MAKER: Chef Matthew Mytro
BUSINESS: Flour Pasta Company
EARLY CAREER PATH: Chef Matthew Mytro started learning his way around the kitchen when he was in high school. 鈥淚 had two little brothers, and I would cook for them, and I really enjoyed the process,鈥� Mytro said. 鈥淪o I decided I wanted to be a chef.鈥� His first cooking job was at a Friendly鈥檚 Restaurant, and he continued to learn through reading. 鈥淚 sold my turntables and all my records, and bought cookbooks. So that was kind of the way I learned how to be a chef, then I ended up translating that to pasta as well.鈥�
LANDING AT FLOUR: Local Cleveland Chef Paul Minnillo opened Flour Restaurant in Moreland Hills eight years ago; six months after the opening, Mytro joined the team after having worked in several other restaurants and resorts. He didn鈥檛 have any experience with pasta, yet. 鈥淲e were making all the pasta by hand. Luckily I had 鈥楾he Pasta Guy鈥�, DJ, who鈥檚 been a good friend of mine since high school.鈥� DJ came to the restaurant at the same time as Mytro. 鈥淲e learned together, and changed our protocols and recipes.鈥�
EXPANDING THE BRAND: When discussions began about how to grow the Flour brand, an obvious way was to open another restaurant, but with so many restaurants opening in the Cleveland area, the team wanted to take a different path. 鈥淸The pasta making] kind of happened organically, we didn鈥檛 plan on this happening. We purchased an extruder, and the simplicity of it was kind of exciting, and we just fell in love with it,鈥� Mytro explained. 鈥淒J and myself, we talked about it, like 鈥楬ey, what do you think about turning this into a business?鈥欌�� And Flour Pasta Company got its start.
KEEPING THE MOMENTUM: Going into its third year of business, Flour Pasta Company keeps growing, with no plans of stopping anytime soon. At the company鈥檚 start, the pasta was made at Flour Restaurant. A few months ago, pasta production moved to a larger facility down the road with multiple extruding machines that can output up to 300 pounds of pasta per hour! 鈥淔rom where we started, on that little tabletop machine to where we鈥檝e gotten to now, definitely to see it grow is really exciting,鈥� Chef Mytro said with a smile. 鈥淭his is definitely my baby. It means a lot to me.鈥�
