I sit down with Jenny Goodman and Alex McCrery, the co-founders of TILIT and the creators of The Utility Show, to talk about what it means to build something that didn’t exist before. We dig into how they’ve redefined chef wear, what makes a trade show worth showing up for, and how they stay grounded in community while continuing to grow. Their five rules cover everything from designing with purpose to staying focused, and why authenticity isn’t a buzzword, it’s the baseline. If you’ve ever wanted to start something new, rethink how you connect with your audience, or want to know what it takes to create with intention, this episode’s for you.
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Hello and welcome to Five Rules for the Good Life. I'm your host, Darin Bresnitz. Today I am joined by two industry innovators who have changed the way we think about chefware and culinary conferences.
I sit down with Jenny Goodman, the CEO and co-founder of Tillet, and Alex McCreary, the CCO, co-founder of Tillet. They're also the two brains behind the Utility Conference, an independent-minded alternative to some of the larger, more corporate conferences that restaurant world has come to know. We chat about their design process, how they stay true to their original vision, and how they keep grounded and their focus clear so they can build bigger things for the community that loves them.
Let's get into the rules. Jenny and Alex, thank you for taking the time to sit down to chat with me. Have you recovered from this year's very successful Utility Conference? No, like no.
Yes, but like in the best possible way. We're still buzzing over here and I'm still catching up on sleep because it is a marathon, not a sprint. As you brought together so many people for this new type of industry conference, what were some of the inspiring things that you saw from other curators in the industry? We're always inspired by the industry and that's why we wanted to bring a lot of different elements under one roof.
A lot of conferences that we see are a lot of trade shows in general. It's like we wanted to be the anti-trade show, right? Yes, we're all here for commerce and to connect and to be in community, but the programming should be really freaking awesome. So I think we took a lot of elements from a lot of events that we've just loved over the years and brought them all together.
The pitch competition was inspired by us actually winning a grant from Chase 10 years ago. Some of the trends towards healthy living in the industry, I think are super inspiring. And this year we added in a run in the morning where Philips here from Comedore down in Austin came up and led a run.
Instead of the old days of having a party, a trade show, and then getting plastered after together, there's these other things that people are doing that are building community while being healthy. And so I think that stuff's really inspiring. It seems that you have brought to life the best type of feedback loop where the inspiration just keeps pushing yourselves and other people forward to build on what's working, to build what's inspiring, and to create new things out of that.
One of the biggest keys to success in any business and a relationship, anything, is your ability to listen and absorb and respond. That's one of the keys that has been our business is that we listen to our customer, that we work with our customer, our community. It's more than just a customer.
And that's how you grow is you're actually working with people and not just saying, oh, this is what people should be doing, or this is what people should be wearing, or this is how people should be interfacing with our product. We're actually doing it all together. It is easy for someone on the outside to look at what you have built across the board and just go, how did that even get started? So I'm so excited that you are here today to share your five rules for creating things that didn't exist before.
The very first rule is a similar starting point of where I begin all of my creative journeys. What's rule number one? Build what you wish existed for yourself. And I think we've done that with utility.
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We showed up at traditional trade shows and didn't see ourselves represented by the folks who were walking the floor or the folks who were also there with us and felt that community and hospitality is so fun. And the way that we all normally come together and gather in a dining room is celebratory and it's all real authentic connections. And that just wasn't happening at the trade shows that were currently taking place.
And so we thought there has to be one that we actually want to show up to, that other independent brands want to show up to, and that other independent restaurants want to show up to. So that's where we started with a test case for utility with our preheat back in 2023. And that was such a success and a good proof of concept that for the last two years, we've done a full-blown trade show for independent brands and restaurants, which has been amazing.
It's been a beautiful thing to watch grow. I remember the first one. From the very beginning, the idea and the impetus of Tila was that I wanted better, cooler, more functional, more pride-inducing clothing.
I was in a position where I had gone from being a chef in a big restaurant with a bunch of other cooks that were all wearing the same goofy outfit to being in someone's house by myself wearing one goofy outfit and just felt really silly, a little bit embarrassed. And some of those things didn't add up to me with what the culture of being a cool chef was. And I just thought that was silly and displaced.
If there's a jacket that I think I want, but doesn't exist, then we find a way to make it and it becomes a Tila product. Sometimes that's the best products are the ones that you actually want. Seeing something out in the real world that isn't quite made for your particular use can be inspiring, but also frustrating because then you have to transfer what you like about it into something that works for you.
What's rule number two? Rule number two is to design with utility first. It's a Cortana name, Tila comes from the word utility. Obviously, you want amazing, beautiful, aesthetic things, but if it doesn't have a function, then it doesn't really need to exist.
And there's plenty of that too out there, s**t that just hangs on your wall. Our goal and our idea is that everything starts with a reason, whether it's a better pair of pants for women in the kitchen because they just don't exist, or a jumpsuit or an apron with moisture wicking and repellent qualities to it, it has to work. It has to stand the test of time.
It has to be able to be washed a hundred thousand times because that's what people in the kitchen are doing. And then from there, it's like, yeah, let's do all the other fun things. Let's make it streetwear.
Let's make it temporary. Let's make it the baddest thing out there. But if it doesn't work, then you shouldn't even begin messing with all the other pieces of it.
And once you start messing with it, and once you start borrowing from different parts of other products or other things that are being created, it can be very hard to hold on to what is your rule number three. Rule number three is be authentic. The big A word.
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The big A word. I know. And it's such a buzzword sometimes.
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I know. I know. I cringe a little bit, but we've been talking about authenticity since we started the company 12 years ago because authentically we needed these products.
Alex was a chef. I met him working front of house. We are authentically hospitality people.
And when we looked at what was happening in the chef apparel industry and in workwear for chefs, it was not designed by people who worked in restaurants. It was not thought of by people who knew this community. That's really where we come to this lens of authentically knowing and loving this product because we lived and breathed it.
And similar with utility and the trade show is the big, large, huge conglomerate trade shows that are out there for the hospitality industry are not run by industry insiders who do know what the day to day struggles are of an independent restaurant or independent brand. When you want to be in community with somebody, it has to start from a place of understanding that community authentically. Coming from inside the world, being both back of house, in front of house, and being authentic to your mission has allowed you to grow your rule number four.
Rule number four is build community. From the beginning, that's what we were. Let's hang out with more friends.
Let's make more friends. Let's spread the love. Let's share the ideas.
And that's exactly what we've done. And I think to Jenny's credit in creating utility, it's all about community. And I think one of the biggest takeaways from this year was how many people, brands, exhibitors, speakers walked away from it feeling that community.
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It's not because we put the word community all over the trade show. It's because they were there and they felt it. That's just such a powerful feeling to say, oh s**t, we accomplished what we set out to do.
Obviously, always continue to build and strengthen and grow your community, but to have them recognize that's why it's there. It's not there as the shopping experience or this way to make money as a small business. It's more.
When we think about what makes a brand and what makes a defensible brand, it's people buying in because you've created something that makes them feel something. And that's what we believe in our trying to do. It's the same thing when you go to a great restaurant.
It's the same thing about great hospitality. You don't necessarily remember every single dish and every single ingredient, but you remember how you felt sat at that table and you had that great meal and you had that delicious food and you had that amazing hospitality experience. And so we as a brand, knowing that our community welcomes us into their dining rooms, feeling that way, it's so important for us to create that community experience for folks too.
So they remember how Tillett and Utility made them feel when we were there on their back during a long shift or there to provide some fun during a weekend of intense trade shows. I can only imagine coming out of Utility, coming out of a weekend with so many conversations, the amount of new ideas and inspiration and how you're thinking, we can do this project, we can do that project, we can do this. Which ties directly into rule number five, which I think once you master, you can actually grow even bigger.
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Focus, baby. It's one of our core tenants from day one. I think we've seen it in many iterations and carried it throughout the brand in many ways.
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My first real restaurant gig was my first not quick service slinging tacos gig. Had the word focus tiled into the wall on the kitchen line so that while you were plating up all your dishes, you were deeply focusing. And I think we've carried it through to what we do with Tillett, to what we do with Utility.
And it's something you got to keep going back to because you can easily find yourself straying and say, oh, why don't we do this for some ancillary business? And it's like, wait, no, let's bring it back. It finds its way into our branding and our apparel, but it's always in our heads and part of the business. People ask us all the time, why don't you just sell streetwear? Why don't you go after this customer? And I'm always like, because we focus.
We're laser focused on our messaging, on our community, on who we're designing product for first and foremost. And if other folks adopt that because these pants are sick, they're really cool. They work great in the kitchen.
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You could also wear them on the street. Great. But for us, our focus is hospitality, chef, community.
It's just, that's it. We always have to keep coming back to it. It's really incredible.
And you can see the success in your focus and authenticity in the community you've built. It really is an inspiring way for people who want to go out and create their own thing. If people want to order clothing from Tillet or get more information on next year's Utility, where can they go? You can find us on the worldwide web at TilletNYC.com. Follow us at TilletNYC on Instagram and all the channels.
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Al, you want to do Utility? Yeah, UtilityShow.com. Third weekend of May in 2026, mark your calendar because it's going to be even bigger and better. Jenny and Alex, congratulations on everything. Thank you for sitting down with me and sharing your five rules.
Thanks, Darin. Thank you, Darin, for having us. Always a pleasure.
