Today we’d like to introduce you to Molly Gunn.
Molly, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I started working in restaurants when I was in high school and opened The Porter Beer Bar in 2008 with my husband Nick Rutherford. The Porter was a James Beard Semi-Finalist for Best Bar Program 2012-2014. We ran The Porter until April of 2022 at which point we sold it to Manny Maloof (owner of Manny’s and Yacht Club) and EJ Hodgkinson (former executive Chef at King & Duke). The pandemic had been an emotional roller coaster and we were ready to leave restaurants behind. After a well-deserved rest, I reached out to a former employee of mine, Patrick Blake, who had begun his own furniture building company ten years ago, B-10 Union. B-10 Union had recently bought a building in East Point and expanded their staff to over ten folks. While I have no furniture-building skills, luckily they were in the market for someone who could take over book-keeping, office management and CFO duties. Which brings me to today!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Opening a restaurant at age 26 on credit cards and a hope and a dream is its own challenge, but more recently, the pandemic comes to mind. My husband and I laid off all our staff and it was creepy and terrible to be rattling around the big empty bar by ourselves doing take-out. That’s what really broke Nick; putting food into boxes for ninety days. It’s terrible as a chef to hope and pray your food is getting there semi-edible and not destroyed into a gross mess during the trip. It was wonderful to bring back a few staff in 2020 and a few more in 2021, but still exhausting to work seven days a week and then to be asked by customers why things weren’t back to normal. It was infuriating.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We specialize in custom-made furniture. We make a lot of furniture for restaurants, but also beautiful conference tables, outdoor benches and planters and stuff for folk’s homes (bed frames, shelves, wine racks, you name it!)
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
After getting chewed up and spit out during the pandemic, I realized I wanted to work in a team environment with folks who knew my talents and would support me and my goals.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.b-10union.com/
- Instagram: B10Union
