Fellow Foodies: Utah Grubs

Another rendition of Fellow Foodies: Utah Grubs!

For those of you who may not be familiar with our “Fellow Foodies” series, occasionally we’ll feature an individual or company in the foodie world who we feel has a fun or unique story to tell. Today we’re featuring Utah Grubs!

Utah Grubs is a social media platform that highlights this cute couple’s favorite spots to eat all over the state of Utah. We wanted to introduce you to them and share the fun platforms they’ve created! You can find them on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Not local to Utah? Don’t you worry about it, cause they’ve gotcha covered. These two recently started a second platform, Grubs We Love, that features yummy spots to eat outside of Utah.

• Can you give us a little background on you two? 

We are Will & Olivia Gochnour, a married couple that lives in Utah. We actually just had our first baby (Penelope) just two weeks ago so we like to think that she is apart of the team now too! Will works as a financial advisor at a local company called Dentist Advisors. I (Olivia) work as a marketing manager for a local interior design company, Denton House Design Studio, as well as the San Diego startup, Tiled.

• How did you get started/what was your inspiration to start?

During the summer of 2014, I realized that Will and I were always eating at the same chain restaurants! The company I worked for at the time would cater in food often from different places but when the time came to pick a restaurant on the weekend we felt like we were always just going to Cafe Rio or another classic staple. I started Utah Grubs as an account to post the food I’d get at lunch so we could remember some different options when the time came and it just grew from there!

• Besides (the obvious perk) of eating delicious food, what’s your favorite part of this job?

We feel so lucky that Utah Grubs has grown into something that allows us to eat and feature delicious food all over the state. One of the main perks of Utah Grubs is the opportunity we’ve had to meet the business owners behind these local restaurants. There are so many incredible people who practically put their life on the line to open up their dream restaurant. A lot of them have become our close friends and we feel so grateful for that.

• How do you decide what businesses to feature?

We either post about where we decide to eat that day or we’ve been fortunate enough to have a lot of Utah businesses reach out to us asking for a feature on our pages.

• What is your favorite “hidden gem” you’ve found in Utah?

We love Big Apple Pizza on 33rd South in Salt Lake City/Millcreek. My dad has eaten at Big Apple since his college days so it was a staple around our house growing up. Now that I am older, I am shocked at how many people don’t know about it! It is incredible, thinly sliced, New York style pizza and the pesto pizza is our favorite. I don’t think they’ve updated their restaurant interior since my dad’s college days but that’s what we love about it!

• How would you recommend people find “hidden gems” in their own local areas?

You would be surprised at how many hidden gems you’ll find just by talking to people! We sometimes like to look at Utah Grubs as a “word of mouth” platform.

• Do you have any advice for people who want to break out of their restaurant “comfort zone” and try some new things, but don’t know where to start?

I think it’s so important to remember how much small business owners sacrifice to start their own restaurant. So many great local restaurants need more business! Challenge yourself to try one new restaurant a month. You never know if you’ll find a new favorite!

A huge thanks to Will, Olivia (and Penelope! 🙂 ) for creating such a fun, yummy and informative space for us to enjoy. Go give them a follow and support these Fellow Foodies of ours!

Want to meet some more Fellow Foodies? Check these out: