Melissa’s Interview With Chef & Restaurateur Missy Robbins

Missy, we are THRILLED and so grateful to be able to interview you. Thank you so much again for taking the time to talk to us!

One of our latest installments in our IG Live series is here and it couldn’t be ANY more amazing. This week, I sat down with award-winning Chef and fellow female bad*ss Missy Robbins. We talked about challenges in starting your own business, pivoting during COVID and of course – pasta! Keep reading to learn more about Missy’s inspiring journey.

Here's How It Went:

Tell us who you are and what you do!

Missy: I’m Missy Robbins. Chef and Restaurateur. Co-founder of Grovehouse, our hospitality company. Owner of Lilia, Misi and our newest venture, MP, a pasta and specialties company.

Do you remember what first inspired your love for cooking?

Missy: I grew up in a family that placed a lot of importance on food, but specifically dining out and travel. I was fortunate to go to great restaurants near and far. I was mostly interested in the whole theater of restaurants from food to service to place settings to design. I never thought I would become a chef, though I always loved cooking as a kid and ventured into pasta making quite early on.

When did you first decide to start out on your own in the restaurant world?

Missy: I started cooking when I was 22 and quickly set a goal for myself of opening my own place by the time I was 30. It was an arbitrary goal and sort of silly in hindsight. As much as I wanted my own place, I took a much slower path which allowed me to become a better cook, chef, and leader. I opened Lilia a month shy of my 45th birthday. I know if I had opened it 15 years earlier it would not be what it is today.

How do you define success?

Missy: Living a balanced, happy life inside and outside of work, and being able to inspire people through what I do daily.

How did you pivot for COVID, and how has that changed your business?

Missy: We were very fortunate to have already started our pasta company, MISIPASTA, in February of 2020, and had been developing it since 2019. We have been able to focus on expanding the brand, MP, by adding MP Grocery and MP Specialties. We always have envisioned a store front as we expanded, and will build that eventually, but COVID forced us to think outside the box, with on-line ordering, delivery trucks, pick-ups, drop offs, etc. It's been an incredible experience building something that extends our version of hospitality outside the four walls of a restaurant but still conveys who we are and what we do best.

What is the biggest challenge of starting a business in your opinion?

Missy: For me, it was finding the right people. It took a long time to decide to become partners with Sean Feeney and know he was the right one. I knew what I was good at, but also knew what I wasn’t good at, and it was very important to me to find the right person to compliment my skill set. He did just that.

Tell us about a great challenge you faced and how you were able to overcome it?

Missy: The last 5 years have been filled with the highest of highs to the lowest of lows for me. From the joys of opening the restaurants to going through a terrible break up right after Lilia opened, to being diagnosed with breast cancer a year and a half after Lilia opened and now COVID. But I always try to focus on the positives and get through.

What advice would you give to a young woman starting a business or following her passion?

Missy: Have a vision, stick to that vision, and mostly -- be patient. Nothing happens overnight.

What is your morning routine?

Missy: Wake up, make cappuccino, make breakfast with my partner, Talia, and start working. A lot to juggle these days and I find my most productive hours are early in the morning.

If you could right now, what advice would you give to your younger self?

Missy: I would tell myself to be healthier, mentally and physically and create a more balanced life. I put everything I had into my career until my early 40’s at which point I took 2 years off to re-group. I missed out on a lot of important events and connections with people because my only focus was cooking and restaurants. I’m a much better, much less stressed, and much healthier person than I was in my 20’s and 30’s.

We have to ask, what’s your favorite dessert?!

Missy: ICE CREAM – no contest.

The fun doesn’t stop here! Watch the full interview with Melissa & Missy Robbins, plus our other Women’s History Month convos on our IGTV now.

Did you make this recipe? We want to know! Tag us in your baking creations on instagram @bakedbymelissa!