Call Your Mother

Maggie Placito

Hospitality Operations Leader

Maggie Placito brings hospitality experience across culinary, catering, restaurant and banquet operations. As Chef and Food and Beverage Manager at Call Your Mother, she combines culinary expertise with hands-on operational knowledge, menu development and a collaborative approach to food and beverage leadership.

My path to where I am now was not a straight line.

I started in kitchens, worked on the line, spent time as a barista, worked in bakeries an spent a long stretch in banquets and catering. I did pretty much everything hospitality has to offer before I arrived at my current role.

When a friend forwarded me the job description at Call Your Mother, it was listed as a chef position focused on menu creation. It seemed like the right next step, something genuinely different from what I had been doing. I applied, got the job, and that was four and a half years ago.

The role has evolved significantly since I started. What began as menu development gradually expanded to include beverages and coffee when we lost positions in that area, then pastry and R&D when we lost our pastry chef. Everything food-related eventually became part of my work, and the title of Food and Beverage Manager grew to reflect that.

Today, I work across the supply chain to source new ingredients, with operations to ensure our kitchen shops are running well, with our commissary to make sure production is consistent and up to standard, with marketing for photo shoots, and with the learning and development team to create materials and SOPs for our teams.

Each day looks different. It could be recipe testing, tasting, costing, a shop visit or a rollout meeting. We follow a seasonal menu cycle, so every quarter has a fairly consistent rhythm moving from development through to launch.

Making Creative Ideas Work

Menu development is one of the most exciting parts of the work and also the most challenging. When I am thinking about a new product, I am weighing cost, ingredients, producibility and our commissary capabilities. We are not just in one market either. Call Your Mother has locations in the DMV area, Chicago, Denver and now Philadelphia. Each market has its own production realities. All of that has to be considered alongside whether an item is visually exciting enough to catch someone’s eye and whether it is actually going to sell.

Our owners bring creative, ambitious ideas. I genuinely enjoy taking those ideas and producing something real from them, while also being honest when something is not achievable. We lean toward nostalgic items with our own take on them, seasonal produce and things that feel cool and fun. That balance of creative ambition and operational practicality is something I maintain in every menu cycle.

What Leadership Has Taught Me

The leadership principle that has stayed constant across every environment I have worked in is this: build real relationships with your team. That means working alongside your team, stepping in when the pressure builds and doing what the moment requires without thinking a title exempts you from it. The trust that comes from showing your team you are with them is the most valuable thing I have built in my career.

Looking at where the industry is heading, I am genuinely excited by the creative energy in food and beverage right now. I love seeing what other people are creating, getting inspired by their ideas and finding new things to get excited about. People are going out more, willing to invest in good experiences, and the restaurant scene in DC, in particular, feels like it is having a real moment.

What I Would Pass On

My advice to anyone starting out in this field is two things.

First, put your head down and work hard. The industry can be difficult at times, but the hard experiences have taught me some of my most important lessons and made me a better cook, chef and person.

Second, find a mentor. Chefs want to see that curiosity and drive in the people coming up. If you can find someone who will invest in your growth, that relationship will change your career.