Listening to "On the Pass" with Gabriel Ornelas
The first in a series about podcasts sharing intimate hospitality stories.
I’m not a huge podcast person. I realize a lot of you are probably gasping or rolling your eyes at me right now, but when I have extra time, I am more of a words on the page person, and when I go for a run I prefer listening to music (a fascinating mix of ‘80s, K-Pop, Contemporary Pop, and Classic Rock. For real.).
That said, there are a few podcasts I listen to loyally — How I Built This with Guy Raz, All There Is with Anderson Cooper, The Daily with Michael Barbaro, and a few food podcasts too: Longer Tables with José Andrés, Andrew Friedman’s Andrew Talks to Chefs, and Shari Bayer’s All In the Industry.
Recently I discovered a podcast from the hospitality industry producer and strategist Gabriel Ornelas called On the Pass. It’s actually already on its fourth season so I am late to the game. I only found it in February when Gabriel interviewed chef Charlie Mitchell of Clover Hill, an episode I loved. And then I decided to reach out and get to know a little more about Gabriel and his vision for the show.
Gabriel’s not just a podcaster, he’s an entrepreneur who has been in the industry for a while, working to connect culinary teams and beverage brands with strategic partners in the travel and hospitality space, producing festivals, building pop-ups and partnerships. I see him as a sort of a human bridge, a genuine connector of people, brands, and opportunities across the hospitality industry. He’s worked with folks like Faena Group, Sbe, Mercedes-Benz, Perfect Day, Citi, Perrier-Jouët Champagne, Moët Hennessy, and Valrhona to name a few.
“When it comes down to what we do, all of us in the hospitality industry, it’s about bringing joy,” he told me over coffee at K’far in Brooklyn last week. And that’s what Gabriel’s podcast On the Pass aims to highlight and explore in conversations with guests from all over the world, not just the usual suspects in New York City.
On his podcast, Gabriel pulls back the curtain on the moments that make people tick. He also brings in chefs, wine makers, and brand builders, and so many more people you’ve probably never heard of but really should know. Folks like Elisa Fernandes of Clos Wine Bar and Bistro in Sao Paulo, Chef Fatima Binta, who is from the African nomadic Fulani tribe and is the founder of Dine on a Mat, a nomadic restaurant that allows diner to explore the cuisine of the Fulani women, and Nina Oduro, founder of Dine Diaspora, which connects people and brands to African food culture. What an amazing group of guests, right?
He’s interviewed icons of the industry like Dominique Crenn and Daniel Boulud, and as well as the new guard of talent—like Chef Charlie Mitchell of Clover Hill in Brooklyn Heights, Chef Santiago Lastra of Kol in London, and Jeremy Chan and Ire Hassan-Odukale of Ikoyi in London’s St James Market.
On his podcast, you’ll also get to know industry icons like Shep Gordon (The Supermensch and the OG behind the creation of the celebrity chef), and meet behind-the-scenes folks like Dinex CEO Sebastian Silvestri, Simon Kim, the restaurateur behind Cote Steakhouse, and Brian Canlis, whose family has owned Canlis in Seattle for over 70 years.
Finally, he looks beyond the world of food to include folks from the beverage industry like Kristin Olszewski of Nomadica Wine, and Rafael Shin of Agua Mágica Mezcal from Oaxaca, among many others.
Gabriel, who worked for many years as a master barista at Starbucks, was inspired to start the podcast while working in strategy, which he still does; he’s about to head down in Antigua for a culinary festival he’s created and curated in early May, and will be doing something with restaurants and hospitality clients in Colombia soon, too.
“I was already traveling around the world meeting with chefs, hoteliers, restaurateurs, sommeliers, and winemakers,” he said. I was filming digital content with them, but the video would always be edited down into this snackable piece of content. The more interesting conversations happened when we were not recording, when we were out to dinner, or for drinks, and I thought there was a missed opportunity to share those off-camera moments, and to highlight these people.”
On the Pass does this quite well. There’s not a lot of the technicality of how something is made or came to be. It’s more about the vision, the creativity, the passion, and the challenges. It’a also about what drives people. “It’s the human story that I am trying to tell,” he says.
What I love about this podcast is that it feels like you’re eavesdropping on intimate conversations, like you’ve got a seat at Gabriel’s little corner table.
Give it a listen and let me know what you think. And please leave me a comment about your favorite podcasts too!