Meet Danielle Leoni of The Breadfruit & Rum Bar in Downtown

Today we’d like to introduce you to Danielle Leoni.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Back in 2008 on a whim my partner, Dwayne Allen and I decided to open a Jamaican restaurant in downtown Phoenix. Neither one of us had restaurant experience and I was a yoga teacher at the time. I never intended on becoming a chef, but over the next decade, it was a role that I grew into and became to love. The Breadfruit & Rum Bar is on a quiet street in downtown Phoenix where only people who come on purpose find us.

For years we worked every position in the restaurant until it became popular enough for us to hire a team. The Breadfruit & Rum Bar is like an ever-evolving piece of art that takes on shape as the year’s pass. Now in 2018, we are an acclaimed restaurant known for leading the charge in sustainability with our culinary world.

Has it been a smooth road?
When we opened in 2008 the neighborhood was bare with plenty of vacant lots, few restaurants and no foot traffic. For years we worked every prep shift, every dish shift, opened and closed the restaurant, waited table and cooked ourselves. It was an intense juggle figuring out how to run a restaurant on a little-known street offering Jamaican food in a city with little density. I was at such a culinary deficit that I had to watch videos on how to hold a knife and surely didn’t know what it meant to cook professionally.

It took a constant evaluation, almost daily, of what we were doing and how we could improve to keep our doors open. It was exhausting to have to learn so much, stand for 12-14 hours a day and figure out how to keep the business viable. It was a learning experience of a lifetime. The strength and wisdom I garnered is certainly irreplaceable.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into The Breadfruit & Rum Bar story. Tell us more about the business.
At The Breadfruit & Rum Bar, we offer award-winning modern Jamaican cuisine in an elegantly casual and tropical setting. We offer expertly prepared sustainable seafood, daring new rum cocktails and a finely curated collection of over 150 premium rums and fine cigars. We are proud of our ardent efforts to be zero waste, buy local and organic food and promote seafood sustainability.

Being a Jamaican restaurant in the desert is an interesting proposition considering it’s an island cuisine. We partner with the James Beard Foundation Smart Catch program and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program to source only the most highly sustainable seafood. We strive to set the standard for sustainability at large and endeavor to have a positive impact on our community.

Where do you see your industry going over the next 5-10 years?  Any big shifts, changes, trends, etc?
Over the next 5 to 10 years I see the culinary industry leaning toward more sustainable practices. It’s what’s already happening and is the natural evolution of the food industry. We feed people to provide sustenance, which tremendously impacts their well being. To be well we have to be able to eat well.

As communities get to know their local farmers, ranchers, winemakers and such, it is natural that an understanding comes to be that food can be even more delicious and accessible than we ever imagined. Diners are wondering more and more every day about where their food is coming from and how it came to be. With this heightened awareness, it is by demand restaurants big and small are offering better quality food.

We are seeing more people want local Arizona wine, local produce from Maya’s Farm, locally raised meat from Circle Key Ranch, local honey from Absolutely Delightful and the list goes on. As the culinary industry listens to what their customers are saying then the more we will see sustainable food choices across menus spanning across our big chains to our small artisan restaurants.

Contact Info:

• Address: 108 E Pierce Street Phoenix, AZ 85004
• Website: www.thebreadfruit.com
• Phone: 602-561-5869
• Email: info@thebreadfruit.com
• Instagram: @thebreadfruit
• Facebook: @thebreadfruit
• Twitter: @thebreadfruit

Image Credit:
Dwayne Allen

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