
Illustration by Carson McNamara

Photo courtesy Justin Lo
Justin Lo
Occupation: Dining critic for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, lawyer
Time at position: Six years
Goals for food and restaurant criticism in 2025: More voices and a greater diversity of voices. It’d be awesome if we could get our food writing ranks back to pre-pandemic levels, when there were multiple critics actively writing for multiple outlets. But that, of course, requires a greater investment in local journalism.
Goals for Richmond’s food and beverage scene in 2025: Innovation, not imitation. Stop trying to be New York or D.C. We’re Richmond, Virginia. Let’s make it our own — and get back to picking up those James Beard nods again!
Biggest issues affecting restaurants leading into 2025: The rise of developer-driven dining. With an increasing number of restaurant openings in mixed-use apartments and other big construction projects, are we unwittingly ceding creative control to commercial developers? The last thing I want to see is another [chain] or ill-conceived food hall. The best thing about independent restaurants is that they’re independent.
Innovation you’d like to see adopted by the industry: Hybrid concepts that offer dining by night, something else by day — whether it’s a wine store-restaurant (like Celladora or Penny’s) or a furniture store-restaurant (like Stock). I also love the idea of restaurants being integrated into unconventional spaces.
Industry predictions for 2025: No predictions from me, just the persistent hope that Richmond dining will continue to surprise and delight us (and that we’ll finally get a first-rate sushi spot).

Photo courtesy Kendra Feather
Kendra Feather
Occupation: Co-owner of Garnett’s, Laura Lee’s and The Roosevelt
Time at position: 26 years
Goals for your restaurants in 2025: With so much uncertainty, the biggest thing is to stay open and keep on doing what we do. Since coming out of COVID, I’ve found a renewed love and appreciation of being a part of the communities around our restaurants — the neighborhoods, our staff, our customers, all of it. My personal goal is to really enjoy the small moments that make up daily life of running restaurants, keep my head down and stay in the moment, do right by the people around me.
Goals for Richmond’s food and beverage scene in 2025: I hope we can all do OK and hang in there. I hope that the next generation of folks can find their footing. It would also be great to see some of the local talent get more broad recognition.
Biggest issues affecting restaurants leading into 2025: Uncertainty around the larger economic and political forces is really unnerving. Is everthing going to get super expensive? Is our staff going to be able to find affordable housing?
Innovation you’d like to see adopted by the industry: Looking forward to seeing what other folks might say about this.
Industry predictions for 2025: I have no clue. All I know is our little world and a few other folks, and the “restaurant industry” feels like something else big out there that isn’t us.

Photo courtesy Chris Tsui
Chris Tsui
Occupation: Owner of Eat Restaurant Partners
Time at position: 23 years
Goals for your restaurant group in 2025: Complete several projects such as Wong’s Tacos in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Hanover, as well as Lucky AF on Forest Hill, plus the reopening of Boulevard Burger & Brew. We are also doing an Italian concept with chef Kevin LaCivita called Civita Italia.
Goals for Richmond’s food and beverage scene in 2025: I would love to see the chefs around Richmond gain more recognition [nationally].
Biggest issues affecting restaurants leading into 2025: The threat of inflation.
Innovation you’d like to see adopted by the industry: I’d like to see how artificial intelligence will help, and I’m interested to see what it can do.
Industry predictions for 2025: 100% business tax deductions on meals, from the current 50%.

Photo courtesy Shemicia Bowen
Shemicia ‘Mimi’ Bowen
Occupation: Co-founder and managing partner of Virginia Black Restaurant Experience, previously Richmond Black Restaurant Experience
Time at position: Nine years
Goals for VBRE in 2025: We love Richmond and are deeply rooted in the capital and birthplace of Black entrepreneurship. In 2025, we plan to add a second [restaurant experience] week in the fall. This expansion will provide more opportunities to amplify and promote our participants and their brands while becoming more inclusive.
Goals for Richmond’s food and beverage scene in 2025: We encourage Richmonders to invite their friends from other places; tour the city; prioritize nonchain, nonfranchised restaurants; and explore options that infuse culture and flavors from the Caribbean and African diasporas.
Biggest issues affecting food businesses leading into 2025: Our participants tell us hiring and staff retention remain high priorities. Managing the increasing costs of food and products while staying profitable without significantly raising customer prices is also a major challenge. Additionally, non-brick-and-mortar culinary experts face difficulties due to the lack of food preparation and storage spaces.
Innovation you’d like to see adopted by the industry: We envision the fusion of automation and technology with the use of AI for marketing and administrative support, robotic assistance in back-of-house operations, and maintaining excellent human-centered service in front-of-house settings.

Beth Dixon (Photo by Heather Dodge Photography)
Beth Dixon
Occupation: Owner/bartender at Salt and Acid, a cocktail catering and consulting business
Time at position: Four years
Goal for your beverage business in 2025: We just moved into our storefront space at 120 W. Brookland Park Blvd. We hope to host events and seasonal retail pop-ups with home decor, cocktail making kits, bar tools and more.
Goals for Richmond’s food and beverage scene in 2025: I would love to see more focus on hospitality and perfecting simple cocktails with fresh and house-made ingredients vs. trying to reinvent the wheel.
Biggest issues affecting the beverage industry leading into 2025: Post-COVID costs, hiring talent with experience, mental health and the sober movement (a positive impact, but an impact nonetheless).
Innovation you’d like to see adopted by the industry: Not really an innovation per se, but more education and training.
Industry predictions for 2025: It’s going to get weird, and guests will be more open to it. Thanks to social media, people are more curious about unique ingredients and unexpected concoctions. Expect to see more umami and savory cocktails and olives in everything.
These interviews have been edited for length and clarity.