JP Ngo sits down with Albina Brahimi, owner of Jabby's Pizza, for a conversation about restaurant ownership, hospitality leadership, entrepreneurship, and the realities of building a business after surviving war and starting over in the United States.

Throughout the episode, Albina shares her experience growing up during the Kosovo War, immigrating to America, and eventually building Jabby’s Pizza into one of Baton Rouge’s recognized local restaurant brands. The conversation explores the pressure of restaurant management, leadership challenges, scaling operations, staffing, workplace culture, customer expectations, and the operational realities behind running a restaurant in Louisiana.

The episode also dives into restaurant profit margins, hiring and training younger employees, business growth, entrepreneurship, accountability, communication, and the challenges that come with expanding locations before systems are fully ready. Albina explains why sustainable growth often matters more than rapid expansion, why quality control becomes harder as restaurants scale, and how strong operational systems directly impact customer experience and long-term business stability.

The conversation also touches on creativity in hospitality, chef-driven pop-up dinners, using food as an emotional outlet, and the responsibility business owners carry while leading teams under pressure.

This is a grounded conversation about hospitality leadership, restaurant operations, workforce development, communication, resilience, entrepreneurship, and building businesses through uncertainty, pressure, and long-term experience.

Guests:

JP Ngo — Owner of Our Mom’s Restaurant & Bar

Albina Brahimi — Owner of Jabby’s Pizza Baton Rouge

Topics Covered:

Restaurant leadership

Hospitality management

Entrepreneurship

Restaurant operations

Scaling restaurant businesses

Workplace culture

Hiring and training employees

Leadership under pressure

Customer experience

Restaurant profit margins

Communication and management

Operational systems

Business growth

Workforce development

COVID impact on restaurants

Chef-driven pop-up dinners

Quality control and expansion

Hospitality industry realities

Resilience and business ownership

Louisiana restaurant industry