Chef Rich Torrisi of Torrisi Restaurant and Major Food Group

If you think back to the early days when you first started in this industry, you'll probably remember fondly some of those early memories of working on the line, battling it out with your fellow cooks and friends, just hoping to get to the end of service without running out of mise en place.

But those are the moments that you forged really close bonds with your colleagues as you would finish service, maybe get a shift drink, and then head out into the night in search of something fun to get into, just to come back the next day and do it again.

But then there are those times when you meet someone with whom you really connect and who is as passionate about the industry as you are, with lofty ambitions and goals that help stoke the fire within you and propel you forward throughout your career.

Rich Torrisi is that person for our host, Chef Eli Kulp. Rich is a fiercely dedicated chef whose unbridled ambition, blended with his self-described "stubbornness," has created an international restaurant juggernaut, along with his friend, Chef Mario Carbone, and business partner, Jeff Zalasnick, who have opened, on average, about 2.5 restaurants a year for the past 10 years.

This is a fascinating story of how two Italian American kids from working class families have been able to build Major Food Group into a world-class company from a tiny little restaurant on Mulberry Street in Manhattan, called Torrisi Italian Specialties. 

Working with Rich and Mario, Eli was able to create a framework within his repertoire that would eventually lead to his success in Philadelphia, where he applied a similar approach to cooking, but through a lens that was more personal to him.