Pandemic Pre-Shift: Copper & Heat Podcast Launches New Season of Resources for Restaurant Industry Workers

Photos courtesy of Copper & Heat

Story by Courtnie Dawson

Pandemic Pre-Shift: Copper & Heat Podcast Launches New Season of Resources for Restaurant Industry Workers

When “Copper & Heat” launched, it was a passion project for Katy Osuna, a way to explore food culture outside her own career in fine-dining. Just one season in, the podcast received a prestigious James Beard Award, and subsequently garnered the attention of industry professionals, foodies, social activists, and more.

“It was a real honor, not what I was expecting for our first season,” says Katy, the show’s co-creator and host. “But this honor comes with a lot of other thoughts and questions.”

This week, season 3: “Pre-shift” dropped to podcast platforms to answer some of these questions, and more.

Katy Osuna left a Michelin 3-star kitchen to start “Copper & Heat” podcast with Ricardo Osuna, the show’s producer. On the outside, it may seem an odd choice to give up the prestige of working in the kitchen behind one of the Bay Area’s finest restaurants. But the experience in the high-class dining scene didn’t match the impeccable outward appearance the industry maintains, and that divergence raised questions that needed answers.

“It got me thinking about who was in the kitchen,” Katy says. “I was the only woman on the savory side. The pastry line had a few more, but overall it was predominantly white and male.”

Women make up over 50% of culinary school graduates, yet only 7% of executive chefs are female.

“There just aren’t as many women in power in the kitchen,” Katy says.

For these concerns to run through Katy’s mind was hardly rare. Her College of Idaho degree in anthropology and her work in the Treasure Valley created a ripe precursor to her exploration into the social aspects of the restaurant industry.

“While I was still in school, the social aspect of food was always on my mind as an anthropology major. I was always studying food culture,” Katy says. “The whys and hows of food production has always been interesting to me.”

The podcast’s name, “Copper & Heat”, acknowledges that behind the illustrious perfectionism of fine dining is an underbelly of grueling labor that goes unnoticed and unappreciated.

Her observations, paired with an anthropology research background and a innate curiosity into food and society, led her to the podcast’s first season, “Be a Girl”, which jumped off her own experiences in the kitchen and formed a thought-provoking narrative, with contributions from restaurateurs, cooks, But through the first season, Katy noticed a pattern forming.

“In season one, everyone was talking about money. Operators, owners and restaurateurs would talk about slim profit margins, but workers would talk about how they also made no money and how hard restaurant work is financially.”

Which led nearly seamlessly to season two: “Overhead”, which explores unconventional approaches and fresh ideas surrounding profit and financial stability in the restaurant industry.

“I wanted to focus on people doing interesting things, see what people were doing that was different as far as economics and finances,” Katy says.

With confidence gained from their 2019 Media Award from the James Beard Foundation, Katy and Ricardo went forth into season two and a full schedule of live events, interviews, and other expansions to the podcast.

Then, the pandemic sent their plans into a tailspin. 

Forced to abandon their in-person plans, “Copper and Heat” quickly pivoted into development of season 3: “Pre-Shift”, which aims to provide answers to questions workers of the restaurant industry regularly have, starting with two episodes (released Monday, January 25th) that discuss communication, feedback, and conflict resolution. Following a week after each episode drop comes an Instagram-Live Q and A, featuring Katy and a guest from the previous episodes.

“There have always been challenges to working in restaurants, and not a lot of resources for the industry,” Katy says. “The question is, how do we navigate these challenges that have always been there, but have now been amplified by the pandemic?”

You can listen to the first two episodes of Season 3: “Pre-Shift”, at coppernadheat.com, or most podcast platforms.