From Poker Player to Pasta Founder || Emilias Pasta || GTG S06E06

What does it take to reinvent a dish the world loves, but has completely misunderstood?In this episode of Getting to Grow, Zoe Fox sits down with Andrew McLeod, founder of Emilia’s Crafted Pasta, to unpack the obsessive, values-driven journey behind one of the UK’s most respected fresh pasta brands.From a maths graduate and former poker player with no restaurant experience, to building a cult following around slow-made, honest pasta, this conversation reveals how Andrew set out to fix what most people don’t even realise is broken — how pasta is made, served, and understood.Andrew opens up about:→ Why pasta became labelled “unhealthy” — and how modern shortcuts stripped it of quality and nutrition→ The hidden differences between mass-produced pasta and slow-dried, freshly made pasta→ Opening a first restaurant in London with no industry background and just £150k→ Serving two customers a night… and what those early failures taught him about resilience→ Why Emilia’s makes everything fresh, on-site, every day — even when it’s harder and more expensive→ Building a brand by educating customers, not copying competitors→ Expanding carefully without compromising quality, culture or values→ Why pasta isn’t the problem — how it’s made isIf you’ve ever questioned why pasta doesn’t make you feel the way it should, wondered how truly great food brands are built, or believed that doing things the hard way can still win in a shortcuts-first world, this episode pulls back the curtain on the craft, conviction and long-term thinking behind Emilia’s — and why pasta is more misunderstood than we think.Zoe Fox: https://www.instagram.com/gettingtogrow/https://www.linkedin.com/in/zoe-fox-377033b0/Emilias Pasta:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emiliaspasta/Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-macleod-pasta/