We were lucky to catch up with Qiana Mafnas recently and have shared our conversation below.

Qiana, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So, what do you think about family businesses? Would you want your children or other family members to one day join your business?

Axiom Kitchen is family owned and run. I think having the family involved is a beautiful thing. Not only does it build closeness and develop positive roles, but it also fosters a pride in accomplishment and work. You can definitely taste the love in food that has been made from the heart.

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?

Ian and Qiana Mafnas are a husband and wife pitmaster/executive chef team, that have over 20 years of restaurant experience between the two of us. Ian has been developing his love for smoking meats over a period of eight years, and Qiana has worked in some of the finest restaurants in California. We have finally decided to share our experience as well as our love for smoking meats and cooking with our community and our “Axiom Fam”. Axiom Kitchen is managed and run by our family, including our son and daughter-in-law Chef Tai and Chef Dominique, and our front-of-house managers Elleana and Robbie. Add our amazing expediters Kevell, Christopher, Callista, Ian Jr., and Amara and you have magic!

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

My husband Ian and I met 11 years ago when we both were not at our best place in life. We were both addicts, had been through the jail system, and were generally unhealthy all around. We decided at that time that it was not a good time for us to be together, so we separated to work on ourselves. We both got clean and sober, got our kids back (his were with their mom and not doing well, and mine were in foster care), went back to school, and ironically both studied psychology and human services. We both became drug and alcohol counselors and also both worked in human services. My son, Noah, passed away in March of 2018 and it changed the way I view a lot of things in life. While Ian and I had remained in contact over the years, it wasn’t until 2021 that we reconnected. It was funny to us that we had both chose human services as our career…we both have a strong desire to help others. We were married in October of 2021, and in February, we decided to start Axiom Kitchen. Our decision was based mostly on the fact that we were both experiencing “burnout” in our chosen industry and wanted to spend more time with our new blended family. We are a husband-and-wife pitmaster/executive chef team that have over 20 years of restaurant experience between the two of us. Ian has been developing his love for smoking meats over a period of eight years, and I have worked in some of the finest restaurants in California. It only made sense for us to share our love for cooking and food.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

To say that we have experienced anything worse than anyone else would be crazy, but I think the biggest setback we have had as a family was the loss of our son, Noah, who passed away tragically in March of 2018. While this was definitely a horrible time in our lives, it was also the driving force in our decision to start Axiom Kitchen. Noah was always the one who wanted our family to succeed more than anything. We always remember how passionate he was about us winning, and we take that passion with us everywhere we go. To say that was our only setback would, unfortunately be a lie, as we have had many difficult challenges as a family over the years. Has it been easy? No way. Owning ANY business is difficult, and to start a restaurant at this time in history could be considered self-torture! We want to quit all the time. It’s not easy. It takes dedication and so much understanding, teamwork, love, and remembering why we do what we do. The fact that our family is so close and we understand each other is a huge advantage to us as well.

Contact Info:

• Website: Axiomkitchenbbq.com
• Instagram: @axiom_kitchen
• Facebook: Axiom Kitchen Smoked Meats & BBQ

Image Credits
Spicy Green Book- bowl with noodles and shrimp