Michael Shemtov is the restaurateur behind the Butcher & Bee family of restaurants that includes Bees in Nashville and Charleston, S.C., Redheaded Stranger, and The Daily in Charleston and Atlanta. (The Charleston Bee was just nominated for a James Beard Award!) Shemtov believes that the health of the hospitality industry depends on the success of new restaurants along with old reliables, and he’s established The Bee Fund to help support new entrepreneurs looking to enter the industry.
In partnership with the PR agency BLAKE, Shemtov invites budding restaurateurs to apply for the chance to work with the agency for six months and for support from Shemtov’s fund and mentorship — free of charge.
The first recipient is chef Maryam Ghaznavi, a Pakistan-born teacher by trade who opened a pop-up, Ma’am Saab, with her husband in 2019. (She's due to open a brick-and-mortar in downtown Charleston soon.) In August, she opened a Pakistani street-food canteen, Malika, in Mount Pleasant, S.C.
If you’re interested in benefiting from Shemtov’s largesse, apply for a Bee Fund grant here.
In other Bee news, chef Bryan Lee Weaver of Butcher & Bee and Redheaded Stranger is taking his skills on the road for a special one-night-only appearance in Milwaukee later this month. He’ll be taking part in the exclusive EsterEv Guest Chef Series on March 23, hosted by James Beard semifinalists Dan Jacobs and Dan Van Rite. While I don’t really expect anybody to make the trip to Wisconsin to be part of this intimate 20-guest dinner, we can at least dream about the eight-course meal that Weaver and his host chefs are preparing.Â
Leaning on the Southwestern vibe of Redheaded Stranger, Weaver plants to delight those Wisconsinites with Southern flavor. Think brisket, pork, green chile, Mexican pizza and Southwestern tater tots. If you happen to find yourself in Cheeselandia around the date of the dinner, feel free to grab a reservation and report back to us!
