Today we’d like to introduce you to Krystal & Ian Craig & Thurwachter
Hi Krystal & Ian, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Born and raised in Austin, Chef duo Ian Thurwachter & Chef Krystal Craig sought to share their love of Italian cuisine with their combined knowledge of savory and sweet. Both self-taught in their specialties, each attributes the inspiration of their work to influences they had growing up. Ian & Krystal partnered to open Intero in 2018 off East Cesar Chavez. Intero focuses on farm-to-table, sustainable practices utilizing ingredients to the entirety through Italian cooking techniques, including whole animal butchery, while also featuring a specialty artisan chocolate counter on the sweet side. Intero is open for dinner service only.
The chef pair have now opened Poeta in 2023, off E. 11th Str. Poeta offers our takes on Italian classics from around Italy, and provides all day dining.
Native Austinite Krystal Craig is the Managing Co-Owner & Chocolatier/Pastry Chef of Intero Restaurant. As a self-taught chocolatier, Krystal co-founded a first dessert company at 21yrs of age that focused on small batch, handcrafted artisan chocolates from sustainable, organic ingredients. After years of producing creations for a multitude of Austin’s top establishments, she developed and opened Intero with Chef Ian Thurwachter. Driving her entrepreneurial and artistic spirit, Krystal attributes the foundation of her work to influences of growing up in and around the local food scene along with an inspirational trip to Italy, and her personal affinity of chocolate.
Austin born and raised, Ian Thurwachter is the Executive Chef & Co-Owner of Intero Restaurant. Following his time as a Chef for some of the city’s best institutions, Ian sought to bring forth the enthusiasm for Italian cuisine, and whole animal butchery to better highlight sustainable cooking practices in co-opening Intero. Ian’s inspiration in the culinary world derived from learning to cook alongside his dad growing up while watching how to make various cuisines from PBS culinary shows. Additionally, Ian is an avid reader and collector of cookbooks, and loves creatively working with his hands on carpentry projects, a craft taught to him by his dad as well.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Anything worth it is not easy and opening and operating anything has its challenges – learning curves are part of the journey.
In the beginning, opening Intero was tough simply because it was our first restaurant – as much as everyone believes in you to open and grow a business it was still hard to raise funds for a first place between how costly a build out in Austin is, finding and securing a place, restaurants are in a highly competitive arena where businesses don’t always make it, and in general not having a proven concept already under our belts… In all, it took almost 4 years from concept to open. We built so much of the restaurant ourselves and really bootstrapped it to get it open. Then the pandemic hit 2 years in- which is usually a crucial year for solidifying the foundation of any business. We were grateful to have built an amazing following of supportive customers, and a great team that we managed through, but it really was pivot, after pivot, after pivot. There were a lot of silver linings along the way in being able to redo some areas of operation we may not have had the time for otherwise though.
With Poeta, all the things we thought were challenging with a first place were completely different. We opened too fast! The complete opposite of our first place, which meant we had to work a bit retroactively to get behind the scenes systems in place post opening and we did not get to have any “trial runs” or much of an actual soft opening- this made for a very overwhelming first 6 months, and Poeta is still under a year old.
Currently, with “event season” under way- we’re learning how to navigate prep, scheduling, and set up for two different businesses at once for many events.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
As chef-business owners, we work between a creative/artist realm and a business one.
Ian’s specialty is in savory cuisine and whole animal butchery – the creativity it takes to use an ingredient to its fullest and offer changing dishes with what comes in daily from the farm partners we work with his art.
Krystal’s specialty is in pastry, particularly chocolate work which is a dedicated craft, and artistic outlet on its own.
We’re both self taught and strive to uphold our principles in our work when it comes to the quality of what we’re making, and being mindful of better sustainable practices for our earth where we can in what we do.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Being long term planners, caring about the importance of fostering positive relationships with others, and understanding everything takes a team.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.interorestaurant.com | www.poetarestaurant.com
- Instagram: @interorestaurant | @poetarestaurant
Image Credits
Erin Holsenback – An Indoor Lady Photography
Jessica Attie Photographer
