“Sugar runs in my veins,” Felicia (Fee) Hanson said with a smile, as she looked around the warm, whimsical space she has built. “I just love making people happy - with candy, with food, with community.” Sweet Hazel, Fee’s vegan bakery, market, and café, is tucked into a cozy strip that includes Leavity Bread and Star of India. Named after her beloved cat, Hazel, Fee said that “She was my soul cat. When I started this adventure, I didn’t know what to name it, and my sister-in-law said, ‘What about Sweet Hazel?’ It just felt right.”

“The address was 666 South State Street. I said, ‘Let’s go first thing in the morning.’ That’s too good to pass up.” When Andrew Earley stumbled upon the now-iconic location of Mark of the Beastro, it was the address that first grabbed him. The tongue-in-cheek name followed soon after, a nod to the playful spirit he wanted to cultivate - one part punk rock, one part art haven. What began as a full-service vegan restaurant in 2019 has since transformed into a cozy and welcoming café - one that shares its walls, and soul, with a vibrant performance venue known as The Beehive.

“I have been doing this since I was eighteen. I am sixty now. We just keep going because we love it, and because this is our fate.” Anna Tran, owner of Oh Mai, never set out to become a restaurateur, but food has always been central to her family’s story.

“I get here at two in the morning, start baking, and by five, there’s already a line. But every day, I feel grateful. I see the same smiling faces, and they make me smile, too.” Brenda Le’s joy behind the counter at Fresh Donuts & Deli is unmistakable.

"My entire family is all about food. It's what our family revolves around." Manoli Katsanevas, owner of the eponymous Manoli’s as well as the less formal Paréa, was born and raised in the world of food. When he turned eighteen, he knew that he wanted to pursue a career in this field. Today, he has woven his Greek heritage into the culinary fabric of Salt Lake City, creating dining experiences that celebrate family, tradition, and exceptional cuisine.

Max Nelson grew up in a tiny town of 100 people in northern Minnesota, where hunting, fishing, and farming were part of daily life. “That’s where my love for food came from,” he recalls. “We were always eating really fresh food.” This early exposure to homegrown ingredients laid the foundation for his future culinary endeavors.