Stephan Courseau is the founder of Travis Street Hospitality and some of Dallas’ most beloved French-inspired restaurants including Le Bilboquet Dallas, Knox Bistro and Georgie. Stephan arrived in New York City from Paris in 1987 with $500 and barely knowing english.

He started as a dishwasher and talked his way into Le Bilboquet NYC and worked under legends like Jean-Georges Vongerichten. In 2013 Stephan moved his family to Dallas to open a small 2,000 sq ft restaurant. Within a few years, Le Bilboquet Dallas grew from a struggling in it’s first winter into a $6M+ annual business that helped establish Dallas as a serious dining city.

Today, Stephan oversees a team of long-tenured operators and a hospitality group rooted in the philosophy that “the guest should always feel welcome, but the customer is not always right”. He breaks down how he rebuilt a failed opening, what most restaurateurs get wrong about service and how Dallas became the unlikely home for his success.

Stephan also shares the unfiltered side of hospitality and how to survive long enough to get your one big break.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Arriving in NYC with $500, no English and landing a dishwasher job
• How a chance encounter led him to Le Bilboquet and a career in fine dining
• Working with Jean-Georges and learning the difference between good and world-class
  Leaving New York after 20 years and why Dallas became the right next chapter
• Raising under $1M to open Le Bilboquet Dallas and finding investors who cared about community
• Surviving a disastrous first winter and rebuilding a restaurant “one guest at a time”
• Why “the customer is not always right” and how to uphold integrity without ego
• Advice for future restaurateurs: start small, control everything, stay humble

If you're dreaming about opening a restaurant or not sure where to begin with little to nothing, this episode is for you.

Resources & Links

Travis Street Hospitality Website: tshdallas.com

Travis Street Hospitality Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/travisstreethospitality/?hl=en

Sponsored by Signs and Mirrors, the leading sign and furniture shop for events and retail stores.

Opening Soon Links & Resources
→ Signs and furniture for events and retail stores: https://signsandmirrors.com
→ NYC and Houston’s first self-portrait studio: https://fotolab.studio
→ Follow us on Instagram: @openingsoonpodcast
→ More episodes and guest info: https://www.openingsoonpodcast.com
→ Your Host Alan Li: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alan-li-711a8629/

Ireland McGill is the founder of New York Memento, a triangular 19-square-foot photo booth in the West Village in New York City. Before launching Memento, Ireland grew up in a small town in southern Oklahoma. She moved to New York with no apartment lined up and built a career in big tech working with some of the world’s largest consumer brands.

In late 2024, Ireland started asking the question: ‘Where does real connection fit in a world that’s always online?’ That question turned into the earliest version of Memento, a physical place where people could slow down, be present and leave with something meaningful in their hands. Within weeks she found a 19-square-foot space on 7th Avenue and West 10th Street, signed a $4,750/month lease and decided to fund the project using her personal savings.

The build took seven months that included winter wind tunnels and construction delays and custom camera setups. By June 2025, New York Memento officially opened its doors and almost immediately went viral through organic Instagram and TikTok posts created by customers. Within months, the booth had 100–300 visitors a day and was both breaking even financially and landing brand partnerships with companies like Rent the Runway and Café Arone.

Ireland shares how she built a Momento without traditional marketing and how trusting her instinct on a tiny unconventional location became her biggest advantage. She also shares the mental, emotional and financial tolls with taking a risk at 25, working her full-time big tech job while starting her first business

In this episode, we talk about:

• How an existential question sparked the idea for New York Memento
• Finding a 19-square-foot triangular space and signing a $4,750/month lease
• Planning construction with Canva sketches
• How Memento went viral through organic social media content
• Breaking even within months and welcoming 100–300 people on peak days
• The Rent the Runway partnership
• Balancing a full-time tech job while starting a business
• The importance of an authentic and intentional space

If you’re in big tech and building something of your own or dreaming about taking that leap then this episode is for you.

Resources & Links

New York Memento Website: https://newyorkmemento.com/

New York Memento Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/newyorkmemento

Ireland McGill Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ireland.mcgill/

Sponsored by Signs and Mirrors, the leading sign and furniture shop for events and retail stores.

Opening Soon Links & Resources
→ Signs and furniture for events and retail stores: https://signsandmirrors.com
→ NYC and Houston’s first self-portrait studio: https://fotolab.studio
→ Follow us on Instagram: @openingsoonpodcast
→ More episodes and guest info: https://www.openingsoonpodcast.com
→ Your Host Alan Li: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alan-li-711a8629/

Marcella Giuffrida is the co-founder of Forte Vita, a heated, weighted workout studio in Brentwood, Los Angeles, and the founder of MGPR, a boutique PR and social media agency specializing in emerging lifestyle and wellness brands. Before opening Forte Vita, Marcella built her career in New York’s luxury fashion PR world, later returning to LA to represent wellness and lifestyle clients, one of which led her to creating monthly puppy yoga events that unexpectedly planted the seed for a fitness studio of her own.

In early 2025, after struggling to find a studio she and her co-founder genuinely loved, Marcella spotted an opportunity: combine a luxury workout experience with the built-in community they had already cultivated. Within weeks, the two secured a hidden upstairs space above their favorite coffee shop, signed a $5,500/month lease, invested $100,000 of their own savings and began building Forte Vita from scratch. By October, just six months after the first spark of an idea, they opened their doors with a 20-person team, 5–6 classes a day, and a focus on elevated, stress-free fitness.

In its first month, Forte Vita reached 30% class capacity, driven heavily by TikTok and a smart, scrappy PR approach. Marcella shares how she built a cohesive brand before opening, leveraged influencers and brand partnerships for zero-cost amenities, and designed a guest experience that feels calm, intentional and premium in contrast to traditional big-box fitness studios.

Marcella breaks down the real costs and realities of launching a boutique fitness studio in LA, the operational challenges of the first 30 days and how to build a brick-and-mortar business that stands out in a saturated market, through authenticity, community and an eye for thoughtful details.

In this episode, we talk about:

• How a puppy yoga event sparked the idea for a boutique fitness studio
• Launching Forte Vita in 6 months with a $100K budget
• Breaking down the numbers: $5,500 rent, 21-person max classes, 5–6 classes/day
• How TikTok became their #1 customer acquisition channel
• Building a luxury guest experience vs. the traditional fitness chaos
• When to do PR, when not to and how authenticity beats paid press
• Growing to 30% capacity in month one and the surprising class times that work

If you’ve ever thought about opening a fitness studio, creating a wellness brand or building a brick-and-mortar business with strong community and storytelling, this episode is packed with insight.

Resources & Links

Forte Vita Website: https://www.fortevita.co/

Forte Vita Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fortevita.co/

Marcella Giuffrida Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marcellagiuffrida/

Sponsored by Signs and Mirrors, the leading sign and furniture shop for retail stores.

Opening Soon Links & Resources
→ Signs and furniture for retail stores: https://signsandmirrors.com
→ NYC and Houston’s first self-portrait studio: https://fotolab.studio
→ Follow us on Instagram: @openingsoonpodcast
→ More episodes and guest info: https://www.openingsoonpodcast.com
→ Your Host Alan Li: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alan-li-711a8629/