Meet Tony Adams | Owner & Operations Director, Mill Valley Pasta Co.

We had the good fortune of connecting with Tony Adams and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tony, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
Well, Mill Valley Pasta Co. had an unconventional start in almost all ways… I was a chef who was furloughed during Covid and was starting to go a bit stir crazy after already completing all of the “if I had one (or two or three) month off, what would I do?” projects. So one day I decided to start making pasta for my neighbors because I needed something to keep me occupied, pasta was something almost everyone eats and many love, and it was something unique in a time where everyone was cooking at home. It was cheap enough for me to produce to give away, and I was honored when people offered to start paying for it after those first few batches. When people shouted me out on their social and I started getting requests for pasta from friends and family far and wide as well as folks in my town that I didn’t have any connection to, I thought it might be a viable thing for me to explore. The final cherry on top to make me take the dive into turning it into a full business was when an old acquaintance cold-called me and told me he’d sent me $1000 to do something great. When I protested because there were folks who needed it more than me, he told me to pass it along to someone, but to stop and see if I could grow this pasta thing into something that not only fed others but employed others and made an impact greater than the initial value of that gift. When I stumbled across a commercial pasta machine that was for sale for exactly what he had gifted me, despite it being worth way more (the seller just didn’t know what he had), I took it as a sign, and Mill Valley Pasta Co. had legs to stand on.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’ve been really lucky to experience a lot in my career. I grew up in Central Maine, and Maine didn’t have the culinary chops back then that it does have today so I needed and wanted to get out as soon as I could. College in Rhode Island at Johnson & Wales University allowed me to explore and grow and learn and make the mistakes that I needed to make there. Success in school quickly transitioned into unique opportunities to work with great chefs at great restaurants, and those relationships gave me the confidence to pursue work in some of the best kitchens in the world, such as working for Chef Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons in Great Milton, Oxfordshire, UK, a two-star Michelin property. The hard work needed to succeed in that kitchen, the drive it took to be successful, translated as I moved back stateside. When a friend offered that they were hiring at a culinary school in Orlando, FL, I took a stab and became the youngest chef instructor ever at Le Cordon Bleu school at the time. None of it was easy, and people were constantly telling me I didn’t belong, or that I wasn’t good enough, and even the voice in my own head echoed that many days. But something always shined through, the idea that maybe I wasn’t good enough, but I was ready to work until I was. The kitchen is a weird place of self doubt and ego, hubris and self-destruction, of a certain level of confidence, but almost always someone to tell you that you have too much. How one manages this internal voice, along with the external ones, are the things that make you succeed, and it was the chefs who taught me to tune out everything and just “push push”, working ever harder, will be the only thing that will assure success. And I think those lessons stand true to me today. There may be chefs who know more than me, or who are better than I, but no one works harder than me. Many work as hard as I do, but none that work harder.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Oh man, they all want to “see the big trees”, so I spend a lot of time taking them around to all my favorite spots that are like Muir Woods but are easier to access! I love a quick hike on the Miwok Trail or out at Phoenix Lake, a lunch at Fish in Sausalito, a ballgame at either the A’s or Giant’s Stadiums. They’re all quite nervous about how fast I drive on the way out to Stinson Beach, windy and curvy roads making their eyes (and maybe their stomachs) a bit big and crazy. Love the Biergarten in Hayes Valley for a drink, and if I ever get another Sunday off ever, I think Dollar Days at Golden Gate Fields is one of the most fun things to do with friends! No trip to Northern California for my East Coast friends would be complete with at least a drive up to Napa or Sonoma, visiting some of the best wineries in the US. It’s the Marshall Store for Oysters, and finishing up the day at the Travis Marina Bar for the best view of the skyline and bridges of the Bay in the late afternoons.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
There are so many folks who deserve shout outs, it never can be narrowed to one or two. I almost always refer to what’s happening as “we” and it’s only recently that anyone other than myself is actually working at Mill Valley Pasta, so there’s always been a strong sense of community support and effort to have gotten me here. Steven Vaughn, the man who gifted me an initial seed of $1000 that I used to buy my first commercial pasta machine… Travis Day who let me make pasta in his butcher shop on the days he was closed… Shaina Anderson, who has given me advice and support in countless ways… Jaime Kellenberger who always believed in me and bought so much pasta at the start of all of this… Hugh Kuhn and George Kellar who were my first recurring customers… I think if any one of those folks had not been part of our story, we may not be here today.

Website: www.millvalleypasta.com

Instagram: @millvalleypasta or @tonyy13

Facebook: www.facebook.com/millvalleypasta

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/FillintheFood

Image Credits
Photo Credit: Tony Adams