Running a restaurant in San Francisco is harder than ever. Inflation is driving up ingredient costs, labor, and rent. Tastes are fickle, dining habits have changed drastically since the pandemic, and competition is fierce. What is the chef’s role in driving the commercial success of a restaurant? How do chefs balance their primary goal of cooking great food with the operational grind of managing staffing, sourcing, accounting, and marketing? How do operations and the culinary sides of the business interact and intersect?
At Chat Room: Food, Gazetteer SF city reporter Eddie Kim will tackle these questions with leaders currently running some of the most popular spots in town.
Panelists:
Amanda Flores is the Senior Director of Operations for Flour + Water Hospitality Group, where she’s spent years shaping standout employee culture and guest experience. Her passion for supporting hospitality professionals inspired her to launch the Bay Area Restaurant Collective—a nonprofit and network of hospitality professionals committed to driving positive impact and evolution within the region’s restaurant community, through panels, training, and DEI focused events.
Chef Intu-on Kornnawong is a San Francisco–based chef known for her bold Isaan Thai–California cuisine, blending deeply personal food memories with seasonal, ingredient-driven cooking. She is currently the executive & operating chef at Shoji in San Francisco, a café by day and bar by night, where she led the opening and oversees operations, bringing together Thai flavors with Japanese influences in a vibrant, contemporary setting. Raised in Udon Thani, Thailand, her earliest inspiration came from her parents’ cooking—shaping her connection to flavor and tradition. After training at the International Culinary Center, she worked in acclaimed kitchens across San Francisco and Los Angeles, including The range, Marnee Thai, Outerlands, Rustic Canyon, Night + Market, and the Michelin-starred Kin Khao. She led the opening, run operation and menu at Jo’s Modern Thai in Oakland, and during the pandemic launched a pop-up exploring kub klam (Thai drinking food), earning critical acclaim. Chef Intu-on was recognized as a James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef: California in 2023.
Reem Assil is an award-winning Palestinian-Syrian chef based in Oakland, CA, working at the intersection of food, community, and social justice. She is the founder of nationally-acclaimed Reem’s California, an Arab bakery and restaurant that builds community across cultures and experiences through the warmth of Arab bread and hospitality. Reem has garnered an array of top accolades in the culinary world, including James Beard finalist for Outstanding Chef (2022) back to back semifinalist for Best Chef: West (2018-19). Before dedicating herself to a culinary career, Reem spent over a decade as a community and labor organizer building the leadership and amplifying the voices of marginalized communities in their jobs and their neighborhoods. Reem is the author of IACP award-winning cookbook Arabiyya: Recipes from the Life of an Arab in Diaspora (2022).
Chat Room: Food
June 18, 2026
Swedish American Hall
2174 Market St.
Doors: 6 p.m.
Show: 6:30 p.m.
Entry includes free flow beer and wine from 6:00-9:30 p.m. This event is 21+.
Food will be available for purchase from pop-ups. All Chat Room events are free for Gazetteer SF paid subscribers but space is limited. Subscribers may write to chelly@gazetteer.co to receive your free ticket code. Non-subscribers may purchase tickets here for $30 + fees.
