Small Business Saturday has become something of a cultural moment, a day when we're all reminded to shop local, support our neighbors, and put our dollars where our values are. But for the people actually running these businesses, it means so much more than a single day of extra foot traffic. It's about showing up for your community when it counts, building something that lasts, and creating spaces where people genuinely want to be.
Molly Irani knows this better than most. As Co-Founder and Chief Culture Officer of Chai Pani Restaurant Group (which includes the beloved restaurants Chai Pani and Botiwalla, plus our very own Spicewalla), she's spent nearly two decades building businesses that put people first (both the folks who work there and the communities they serve).
Molly's writing a book about all of this love! It's called Service Ready: A Story of Love, Restaurants, and the Power of Hospitality, and it's available for pre-order right now! It's the story she wishes she'd had when starting out, full of honest lessons about bootstrapping, leading from the heart, and building something meaningful with your life partner.
An Interview with Molly Irani of Chai Pani Restaurant Group
We sat down with Molly to talk about what it really means to support local, how resilience has shaped her leadership, and yes, what Spicewalla products she can't live without!
SW: Small Business Saturday celebrates shopping local and supporting independent businesses. From your perspective as a business owner, what do you wish more people understood about what it truly means to support local?
When we shop local we’re supporting an entire infrastructure that benefits our local economy!
The dollars you spend locally go right back into the community in the form of paychecks, and when the product is produced locally that’s even more true because it supports local makers, producers, farmers and industry.
Local businesses are invested in the success of their communities.
When Hurricane Helene left WNC devastated, it was the local economy that rallied to save the community. Many large chain stores did the math and made the calculation that it would take months, if not years, for the area to recover and therefore they would lose money by opening, so they remained closed.
The local businesses rallied.
They spent money they didn’t have to get back open to create jobs and get paychecks flowing again. They invested in extremely expensive tanked-in water to open, and they showed up despite the math being upside down. This not only helped to save the economy of our town, it provided paychecks, along with essential services that we all needed. Meanwhile, the chain coffee shop down the street that was untouched and without damage, stayed closed through the entire recovery time. While the large corporations waited for things to be “back to normal” before opening, local businesses did the hard and expensive work to ensure that we could get back to normal.
SW: Your title "Chief Culture Officer" is wonderfully distinctive. Can you walk us through what that means in practice at Chai Pani, Botiwalla, and Spicewalla?
Molly: From the beginning, I’ve put a lot of time into creating a “culture” at work. To me, this means creating an environment that people want to be a part of – one that fosters connection, inclusion, and a sense of belonging. One that inspires the Mindblasting hospitality we aim to show our guests.
While this has always been my main focus, I’ve also spent the past 16 years focused on the details of our hospitality environments: from the functionality of a patio umbrella to the wording on a sign, to the training of our staff. We’ve grown a phenomenal team of people into leadership positions so that they are now in charge of those details -- which frees me up to spend even more time focused on our collective culture at work. It’s my version of heaven on earth.
SW: You're publishing Service Ready: A Story of Love, Restaurants, and the Power of Hospitality in 2026. What inspired you to write this book now, and what do you hope readers (especially those who want to lead) take away from it?
Molly: I started the process of writing a book because I didn’t want our origin story to be lost over time. As I have less time with every employee now, I wanted to ensure that everyone still got to hear the history of how we started and our why. I didn’t want that to be lost over time as more people are added to our growing company.
As I wrote, I realized that I was writing the book that I wish I’d had when we started our first business. It's an honest and vulnerable story that shares the bootstrapped way we got into this business and the out-of-the-box strategies we utilized to follow our dream. It’s a female perspective on leadership, and a sharing of the lessons that we extracted from all the countless mistakes and challenges over the years.
SW: Your book explores being business partners with your life partner; you and Meherwan have built this empire together. What's one piece of wisdom about merging personal and professional relationships that you wish you'd known from the start?
I wish I’d known that what we initially thought were challenges because of our differences would eventually reveal themselves to be our greatest strengths. We have different personalities, strengths and blind spots – we’re opposites in many ways.
Over time, we discovered what a gift that can be and how we learned from each other, and balanced each other, and that made us both stronger leaders.
SW: Can you share a specific moment or decision in your entrepreneurial journey where "leading from the heart" felt risky but turned out to be the right choice? What did that teach you?
Molly: The business world is full of strategies that are based on protecting a business’s bottom line, but oftentimes, the heart is missing from the equation.
When leading from the heart is not on the table, business leaders miss the opportunity to create a dynamic work culture – one that inspires people. One that people look forward to working in.
In the early days, when we couldn’t afford to pay competitive wages, we often lost people who jumped ship for a dollar an hour more somewhere else. While we understood their need for higher wages, we just couldn’t afford it then. More times than I can count, people returned asking for their old job back because one day of work at the new place made them realize how much they valued the work environment with us. Over time, as we became more financially stable, we were able to pay more competitive wages, but that will never replace a vibrant and healthy work culture.
SW: Your book addresses navigating major challenges like the 2009 recession, the pandemic, and the floods from Hurricane Helene. Looking back at those moments of crisis, what did you learn about resilience that transformed how you lead?
Molly: Resilience is a skill that restaurant operators are forced to learn because our businesses keep us on the cusp of change and adaptation at all times.
We learn how to navigate change, harness it, and turn it into an opportunity for reinvention – we have strong, established skills dealing with change.
Resilience is a gift that our industry can share with the world. This skill is increasingly needed as businesses and communities navigate climate change, fluctuating economies, and political division.
Photo taken by Molly Milroy.
SW: As you look toward the future of your businesses, what gives you the most hope? What are you most excited to build or change?
Molly: Our people give me hope. Every day, they show up to be of service to others. And they keep showing up – despite whatever calamities are happening in the world. Rain or shine, pandemics or hurricanes, they show up with their whole hearts to serve food made with love, create welcoming environments that bring people together, and share spices and goodies with the world that tell stories of connection… connection to a place, to a sense of home, to each other, and to our own nourishment.
I’m excited to continue to create and support working environments that foster their well-being, and promote their creativity and growth so they can continue to show up and spread love in the world.
SW: If someone reading this wants to support local, values-driven businesses in a meaningful way (not just on Small Business Saturday but year-round) what's one impactful thing they can do?
Molly: Swap just one thing that you regularly buy from Amazon or a big box store with an item from a local business. Give it a try! You might discover a superior product, but at the very least, with that one change, you will have sent money straight into your community–just by spending your dollars locally.
SW: Okay, we have to ask. What are your absolute favorite Spicewalla products right now? We’re talkin’ the ones that live on your counter and find their way into every delicious thing you throw together…
Molly: Every morning, I drink an Americano with a dash of aromatic Spicewalla cinnamon and a tiny pinch of Himalayan pink salt. It’s warming and crave-worthy. It’s heaven in a cup, and it gets me out of bed!
Since I’ve been busy with a lot of book deadlines lately, I need fast, simple, and healthy home-cooked meals. My current cold weather go-to-super-fast-one pot-healthy and hearty dinner is a fajita bowl. I saute onion, garlic, sliced colorful peppers, some chopped leftover rotisserie chicken, frozen or fresh corn, and black beans. Then make some magic in there by sauteing it all together with an abundant amount of Spicewalla’s zesty Chille Lime, with a few dashes of Spicewalla’s Mom’s Taco seasoning for some kick, and a squeeze of fresh lime. Top with fresh guac or avocado and enjoy it in a big bowl curled up by a cozy fire. It’s winter comfort food made easy!