“I see potential in people and in places.” Lavanya Mahate has been doing exactly that for much of her life. She has seen possibility in neglected buildings, in fledgling businesses, in women beginning again, and in herself. Over more than fifteen years, she has opened restaurants, cafés, and culinary ventures across Utah and even as far away as London. Today, she owns Central by Saffron Valley, Saffron Valley in Sugar House and Bix at Kiln Gateway, while continuing her work with RISE Culinary Institute.

“Most people come here to ski. We came for the Great Salt Lake.” For Dave Cole and Peter Erickson, the road to Epic Brewing Company began long before either man imagined owning a brewery. It began with biology and brine shrimp, with two young men meeting in San Diego and discovering that they not only worked well together but wanted to keep doing so. Over the next four decades, they would build businesses, travel the world, move their families to Utah, weather successes, and setbacks, and eventually help change the landscape of craft brewing in the state. Through all of it, they remained partners and, perhaps more importantly, friends.

“There were little bits and pieces that directed me - little crumbs that led me here.” Long before Mariah Mellus, Executive Director of the Utah Film Center, found herself championing filmmakers, artists, and audiences across the state, there was a little girl whose parents realized, by the age of four, that movies held a special place in her heart. Even her name has a cinematic beginning.

“I think a lot of people think way too hard about stuff.” Chris Barlow has never been particularly interested in multi-step plans. It is an approach that has served him remarkably well at Beehive Distilling, the company he founded with longtime friends Erik Ostling and Matt Aller. None of the three had backgrounds in distilling. They simply liked good spirits, had spent years working together in Salt Lake’s creative community and, one evening in 2012, decided they might as well try making some themselves.

“My grandma taught me, ‘Don’t throw away anything.’” Long before Martin Babio became the chef and owner of Monte, before tasting menus, wine pairings and meticulously composed plates, there was his grandmother’s kitchen on a remote farm in Uruguay. It was an enormous room that served as kitchen, dining room, and living room all at once. There was no finished flooring - only the earth beneath their feet - and it was where Martin spent much of a childhood he still describes as one of the happiest times of his life.

“As an adult, I try to take conscious steps to make people feel included. This is a fun way to do that because we’re also physically making something.” Those words capture the vision behind Needlepoint Shoppe, the welcoming studio Brittany Johnson and Brooke Adair opened on Midvale’s historic Main Street. Filled with colorful canvases, beautiful threads, and inviting places to gather, the shop brings together two things that have long mattered to Brittany - creativity and community. It is also the culmination of two women’s remarkably different journeys, a friendship of more than fifteen years, and a shared desire to create something of their own.

“When I go to markets in other places, it gives me a snapshot of the culture of that town.” For Scott Evans, that idea became the inspiration for Sugar House Station, which opened in March 2025, the newest venture in a restaurant career that has taken him from Pago and Finca to Casot and Emigration Cafe. This time, however, Scott was not setting out simply to create another restaurant. Along with his partners, he wanted to build a place that could showcase a collection of Utah’s independent food and drink businesses under one roof.

I am most happy serving the same people over and over and being able to be a part of the community.” After introducing Salt Lake City to farm-to-table dining at Pago and later celebrating Spain through Finca and Casot, Scott Evans turned his attention to something quieter – creating Emigration Cafe, the neighborhood cafe he wished existed. “I lived across the street. What was missing was an all-day place with elevated food that was a little more casual.”

“I wanted Casot to feel like a neighborhood tavern rather than a prestigious wine bar.” First came Pago where Scott Evans initially put his philosophy into practice, introducing Salt Lake City diners to his vision of seasonal, farm-to-table food served without unnecessary formality. Finca followed and became his love letter to Spain, and then Casot, the intimate wine bar beside it, which feels more personal - almost like Scott’s living room.

“What I fell in love with was tapas culture - sharing dishes, smaller plates, lots more food, cocktails, wine, gin tonics.” For Scott Evans, Finca began with Spain. Long before opening the restaurant, Scott spent a month traveling through Spain during a four-month backpacking journey across Europe.

“It became really clear to me that there were enough local agriculture and enough local artisans to build a restaurant around them.” For Scott Evans, that realization became the beginning of Pago, but the journey started decades earlier.

“The entrepreneur in me was saying, get into it and make it better.” For Brian Coleman, owner of 2 Row Brewing in Midvale, that instinct has guided nearly every chapter of his life. Long before he was brewing beer, building a bar, and filling a sixteen-thousand-square-foot space with customers, games, and food, Brian was a kid from Los Angeles who loved cars, tools, and figuring out how things worked.

“I didn’t grow up dreaming about nuts. But this is a business I am totally invested in.” Loren Mercer says it with the honesty and humor that seem to run through Western Nut Company as steadily as the scent of roasted nuts drifting from the back of the building. He is not trying to dress the story up. He did not inherit a childhood passion for cashews, almonds, or peanut brittle. 

“Helping people reclaim their body, commemorate something meaningful, or leave feeling more empowered in themselves - it’s kind of a little magic spell that we get to cast.” At Echelon Tattoo in Midvale, that sense of transformation lives in every corner of the shop. It can be felt in the artwork covering the walls, in the velvet couches and antique curiosities scattered throughout the space, and most importantly in the partnership between co-owners Ashley Thomas and Desiree Keys. Though their journeys began thousands of miles apart, both women found their way to tattooing through art and a desire to connect with others. Together, they have built a studio that feels less like a tattoo shop and more like a creative community where artists and clients alike feel welcomed, respected, and inspired.

“Oh boy, are we in trouble? Because this is it. This is the place.” When Paula Sargetakis first stood on the nearly two-acre parcel on Salt Lake’s East Bench, she knew immediately that the dream she and her husband, Joe, had been carrying for years had finally found its home. There had once been a church on the property. Joe had even played ball there as a boy. But where others might have seen a piece of land ready for development, Paula saw the farm she had been designing in her mind for more than a decade. The name came easily. Paula has loved frogs all her life. They were up on the Bench, and they were building a farm. In 2012, Frog Bench Farms was born.

“People don’t care about how much you know until they know how much you care.” For Trevor DeMass, owner of The Apothecary Shoppe, those words are not simply something he repeats. They are the way he practices pharmacy. Born and raised in Murray, Utah, Trevor grew up loving sports and music. He played basketball, football, and baseball, but it was the bagpipes that became, as he described it, “more than a hobby.”

“My grandfather found a violin in the bottom of a bomb crater.” For Paul Prier, the story of Peter Prier & Sons Violins begins long before the beloved Salt Lake City shop opened its doors. It begins in Germany in 1942, when his father, Peter Paul Prier, was born into a world marked by war, hunger, loss, and uncertainty. Peter’s father was killed during World War II, and he was raised by his mother and grandfather in a family that had very little.

“It is a full-service grocery store, so we offer everything from locally grown apples to bananas that cannot be grown here, to Cheerios and everything in between.” For years, the Wasatch Food Co-op lived in that deceptively simple sentence - a neighborhood grocery store built for everyday needs but designed to do much more than stock shelves. Today, that vision is a reality.

“You kind of need to maintain some of the old, dingy, fun stuff that was here - the charm that was in Sugar House forever.” For Jimmy and Jordanna Brown, bringing Fiddler’s back to life and opening Sugar House Pizza beside it was never simply about owning a bar or a pizza place. It was about honoring a corner of Sugar House that had meant something to generations of people, including Jimmy’s own family. It was about creating a gathering place where longtime regulars, new neighbors, sports fans, families, clubs, and friends could all find their way in. And perhaps most of all, it was about building something together.

“Now I’m able to take a deep breath, and when I look back, I just think, ‘What in the hell? How did I get here?’ It was a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, but I made it.” For Lori Sartain, owner of Crow Nail Studio in East Sugar House, life did not begin with expectations of comfort, stability, or ease. Dreams of owning a business, buying a home, traveling, or building something beautiful were not part of her childhood. Survival was.