Welcome to this week’s Flavors of Northwest Arkansas Podcast, where we sit down with James Beard Award Semifinalist for Best Chef of the South, Matt Cooper of Conifer. The son of a Methodist Minister and a food technologist, he lived in 30 different places in Arkansas before heading off to culinary school in the Pacific Northwest.

After working there for a while, he moved back to Little Rock to help open a restaurant before coming to NWA to help ramp up the hospitality arm of the Ropeswing Group, before opening his own place.

In this episode, he talks about what he learned coming up through the profession and what he learned not to do after tough experiences. He also details Conifer’s sustainability model and speaking of that, he has BREAKING NEWS about what’s next for them.

Also, we’re debuting a new segment to help you frustrated home cooks, like my Dad.