Joanna Fantozzi

🍞 Rachel's Kitchen, a healthy all-day café in Las Vegas, was created 18 years ago, preceding chains like Cava and Sweetgreen. Founded by Debbie Roxarzade, who started her career in Los Angeles, the brand now has nine units. Roxarzade opened the original 1,000-square-foot Rachel's Kitchen in 2006 in Summerlin, outside of Las Vegas. After a challenging start and recession delays, the first franchised location opened in 2010. Expansion continues with a recent grand opening in Frisco, Dallas-Fort Worth, aiming for at least five Dallas-area locations in the coming years. The company seeks franchisees committed to community work.

🍴 Chef Mary Nguyen, after overcoming career change and health challenges, opened her first restaurant, Parallel 17, offering Vietnamese-French cuisine in 2005. She founded The Olive & Finch in Denver in 2013, providing healthy soups, salads, and sandwiches. Despite culinary success, she faced personal struggles, including fertility issues and her twin daughters' NICU stay after birth. In 2017, a second Olive & Finch location opened. Nguyen later launched Finch on the Fly in 2019, a wholesale brand. She continues to expand her food and beverage brand with plans to open more Olive & Finch and Little Finch locations.