Episodes

Röckenwagner Bakery COO Erich Schmaranzer joins Mike Ungaro to share how the Southern California artisan bakery became the new bread partner behind San Pedro Fish Market's world-famous garlic bread. Schmaranzer explains how Rockenwagner scaled from supplying local cafés to becoming a national partner for brands including The Cheesecake Factory, Mendocino Farms, and Target, all while maintaining artisan quality. He discusses the technology behind frozen bread, why repeatable scalability matters ...

13-time World Pizza Champion Tony Gemignani joins Mike Ungaro to share the lessons he's learned from building one of America's most respected restaurant brands. From spending 17 years working in his brother's pizzeria before opening Tony's Pizza Napoletana to growing Slice House into a national franchise, Gemignani explains why success comes from mastering both the craft and the business. He discusses learning from failure, scaling a restaurant company, mentoring the next generation, and why gre...

Eric McDermott, equity partner at Pacific Advisors® and founder of NEXTpectations®, joins Mike Ungaro to share how visual storytelling can help leaders simplify complex ideas, build stronger teams, and communicate more effectively. From his three TEDx Talks and bestselling books to building an audience of more than 500,000 on TikTok, McDermott explains why making ideas easier to understand creates better businesses, stronger relationships, and lasting impact. What You'll Learn - Why visual sto...

Markos Scheer, founder and CEO of Seagrove Alaska, joins Mike Ungaro to share how he went from working in seafood as a teenager to practicing law for two decades before leaving it all behind to build one of Alaska's leading mariculture companies. Scheer explains why sustainable oyster and kelp farming represents the future of Alaska's coastal economy, what it takes to launch an entirely new industry, and how persistence, long-term thinking, and the right partners helped turn an ambitious vision...

Dan Whittaker, managing partner of Whitaker & Company, joins Mike Ungaro to discuss entrepreneurship, leadership, family business, and the lessons learned from building an accounting firm over nearly three decades. From selling real estate to pay for college to launching his own firm while his wife was pregnant, Whittaker shares why business is the ultimate strategic game and how financial data helps uncover the real problems holding companies back. He also explains why people, not numbers, are ...

Welcome back to Fi$H Factor, where family legacy meets entrepreneurial grit. Recorded live from the National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago, Mike Ungaro sits down with Chris Bryson, founder and CEO of New School Foods, to discuss the future of plant-based seafood and the technology powering a new generation of alternative proteins. After building and selling a software company to Instacart, Bryson turned his attention to food innovation. Frustrated by plant-based products that failed to...

Welcome back to Fi$H Factor, where family legacy meets entrepreneurial grit. Recorded live from the National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago, Mike Ungaro sits down with Diana Dumet, Senior Director of Marketing at Mowi USA, to talk about the global salmon industry, consumer trends, and why salmon continues to grow in popularity across restaurants and households alike. As the world’s largest salmon producer, Mowi operates across multiple countries and supplies salmon to customers around t...

Welcome to Fi$H Factor, where multi-generational grit meets real-world strategy. In this episode, Mike Ungaro sits down with Trent Bryson, CEO of Bryson Financial and host of the Grit Rising podcast, to talk about family business, leadership, accountability, and the role grit plays in building both successful companies and successful kids. From growing up around the family business to chasing Olympic dreams as a Nike-sponsored athlete, Trent shares how discipline, adversity, and obsession with ...

What happens when a single piece of content changes the trajectory of your entire business? In this episode of Fi$H Factor, Mike Ungaro breaks down why storytelling has become one of the most important tools in modern business and how a viral moment helped transform San Pedro Fish Market into a nationally recognized brand. From early lessons inside the family business, where marketing was dismissed as “hocus pocus,” to experimenting with social media, customer storytelling, and the launch of K...

Welcome to Fi$H Factor, where multi-generational grit meets real-world strategy. In this episode, Mike Ungaro sits down with Matt Wampler, co-founder and CEO of ClearCOGS and host of the Restaurant AI podcast, to talk about how AI and predictive analytics are changing restaurant operations. From forecasting prep and labor to reducing waste and improving profitability, Matt shares how restaurants can use data to stop reacting and start planning ahead. Mike also connects the conversation back t...

Welcome back to Fi$H Factor, where multi-generational grit meets real-world strategy. In this episode, Mike Ungaro shares the vision behind Kings Of Fi$H and breaks down how restaurants, media, products, merchandise, and storytelling all work together to build a modern hospitality enterprise.  Inspired by a business mind map created by Walt Disney, Mike explains how San Pedro Fish Market, Kings Of Fi$H Media, the Fi$H Factor podcast, nationwide shipping, branded products, and future locations...

Welcome back to Fi$H Factor, where multi-generational grit meets real-world strategy. In this episode, Mike Ungaro sits down with Scott Choppin, Founder and CEO of Urban Pacific Group, to break down what it really takes to develop projects, solve complex problems, and build in industries where timelines are long and stakes are high. From growing up in a real estate family to leading innovative workforce housing developments, Scott shares how his approach to strategy and execution has shaped his...

Welcome to Fi$H Factor, where multi-generational grit meets real-world strategy. In this episode, Mike Ungaro breaks down the 12-part framework that has guided his growth as an operator, leader, and entrepreneur for over two decades. Simplified into a “sketch map” by Eric McDermott, this system outlines how to design your life, build your business, and increase your income in a rapidly changing world. From defining ambition and aligning philosophies to building networks and creating value, Mike...

Welcome back to Fi$H Factor, where family legacy meets entrepreneurial grit. In this episode, Mike Ungaro sits down with Alan Ruesga-Pelayo to talk about building a brand rooted in culture, connection, and the simple act of bringing people to the table, alongside the global momentum of Teremana Tequila, founded by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. What started as a simple idea, guacamole, tequila, and shared moments, became Guac on the Rock, a program designed to drive traffic to restaurants while cre...

Welcome back to Fi$H Factor, where family legacy meets entrepreneurial grit. In this episode, Mike Ungaro sits down with Alexis Parra to talk about turning a personal passion for wellness into one of the fastest-growing juice and smoothie brands in the country. What began with homemade green juice, acai bowls, and no formal business plan grew into a nationwide brand with more than 230 locations. Alexis shares the real story behind building Nékter Juice Bar from the ground up, from early days of...

Welcome to Fi$H Factor, where multi-generational grit meets visionary hustle. In this episode, Mike Ungaro takes the stage at the Restaurant Franchising Innovation Summit to share the journey behind San Pedro Fish Market and how it became one of the highest grossing independent restaurants in the country, and how Kings Of Fi$H helped change the trajectory of the business. From a 200 square foot seafood shop started by teenagers in 1956 to a 3,000 seat waterfront destination, Ungaro breaks down ...

Welcome back to Fi$H Factor, where family legacy meets entrepreneurial grit. In this episode, Mike Ungaro sits down with Jeyre Lewis, Area Manager at PCL Construction, one of North America’s largest builders delivering over $10 billion in projects annually. From iconic destinations like the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Super Nintendo World to major renovations at Dodger Stadium and first-of-their-kind hospitality concepts, Jeyre shares what it takes to bring complex visions to life. But ...

Welcome back to Fi$H Factor, where family legacy meets entrepreneurial grit. In this episode, Mike Ungaro takes listeners behind the wall of photos in his office, sharing the personal stories and business lessons behind the images that shaped San Pedro Fish Market. From childhood creativity inspired by comic books to lessons drawn from Walt Disney’s early business strategy, each picture tells a piece of the family’s journey. Ungaro also reflects on the early days of the fish market, the challen...

Welcome to Fi$H Factor, where multi-generational grit meets visionary hustle. In this episode, Michael Ungaro sits down with Chef Joe Gatto, a Boston-based chef, filmmaker, culinary instructor, and the host of From Scratch. Joe has built a career that blends storytelling, hospitality, and craftsmanship by taking cooking to the extreme, making ingredients, tools, and entire meals completely from the ground up. Joe shares the unlikely journey from directing horror films and working in production ...

Want to be part of the next season of Kings Of Fi$H? Email shawn@calibbq.media or go to KingsOfFishTV.com Welcome to Fi$H Factor, where multi-generational grit meets visionary hustle. In this episode, Michael Ungaro sits down with Kirsten Maitland, co-founder of Rebel Cheese, the Austin-based company reinventing artisan cheese without dairy. What started as a deeply personal decision to give up cheese overnight turned into a fast-growing brand producing aged, plant-based cheeses designed to riv...

Want to be part of the next season of Kings Of Fi$H? Email shawn@calibbq.media or go to KingsOfFishTV.com Welcome to Fi$H Factor, where multi-generational grit meets visionary hustle. In this episode, Michael Ungaro sits down with Hal Mooney, hospitality pro and co-founder of Mooney’s Pizza Tavern, a new neighborhood pizzeria opening inside a repurposed 1960s diner in Long Beach. Hal is building the concept in public, documenting the entire process on Instagram from construction chaos to design...

Want to be part of the next season of Kings Of Fi$H? Email shawn@calibbq.media or go to KingsOfFishTV.com Welcome to Fi$H Factor, where multi-generational grit meets visionary hustle. In this episode, Mike Ungaro sits down with EOS Implementer Sara Stern to unpack what really makes family businesses work and what quietly tears them apart. From the complicated core value of “family” to generational friction, process resistance, and the difference between visionary and integrator thinking, this c...

Want to be part of the next season of Kings Of Fi$H? Email shawn@calibbq.media or go to KingsOfFishTV.com Welcome to Fi$H Factor, where multi-generational grit meets visionary hustle. In this episode, Mike Ungaro revisits an early and often forgotten moment in the San Pedro Fish Market story that shows just how far ahead of its time the brand really was. Long before short-form video or creator partnerships became industry buzzwords, Mike and his brother Henry were invited into a YouTube series ...

Want to be part of the next season of Kings Of Fi$H? Email shawn@calibbq.media or go to KingsOfFishTV.com Welcome to Fi$H Factor, where multi-generational grit meets visionary hustle. In this episode, Mike Ungaro sits down with Patrick Mescall, South Bay restaurant operator behind a growing portfolio of neighborhood bars, cocktail concepts, and tiki destinations including Tiki Kai and the Hula Hula Room. Patrick shares the real story behind building nine locations across different concepts, why...