Saving a Small Town Restaurant with Pam Paydos

Beyond Networking with Brian Miller

Pam Paydos is a beloved Connecticut-based entrepreneur and restaurateur who long-time listeners of this podcast will remember. In fact, Pam was the very first guest ever on this show, back when it was called One New Person.

When everything shut down, restaurants were the first and most visible industry to pivot, shifting to take-out only and building the foundation of curbside pickup, now a mainstay in our culture. Can you remember a time without curbside pickup?

In Pam’s case, it was even trickier. Her current restaurant is a bistro and bakery, designed around a small-town ambience and community tables in a very tight space. She didn’t have the systems or staff to do take-out.

But almost a year later, Popover Bistro and Bakery remains a pillar of the community.

In this conversation Pam walks us through the nightmare of her Pivot. Pay attention to how her unwavering commitment to staying alive kept her going, even in the darkest of times.

A word before you listen: In true COVID fashion, we had a lot of Internet difficulties during this particular recording.

Due to an intermittent Internet connection, I had to ask Pam to repeat her stories many times, which was frustrating for both of us. I was already asking her to relive incredibly difficult and emotional moments that were still fresh. I felt awful asking her to repeat them.

As such, this episode will feel a little pieced together. I did the best I could to take the highest quality pieces of the recording and splice them into a coherent conversation.

Still, there’s SO much good stuff here. Thank you Pam, for being so understanding in the midst of chaos.

Connect with Pam

• Popover Bistro & Bakery website: https://www.popoversimsbury.com/

🔥 Join the Pivot Power newsletter & community: https://beyondnetworkingpodcast.com/year-of-the-pivot

🖥 Watch this episode instead of listening: https://beyondnetworkingpodcast.com/pam-paydos