. This whole endeavor has been quite the experience and was a random chance happening. It has been quite a ride so far and will continue.

James R, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I met one of our owners of Chateau Wright at a wine bar in San Antonio, before coming out in 2016/2017 to help with some construction projects.

I currently represent Chateau Wright Winery in Fort Davis, TX for the previous 6 years. We’ve opened the tasting room in March 2020, built another 4000 Sq ft of production, storage and airbnb space by hand, as well as planting another 6 acres of vines while increasing our output from 250 cases to 2000 cases per year in the past 4 years. We’ve recently won many awards for our wines and have gotten international attention during TexSom and a Mexico Wine Summit with the Texas Department of Agriculture.

During 2020, I opened a food truck, Too Hot For TABC, in August to keep the winery tasting room space open, and has continued to evolve over the past 3 years. We do events around the area and at the winery itself, as well as competitive cooking around Texas, including the World Food Championships.

I have opened and managed multiple businesses since I was 17 years old in many different types of business.

Any advice for managing a team?

My main advice is if you aren’t happy and having a great time then neither is your staff. Maintaining morale by listening to your team, asking them for feedback.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I’ve opened and closed multiple businesses since I was 17. I’ve always kept moving forward despite setbacks. The most difficult business I’ve owned so far was food manufacturing/production. Early days usually starting in the warehouse at 4am, and going until late into the evening or until the work was done. I learned quite a bit throughout the entire experience, and all of it has assisted me in growing the current businesses I manage and own.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.chateauwright.com
• Instagram: @iamjamesrsmithtoo
• Linkedin: Www.linkedin.com/in/iamjamesrsmith

Image Credits
James R Smith