When you do a Google or ChatGPT search for “best restaurant podcast,” the result is Restaurant Unstoppable, created and hosted by Eric Cacciatore. He got the idea and launched what has become the longest-running
restaurant industry podcast as a student at Great Bay Community College more than a decade ago.
Targeting restaurateurs, the twice-weekly podcast offers in-depth interviews with successful restaurant owners and industry leaders, providing valuable insights for professionals and enthusiasts. A natural conversationalist, Cacciatore’s specialty is getting people to talk and knowing what to ask.
He has recorded more than 1,200 episodes and created a dynamic website that features a variety of content addressing timely topics, including when and how to use AI chatbots, how to handle chargebacks, and tips and advice from owners, chefs, and other insiders.
After a brief career as a commercial pilot and harboring dreams of following his parents into the restaurant industry, Cacciatore enrolled at Great Bay in 2012 to study marketing and hospitality management. But the twist in Cacciatore’s Great Bay success story is that he didn’t actually finish his degree.
He learned about podcasting during his first course with marketing instructor David Mazur, who assigned his students a research project to identify and report back on three podcasts about subjects that interested them. Cacciatore chose marketing, entrepreneurism, and hospitality.
“I found tons of marketing podcasts and tons of entrepreneurial podcasts, but not a single hospitality podcast. I failed my first assignment,” he said.
But he found his niche and eventually his career.
Soon after, he launched Restaurant Unstoppable. It took off, and the success of the podcast quickly required his full attention. “The podcast was really building momentum, and it was where most of my potential future opportunities were,” he said. “So, I ended up not finishing the program at Great Bay. But if it wasn’t for the program, I would never have gone down this path.”
His path to Great Bay stemmed from failure in his previous career in aviation. He actually accomplished his goals in aviation, earning his commercial pilot’s license and landing a job with a major airline. But he amassed more than $200,000 in debt, including $1,100 monthly in student loans, and he took on a stressful career that led to him not loving his work.
“I had to make the real hard to decision to focus on what I love, and what I loved was the hospitality industry,” he said. “My parents owned a restaurant, I grew up in the restaurant industry, and I always had dreamed of opening a restaurant.”
He enrolled at Great Bay because it was a quick, cost-effective way to get a good education in marketing and hospitality and work his way into a career and a profession that he loved.
Drawn to the world of podcasting through Mazur’s provocative marketing course, he found inspiration in the stories of the entrepreneurs he was listening to and learning from. Many also had failed early in their careers and found success only after tapping into and trusting their passions. “Hearing all these stories of people who were lower than I was and who had failed harder than I did and then come back, it lit a fire and gave me the motivation I needed to keep showing up.”
His research revealing a dearth of restaurant-focused podcasts confirmed his gut feeling that the industry was missing an opportunity by not filling the podcast space with compelling, timely, and helpful content. With a why-not-me? attitude and his new-found marketing skills, Cacciatore filled that void by creating low-barrier access to the stories and lessons of successful industry leaders who were willing to share their stories and secrets.
His goal when he started the podcast, and today, is to empower people with dreams like his. He has achieved that goal while self-creating a career that continues to evolve in new and exciting ways. During his most successful year as a podcaster, he generated more than $200,000 in revenue.
“I thought, if I can help enough other people who are in the position to open a restaurant by talking to successful restaurateurs and learning from them, if I can democratize this information and decentralize this knowledge – if I can do that, then one day I will be able to pay off my debt and invest in my dream restaurant.”
Cacciatore still dreams about owning restaurant, and that dream may come true someday. But for now, he’s focused on podcasting and supporting the industry he loves.
As for that debt? That’s a nightmare he has moved beyond.