You’re balancing two very different businesses at the same time. What part of your work do you most look forward to in a typical week, and how do you decide what gets your attention?

“Yeah, it’s a lot. It just is. Food and beverage is a tough world…margins are razor thin, and we put so much of ourselves into these businesses.

“The thing I’ve always really looked forward to most, especially at Salt & Bubbles, is the table service dining experience. There’s a lot more intimacy in how you engage with your customer. Leo & Co is a more casual counter-service model. It’s designed to be that way. At Leo & Co, I knew I wouldn’t be able to do that same level of interpersonal connectedness, and that with the training of our staff, it was important that they did a lot of that for me. They developed their own relationships with customers from the get-go.

“What’s funny is that at Salt & Bubbles, when I finally started to take steps away, people would say, ‘Ah, Kayla’s not here.’ As much as I love that, it’s sort of antithetical to how a business should grow. At Leo & Co, starting with systems made sense. When it’s working best, it’s like a well-oiled machine. Salt & Bubbles is more like a symphony. They’re just different.

“I still really enjoy the interactions with loyal regulars, helping someone find a new wine…that element of Salt & Bubbles is probably what I still look forward to the most. At Leo & Co, I enjoy seeing my team work well.”

What’s been the toughest lesson since launching your first business…and how did it shape how you run the other?

“That I can’t do it all. I shouldn’t. And it’s not actually good for the businesses for me to do it all. I still do too much, arguably. I still categorize every check, run every payroll, facilitate every catering order, every wedding inquiry, every private event inquiry.

“So one of the biggest lessons was trust. Trust your people. You hired them for a reason. You trained them for a reason. Feeling like your boss is a micromanager who won’t delegate isn’t empowering. It’s more empowering to be told, ‘This is part of your role. You can do this.’

“Every small business course tells you owners should do the things only owners can do. That’s great, but when you’re opening a food and beverage business with rent and utilities and cost of goods, that’s not how it looks at first.

“I learned that lesson at Salt & Bubbles so I could open Leo & Co. And I keep learning it at Leo & Co…to trust my people and trust that the process will work itself out.”

When you’re choosing new wines for Salt & Bubbles, what do you look for…and what excites you most?

“Exciting producers are always exciting…a grape we’ve never heard of, a region we’ve been searching for. But value really matters. We don’t bother selling things we don’t stand behind, and we don’t sell things that don’t meet the value they’re sitting at.

“There’s a classic bell curve. That $25–$35 retail bottle is where most people want to live right now. With tariffs and inflation, it’s getting harder to find producers who meet our farming, philosophical, and ethical guidelines at that price. The bottles that excite me are the ones where I can say, ‘Yes, I want two cases of that,’ because I know I’ll share it with 24 people who will enjoy it and come back for it.

“I hate that it’s price-driven, because wine should be expensive when it needs to be. But people want to engage with wine, and natural wine is where we’re seeing that excitement stay steady.

“Being able to offer something people can afford, repeat, share with friends, and genuinely get excited about…those are exciting bottles to me.”

Bonus: Is there a wine you love that you’ve had to figure out how to ‘sell’ to customers…and how do you bridge that gap?

“It really comes down to reading the customer and understanding their tolerance for what’s weird and new.

“We have wines from Japan. They’re different, and they’re expensive. You’re paying for distance traveled. For some people, that curiosity is worth it. For others, all they’ve ever had is Pinot Grigio and Chardonnay, and you’re explaining Chenin Blanc. That feels ‘out there’ to them. You’re always doing a little education and exploration of who you’re selling to.

“There’s really no middle ground in the wine industry…there are grocery store basics on one side, and ultra-expensive and confusing on the other. The small wine shop works when you build a bridge and make yourself accessible and relatable. We’ve done a really good job of being that neighborhood spot. You can ask your silly wine question. When we ask your budget, it’s not to judge…it’s so we can make the right suggestion.

“The hardest bottles to sell are from the strangest places, and the grapes you’ve never heard of. Sometimes that resonates. Sometimes it doesn’t. And that’s okay.”