We were lucky to catch up with Ryan Moy recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Ryan thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. It’s easy to look at a business or industry as an outsider and assume it’s super profitable – but we’ve seen over and over again in our conversation with folks that most industries have factors that make profitability a challenge. What’s biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?

The biggest challenge is adjusting to inflation and the rise in operating costs. When costs of product double but the brand of the product that you are serving, which is value for the quality of food, makes it tough to increase prices to match to the cost that we are getting it for. At the end of the day we are just shooting to break even and not take advantage of the customer when we have to increase prices.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I have been in the restaurant industry for 23 years and have held every position starting as a busser, dishwasher, server, bartender, manager, executive chef, GM, and finally operations manager. It was then when I took a leap of faith to open my first brand Rollin’ Fresh. We served sushi burritos and poke’ bowls. We spent the last 6 years growing into 4 locations in the Portland area and reaching a brand that I never would of thought to imagine when first starting the business. We were featured on Food Network’s Family Food Showdown, and A&E Best in Chow. We were finalist for Best Food Cart for 2021 and 2023. With family recipes always being apart of my menu and cooking style I feel like there was more that I could bring to the Pacific Northwest. This is where Pan Roast came to fruition. Growing up with my dad we would venture out to all the Oyster Bars in my hometown in Reno to seek the staple dish. Every vacation we would find a place to order Pan Roast. I loved it so much that my dad would cook it at home as well. I always craved it but couldn’t find it in Portland area. This is why I wanted to bring it to Portland which is such a foodie town, and show the city that I can pivot my skills as a chef to other cuisines. Pan Roast is going to bring a more elevated menu compare to Rollin’ Fresh. We are going to still maintain the fast casual concept, but with elevated menu items. Everything will be scratch made to order with unique flavors that has not been displayed in Portland. We will also have the classics such as Fish and Chips, clam chowder, and pastas.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Ever since I started in the restaurant industry I feel like I always had to pivot to learn as much as I can . I wanted to learn the ins and outs of working in the food service, and took steps in my career that I was afraid of, but ended up paying off in the long run. Going from a front of house manager to the back of house was a huge pivot for my career. This help me learn how to run a kitchen and develop a strong team. Then growing to be a GM then operations manager. This helped me to develop leaders. Leaving a secure job to follow my dream to open my own business as a food cart owner was another pivot in my career. Using all of skills I learned for all of those years made it easy to transition. After all the success of growing Rollin’ Fresh to where we are now there was no need to go for Pan Roast. But opening this concept is the biggest Pivot of my life. I personally felt that this was meant to be. To get the support and awesome feedback from the community has been the best part of this new venture so far.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

Always appreciate your staff. I’ve always stuck to my roots to where I came from and always put myself in their shoes. I wouldn’t ask my team to do something that I wouldn’t do myself. We wouldn’t be here today without all of our staff past and present. Celebrate the good moments and coach on opportunities to help uplift each team member to be better than yesterday.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.panroastpnw.com
• Instagram: @panroastpnw
• Facebook: @panroastpnw
• Yelp: Pan Roast

Image Credits

A&E Network, KGW