Conversations with Candace Sandrini

Today we’d like to introduce you to Candace Sandrini.

Hi Candace, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
The hospitality industry has been in my family for many generations. I am the lucky child to inherit this in my blood.

At the age of 10, I went to weekend classes in etiquette because I was obsessed with antique place settings.
By the age of 14, I started my first restaurant position as a hostess. It was this small, traditional North Italian place called Almofi’s.

Every year after, I strived to learn more about food and front of house service. I worked at a local pizzeria, which is still around in Bellmore, NY called Stella’s. I learned about dough and cheeses and how to memorize large party orders like the top servers did at Almofi’s.

I then was introduced to the Scotto Brothers Catering Hall at 17. To me, this place felt like paradise. There were exotic birds, beautiful flowers everywhere, opulent place settings, uniforms that they dry cleaned and hourly pay with tips if you treated the guests well. I worked hard and it paid off. At 17, I became their youngest bridal assistant and the point person for catering their bridal parties.

In my first upstate SUNY college years, I served and managed local cafes and bars instead of partying. However, being upstate NY, I did not feel where I should be. I transferred to a college in Brooklyn Heights and made it my mission to be a part of the Manhattan hospitality scene.

Many would not hire me because I did not have any NYC experience. This did not deter me. I explored every end of Manhattan with my resume trying to get a server job. Finally, I met a man named Cliff Williams. He gave me a chance. He was opening a new restaurant called Restaurant 147 which was built into an old firehouse. He showed me how food and decor merge together to create an atmosphere. Then things started to click. He let me cocktail serve in his downstairs lounge.

I networked with everyone to find out about the latest lounges opening up. Hard work paid off again. I got into the hotel lounge at the W. Then a year later I got hired at Hudson Hotel Bar as a cocktail server. I met Francesco Clemente while he was painting the ceiling. I listened to Phillippe Starck talk about how bar decor to flow in and out of the hotel. I helped with the uniforms that were designed by Diane Von Furstenberg for the cocktail servers. I got proper cocktail training from renown European hospitality managers that got flown all over the world to open up the hottest night clubs and hotels.

Years later, I met my husband and business partner Marcelo. Like me, he has vast restaurant experience but in Miami Beach.

Together, the restaurants we operate have fun atmospheres, quality food, and love.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Restaurant businesses have many moving parts. The biggest obstacles have been making sure employees, customers, distributors and contractor relationships are consistently empathetically grown, no matter what the circumstances are.

I have been blind-sided by contractors. I have been up late at night over negative social media posts. I cried behind the bar. I cried in bathroom. I cried in front of staff when there was too much to handle at a single given moment.

Learning how to juggle business stressors and in-the-moment urgencies has been the force that has broken me down and built me up. Time runs a different course compared to many other industries.

In a span of 20 minutes at a restaurant: staff calls out, prep was not done the day before, par is off, refrigeration is on the fritz, the health inspector walks in, one delivery came in and no one checked it and pricing is too high and we have been subbed inferior product, the other delivery didn’t show up, dishes are piling because the dishwasher contractor is a day early and doing maintenance on it, the POS station is offline for credit cards, a server forgot to put in a large table’s order that you now have to comp because the wait time is over an hour, there is no change for large bills in the drawer, a catering order needs to be processed and the client is waiting, someone’s child spilled lemonade on the floor, the phone orders are ringing and the cordless phone is lost, an online order was forgotten and now the order can’t be fulfilled correctly, all while you had about 3 hours of sleep because of reviews.

I have learned to read the room for customers and have used this theory to understand generational differences with employees for the first few years. Trying to equate growing up in the North in the 90s is vastly different than Northern Georgia in 2020s.

I have taken time to develop open communication for employees. I consider each employee’s work/life balance needs, and proper pay. I do take the extra time for this. To me, this creates an essential core value for building a healthy employment structure. I am not a restaurant owner; I am a restaurant operator who does the business aspect for the establishment and fills in the gaps during service. Every duty and person is important. We are a team.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a restaurant entrepreneur and operator in Ellijay, Georgia for two restaurants: Ellijay Wood Fired Pizza and Col. Poole’s Bar-B-Q. My husband and I are known for restoring the pizzeria from an office space to the restaurant it once was in the 40s. We took the time to tear down all the layers of old stucco and flooring. Each layer of stucco had different colors, and we incorporated this into the color scheme of the restaurant. We like to preserve history.
This is how we acquired Col. Poole’s Bar-B-Q. The original owners wanted to see their building and history preserved. We might have updated the menu to the evolving barbecue palate, but the vibe and quirkiness of the building is kept.

We are dedicated to the quality of our ingredients. We make everything in house. We pride ourselves on our recipes. We strive to create memories for people through atmosphere and food. Quality food is to be enjoyed and experienced amongst loved ones at a reasonable price.

Besides restaurants, I am part owner for Ellijay’s music festival Holla Yella. Even though it has been on hold for a few years, it is in the pipeline to come back 🙂

We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
It was a moment with my grandmother. My grandmother and I were sitting at the kitchen table. She pulled out a box of old photos. It was her pictures of her 1930s Vaudeville Manhattan life as a dancer for Jackie Gleason on Vaudeville. Every time she would show a picture of a group of dancers she would state, “Candace, out of all these women, I am the best looking one. Jackie always said so.”

There was one picture’s story that stood out from the rest. It was three of my great aunts and grandmother. They were all done up for a night out at the Grand Central Oyster Bar. They were going to check in on their youngest sister who worked at the Oyster Bar and the Campbell Apartment. My youngest great aunt worked as a cocktail server since she was too young to be a showgirl. That night the youngest happened to be the cocktail server for a gentleman and up and coming lightweight boxer named Lollipop Larry. He was waiting on Jackie Gleason. My grandmother went up to say hello to her sister who was still serving the mysterious man who worked in the same circles she did. He bought her a drink and that was the beginning of their love story.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ellijaywoodfired.com and www.poolesbbq.com