Growing the culinary instruction business

By Mike Switzer

Published August 5, 2022 at 5:30 AM EDT

During the pandemic when restaurants were closed, many people decided to cook more of their own meals than they had been used to. Has that trend continued or at least are there more home chefs than there used to be? Our next guest should know the answer to that.

Mike Switzer interviews John Militello, owner, chef and culinary instructor at Let’s Cook Culinary studio in Columbia, SC.

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Mike Switzer

After almost 20 years, Mike Switzer retired from Wells Fargo Securities in 2001 as Senior Vice President/Investment Officer and Certified Portfolio Manager. In 1999, he and his wife, Maggie, purchased and operated for eight years the Baskin Robbins ice cream store on Forest Drive in Columbia. They grew the store from a bottom-tier operation in the Baskin Robbins franchise system to one in the top 5% nationwide within three years, tripling sales along the way. While operating the ice cream store, Mike and Maggie received patents for a portable ice cream sink and fold-down sneezeguard they invented and in 2002 started Magnolia Carts, an ice cream cart manufacturing company, which they sold in 2013.

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