Cork & Cleaver, Coosa Cleaver, Bubbly Hen
Danyalle and Ryan Friday are partners in multiple successful restaurants, including Cork & Cleaver, Coosa Cleaver, and Bubbly Hen.
Their personal and professional lives are intertwined, and while they are working on separating the two, they enjoy working together and appreciate the flexibility and freedom of owning their own businesses.
How It Started
Danyalle: I became a Realtor (and still am) in 2006, and Ryan started a construction company in 2007, so we were a one-stop shop for real estate investors, clients who were flipping houses. We did that together for almost 10 years. Then, Ryan decided to open Cork & Cleaver with his brother. I helped but was not as involved as I am now.
Making It Work
Danyalle: We don’t separate things very well. It can be a problem when I am in work mode, but he is not or vice versa. We’re working hard on that though. You have to truly like each other, not just love each other, and we do. We know each other’s flaws and talents and try to use them by finding ways to make them benefit our relationship and our businesses.
Ryan: We work well together. We enjoy being together. The only issues arise when one or the other is trying to disconnect from work, and the other is locked into it. Our personal relationship has been so intertwined with work, we barely separate it, which is something we are purposefully working on.
Success & Satisfaction
Danyalle: My husband can come across as kinda unapproachable because he is usually deep in thought or really concentrating on something, but he is really a silly man. He loves to sing the wrong words to songs that come on the radio. And he’s constantly dancing. I love that I get to be with him when he’s in those moods.
Ryan: It is always nice to wake up every day pursuing something that is yours. Even on days when things don’t go the way we want, we are doing it the way we choose.
