Jam Sanitchat is the chef and owner of Thai Fresh in Austin, Texas — a restaurant, cooking school, and gluten-free bakery rooted in the Bouldin Creek neighborhood of South Austin. Born and raised in Bangkok, she has been cooking since the age of five and moved to Austin in 2001 as a graduate student at UT. She is also the author of Thai Fresh: Beloved Recipes from a South Austin Icon and The Everything Thai Cookbook.
In this episode, André Natera sits down with Jam to cover a lot of ground. They discuss why she eliminated tipping at Thai Fresh and replaced it with a transparent service fee — and what that change actually did for staff wages, team stability, and the relationship between the front and back of house. Jam traces her path from cooking for roommates and selling at farmers markets to building Thai Fresh into a full restaurant, cooking school, and community institution. She also breaks down how she crowdfunded her cookbook through Kickstarter, from reward tiers to production timelines, and what made the campaign work.
For anyone interested in Thai cooking, Jam explains the five-flavor balance at the heart of the cuisine and the pantry staples — fish sauce, pandan, curry paste — that make Thai food what it is.
What You Will Learn
- Why Jam eliminated tipping and how a service fee model changed her restaurant’s wage structure
- The front-of-house and back-of-house pay disparity problem and what actually fixes it
- How Thai Fresh grew from a farmers market stand and cooking classes into a full restaurant
- The five-flavor balance that defines Thai cooking and why it matters
- Essential Thai pantry staples: fish sauce, pandan, curry paste, and how to use them
- How Jam crowdfunded her cookbook on Kickstarter and what made the campaign succeed
- The intersection of sustainability, sourcing, and community in building a restaurant business
Connect with Jam Sanitchat
Thai Fresh Instagram: @thaifresh
Links & Resources
Watch Chef’s PSA on YouTube
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