Today we’d like to introduce you to Qiana Mafnas.
Hi Qiana, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My husband Ian and I met 11 years ago when we both were not at our best place in life. We were both addicts, had been through the jail system, and were generally unhealthy all around. We decided at that time that it was not a good time for us to be together, so we separated to work on ourselves. We both got clean and sober, got our kids back (his were with their mom and not doing well, and mine were in foster care), went back to school, and ironically both studied psychology and human services. We both became drug and alcohol counselors and also both worked in human services. My son, Noah, passed away in March of 2018 and it changed the way I view a lot of things in life. While Ian and I had remained in contact over the years, it wasn’t until 2021 that we reconnected. It was funny to us that we had both chose human services as our career…we both have a strong desire to help others. We were married in October of 2021, and in February, we decided to start Axiom Kitchen. Our decision was based mostly on the fact that we were both experiencing “burnout” in our chosen industry and wanted to spend more time with our new blended family. We are a husband-and-wife pitmaster/executive chef team that have over 20 years of restaurant experience between the two of us. Ian has been developing his love for smoking meats over a period of eight years, and I have worked in some of the finest restaurants in California. It only made sense for us to share our love for cooking and food.
With our restaurant, we strive to provide the highest quality and avoid “cutting corners” because we figure why do things the easy way when we’ve never really done anything the easy way in life. We use prime beef, source locally and from farmers’ markets when we can. Ian smokes all of the meats, and I make the sides and sauces. We love nothing more than meeting new people and adding to our extended “Axiom Family”!
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?
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect? Of course, everyone experiences challenges in life and in business. To say that we have experienced anything worse than anyone else would be crazy, but I think the biggest setback we have had as a family was the loss of our son, Noah, who passed away tragically in March of 2018. While this was definitely a horrible time in our lives, it was also the driving force in our decision to start Axiom Kitchen. Noah was always the one who wanted our family to succeed more than anything. We always remember how passionate he was about us winning, and we take that passion with us everywhere we go. To say that was our only setback would, unfortunately be a lie, as we have had many difficult challenges as a family over the years. Has it been easy? No way. Owning ANY business is difficult, and to start a restaurant at this time in history could be considered self-torture! We want to quit all the time. It’s not easy. It takes dedication and so much understanding, teamwork, love, and remembering why we do what we do. The fact that our family is so close and we understand each other is a huge advantage to us as well.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Axiom Kitchen Smoked Meats & BBQ?
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Axiom Kitchen Smoked Meats & BBQ? The “textbook” definition of Axiom is: a statement or proposition which is regarded as being established, accepted, or self-evidently true. Something that IS, just because it IS. When we decided to take our love of cooking and smoking meat and share it with the world, we decided that everything we do would be an “axiom”, that is, tried-and-true. We don’t cut corners; we don’t do things the easy way or try to save a little money by using something that will cost us less and be of a poorer quality. We want to provide our guests or our Axiom Family as we call them, the same quality as we would serve our OWN family.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about? Actually, yes! Most people don’t know that we are probably worse critics of our food than anyone! There’s not a day that goes by when we are cooking or smoking meat or preparing for service where one of us doesn’t shout out, “THIS IS TERRIBLE!!! THROW THE WHOLE THING AWAY!!!”. We laugh because whatever it is being subjected to ending up in the trash is usually the item that people like most that day! We are all perfectionists in our own way, and we not only hold ourselves accountable to our mission of “tried and true” “our dinner table to yours” type of cooking, but we hold each other accountable every day. We wouldn’t have it any other way.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.Axiomkitchenbbq.com
- Instagram: @axiom_kitchen
Image Credits
The hood foodie
