Donna Dooher & Kevin Gallagher: The Restauranteurs Who Brought Brunch To Toronto

 
#186-Donna-Dooher-and-Kevin-Gallagher-Blog-Photo.jpg

Donna Dooher and Kevin Gallagher are second and third generation Northern-Irish-Canadians who first burst onto the hospitality scene by introducing the phenomena of brunch to Toronto through their restaurant Mildred Pierce before publishing the award-winning cookbook Out To Brunch.

Driven by her passion for food, Donna went on to star in the popular Food Network show The Cookworks with Donna Dooher which has been watched by foodie fans all over the world. Alongside working in the business, Kevin has also served on the Board of Directors for the Ireland Fund of Canada and was instrumental in securing funds for building Ireland Park Canada and fundraising efforts for the Celtic Studies program at St. Michael’s College.

Their latest venture, Mildred’s Temple Kitchen in the heart of Toronto’s Liberty Village, reflects their passion for 'the return to the table' and locally sourced ingredients, simply and sumptuously prepared. Throughout the pandemic, Kevin has also written Diary Of A Restaurant which his musings and learnings of years spent in the hospitality industry.

In today's episode we talk about:

  • Their early memories & experiences

  • How they scaled a brunch community from 15 people on a Sunday to 500+ per week

  • The cultish following around their Blueberry pancakes

  • And the greatest challenges/successes they've experienced along the way

Check it out.

//

  • One thing most people don't know about you:
    Donna - studied to be an architectural technologist
    Kevin - has a degree in chemistry

  • Favourite Book: Ulysses by James Joyce (Kevin), Diary of a Restaurant (Donna)

  • Favourite Quote: Donna - “Only two choices -hard time or easy time.”

    //

NI Connections GÇô Logo AW.jpg

Today's episode is part of our collaboration with NI Connections where we catch up with someone incredible from Northern Ireland doing interesting things overseas on the last Monday of every month.

To discover more amazing diaspora stories, check out their website niconnections.com where you can also sign up for their free, monthly newsletter.

How To Listen

If you don’t have time to tune in right now, you can listen to today’s show on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Overcast or your favourite podcast app.

If it’s your first time listening to a podcast, click here to learn how to listen and enjoy audio shows.

Thanks for listening, wanna hear more local stories?

Subscribe to our email newsletter or see who else we’ve interviewed here.

Thanks again to Donna Dooher & Kevin Gallagher for taking the time to share their story with us.

See you next time.

— Matt

P.S. You can share this episode by clicking the buttons below.

 
Matthew ThompsonNIC