#7: The Medicine of Hospitality with Todd Hunt
A little while back, I had the pleasure of speaking with Todd Hunt. In our talk, we discussed the power of hospitality—specifically, how it can be a kind of Medicine in sobriety.
Todd shares some of his battles and subsequent victories as we discuss these topics and more:
* Members of the food and beverage (FnB) industry are twice as likely to struggle with addiction.
* What it’s like to keep your FnB job and enter recovery.
* Ben’s Friends came out of the tragedy of Ben’s suicide. He was a chef surrounded by three other sober chefs.
* Todd could not have pulled through without the fellowship and support of others in FnB.
* Addiction wrecking a marriage, divorce, and reconciliation: a story three years in the making.
* The power of fatherhood.
* Will I lose my edge in sobriety?
* Being “lucky to be an addict” and sorry for those who aren’t one.
* Unreasonable hospitality and esteemable acts.
I’ll place Todd’s bio from the Ben’s Friends website below. You can find his email there if you—or someone you know—is in the FnB industry and could use some help. Ben’s Friends is a welcoming and supportive Home to many who work in this field.
Sobriety Date: 6/6/09
Todd Hunt is the Leader of the Alexandria Group, which started in January 2020. He has been in the restaurant business for over thirty years. Starting out as a cook in high school, then a bartender in college, in sobriety Todd has been a Bar Manager, Operations Manager, and General Manager.
Todd loved the work hard / play hard philosophy of working in restaurants. Unfortunately, it took everything from him, his wife, his kids, and his career.
He found Ben’s Friends through an article about a friend he had known in Charleston years earlier. That friend was Co-Founder Steve Palmer. Ben’s Friends was a Godsend in that it introduced him to a sober F&B community. A tribe within a tribe. It has opened a whole new world in his sobriety, and he directly attributes it to his success through the pandemic. He currently is a General Manager in Old Town, Alexandria working for one of the largest restaurant groups in the country.
Resources from our talk
Ben’s Friends: https://www.bensfriendshope.com/
Their daily Zoom meetings: https://www.bensfriendshope.com/meetings
Books:
Setting the Table, by Danny Meyer
Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect, by Will Guidara
Esteemable Acts: A Guide to Right Living, by Francine Ward
I hope you enjoyed this talk with Todd as much as I did! As always, feel free to reach out if you have questions or comments or are looking for resources.
With Blessings,Randal
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