McDonald’s owner-operator John Salls joins us on the Access Louisville podcast this week.

Salls, who has more than 10 years of experience in the fast-food restaurant industry, talks about leading the restaurant group, having an impact on his young employees and carrying on his mother's legacy.

John Salls is the son of Ira Salls, who in 1991 became the first Black female McDonald's franchisee in Kentucky and Indiana. She passed away in 2024 at the age of 70 and John talked about how she inspired him.

“It's the reason why I do what I do," he tells LBF Editor-in-Chief Shea Van Hoy. "It's the reason why I'm so dedicated to the brand, just watching my mother — all the sacrifices and strides that she made as a trailblazer.

"I'm really proud to carry on her legacy and continue to be a staple in the community for everyone, and just try to exemplify some of the things that she believed in.”

He also spoke about the challenges of operating in a price-competitive market, including rising food costs — something that's plaguing many in the industry.

“Those pressures are definitely real," he said. "I think over the last year, we may have seen base food [cost] go up about a percent."

In order to counter that he talked about growing marketshare and reaching new customers — "whether it be through the delivery platforms or through the McDonald's mobile app, or just doing some local store marketing or community engagement.”

Salls holds a bachelor of science degree from The University of Kentucky. He's an Eagle Scout and a member of First Baptist Church of Jeffersontown.

Access Louisville is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. You can follow it on popular podcast services including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

We cover a number of topics on this week's Access Louisville podcast.

First, we chat about the University of Louisville ending its long-running management of an early childhood center near campus and severing its ties with Family Scholar House due to budget constraints. Louisville Scholar House includes 56 apartments, the Owsley Brown Frazier Academic Services Center and an Early Learning Campus (ELC), which provides care and early learning for children ages six weeks to four years old through the College of Education and Human Development.

After that, we talk about the Louisville Kings, a United Football League franchise that will start playing in March at Lynn Family Stadium. Reporter Stephen P. Schmidt tells us about efforts to build local support for the new team — particularly among the business community. We also chat about what we think of the team's newly unveiled jerseys, which feature a forrest green meets lime green aesthetic.

Late in the show, we switch gears to go over the recently announced Bourbon & Beyond lineup.

The Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age and Goose take top billing on opening night, which is Friday, Sept. 24, while Mumford & Sons and Kacey Musgraves headline on Sept. 25. Chris Stapleton, The Red Clay Strays, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit play on Sept. 26. And Dave Matthews Band, Hootie & the Blowfish, Counting Crows round out the main stage Sunday, Sept. 27

The festival, now in its eighth year, is promoted by Los Angeles-based Danny Wimmer Presents, the same company that puts on Louder Than Life.

We wrap up this week's podcast with a chat about a new documentary coming to HBO called "Murder in Glitterball City." Reporter Michael L. Jones recently spoke with author David Dominé about the 2-part series, which is based on Dominé's book "A Dark Room in Glitter Ball City: Murder, Secrets, and Scandal in Old Louisville."

Access Louisville is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. You can follow it on popular podcast services including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

A new pizza joint is coming to NuLu and a new place for steak burgers is coming to the South End. We talk about both — and more — on this week's Access Louisville podcast.

We start out around Dixie Highway. Reporter Michael L. Jones recently covered a press conference from Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg. During the Feb. 10 conference, the mayor announced the first four restaurants to receive grants from the city’s $1 million Dixie Highway Corridor Fund:

• LongHorn Steakhouse will open a full-service restaurant at 7401 Dixie Highway;
• Crumbl Cookies, one of the nation’s fastest-growing dessert chains, will open its first South End store at 10970 Dixie Highway;
• Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers will build a new restaurant at 8700 Dixie Hwy; and
• Derby City Pizza will expand its location at 12900 Dixie Hwy to include an event space and outdoor game yard.

We also chat about the first Southern Indiana chef to be considered by the James Beard Foundation. Red Yeti’s Chef Michael Bowe was selected as a semifinalist for the 2026 James Beard Awards as Best Chef: Great Lakes Region, as reporter Olivia Estright explains. She met with him at the Downtown Jeffersonville restaurant recently to talk about the honor.

We also chat about Greenside Pizzeria, a new spot from the owner of Gravely Brewing, coming to NuLu.

And editor-in-Chief Shea Van Hoy tells us about a couple of chain restaurant moves — the closure of Bravo near Oxmoor Center and the opening of a new Skyline Chili in Springhurst. After that we chat about the return of soul food restaurant Daddy Vic's, which is back in a new location after it's original space was damaged in a severe thunderstorm last year.

Following a break we talk about the retirement of longtime Jeffersonville Mayor Mike Moore. Moore was a guest on Access Louisville just last summer and gave us updates on a number of projects in Jeffersonville, which is the second largest city in the Louisville Metro Area.

Access Louisville is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. You can follow it on popular podcast services including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

You can't be a suburb of nowhere.

And that means that Downtowns are important to communities, including Louisville.

Jeff O'Brien, executive director at the Louisville Metro Cabinet for Economic Development, made that point during Access Louisville: Heart of the City, a live event put on by Louisville Business First on Feb. 5 at the Baird Conference Center at 500 W. Jefferson Street.

The event doubled as a live recording of the Access Louisville podcast.

Lee Weyland, of Core Real Estate, Hank Hillebrand, of the Poe Cos., and Rebecca Fleischaker, of the Louisville Downtown Partnership were on the show as well. Louisville Business First Senior Reporter Joel Stinnett moderated the discussion.

The panel spoke about the importance of development in Louisville's urban core, not just in downtown but also NuLu, Butchertown and elsewhere.

It was a particularly timely discussion considering all the recent news on new developments.

On Tuesday, Feb. 3, Louisville-based Poe Cos. announced it had officially signed a letter of intent to purchase the Humana Building at 500 W. Main St. and convert it into a 1,000-room hotel. (Business First exclusively reported Poe Cos. plans on Dec. 12.)

And only a few weeks ago Business First reported that Indianapolis-based Ghoman Group has secured franchise approval to bring a JW Marriott hotel to the 26-story 401 S. 4th St. Tower — formerly the Brown & Williamson Tower — at 401 S. Fourth St.

So we weren't short on things to talk about. Access Louisville is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. You can follow it on popular podcast services including Apple Podcasts and Spotify, which are linked above.

Access Louisville: Heart of the City: Our next live podcast is 4 p.m. Feb. 5. Join us as we talk about development within Louisville's urban core with Lee Weyland, of Core Real Estate, Hank Hillebrand, of the Poe Cos., and Rebecca Fleischaker, of the Louisville Downtown Partnership. Details and registration here.

Imagine if Louisville landed three new hotel towers.

Seems far fetched, right? But there are actually three such projects floating around out there. We talk about those on this week's Access Louisville podcast. The latest (and focus of the show) is a recently unveiled plan for a J.W. Marriott at 4031 S. 4th Street (formerly known as Brown & Williamson Tower).

Indianapolis-based Ghoman Group has secured franchise approval to bring a JW Marriott hotel to the 26-story structure, which is in the middle of Fourth Street Live. The company has said construction is set to begin “soon” with an opening date set for sometime in 2027. There are some unanswered questions, though, including how much that renovation would cost.

Just that project would be a big win for the city. But, as we discuss the Humana Building, on Main Street, is also being eyed to be converted into a 1,000-room hotel, according to multiple sources familiar with the project. As Business First reported last month, Louisville-based Poe Cos. is in the planning stages of the project, which could include the construction of an additional tower.

Two hotels in two existing towers would be huge. But as Business First falso reported in 2024, developer Zyyo is also planning to build a new 27-story, $175 million Downtown tower called One Forty West, which will feature a 300-room hotel.

What are the chances that all three of these hotel projects happen? We talk about it.

After a break we go over some restaurant news, including the next chapter for a Louisville classic, Soupy's; and a new steakhouse coming to Clifton, called Mill Iron 4. We also go over a new taqueria coming to Butchertown, called Chica's Cantina, and a bankruptcy filing from the company behind Twin Peaks.

Access Louisville is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. You can follow it on popular podcast services including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Access Louisville: Heart of the City: Our next live podcast is 4 p.m. Feb. 5. Join us as we talk about development within Louisville's urban core with Lee Weyland, of Core Real Estate, Hank Hillebrand, of the Poe Cos., and Rebecca Fleischaker, of the Louisville Downtown Partnership. Details and registration here.

Few people in Louisville probably know the overlap between art and business better than Ben Robinson.

Robinson, a singer-turned-CEO, was appointed as general director and CEO of the Kentucky Opera in November. We get a chance to catch up with him this week on Access Louisville, a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First.

Robinson is not only an accomplished singer but a stage director and arts executive who brings creative vision, operational expertise and a deep commitment to opera as a community-building force, a release announcing his hire last year said. He replaced former CEO Barbara Lynne Jamison. Peggy Kriha Miller has been leading in an interim capacity.

Most recently, Robinson was general director of Anchorage Opera in Alaska and managing director of Lyric Fest in Philadelphia.

On this week's show, he talks about his first season at the reigns.

Louisville has always been a community that places a clear value on the arts, he said.

"Great arts and a great foundation for arts supports great businesses," he said. "It attracts people to this area. It helps build an economy."

Right now there's a lot of energy particularly at peer organizations and everyone seems to want to work together on projects that are mutually beneficial, Robinson tells us.

"It's all audience focused. And we have one of the greatest audiences here and they are sophisticated and interested in supporting great art. It's an awesome thing to come into," he said.

He also talked about the business side of his role.

"It's never anything other than a 50-50 balancing act between rewarding and horrifying," he said, jokingly.

The economic impact of arts organizations should never be under estimated, yet they tend to stay in a constant fiscal crunch. He said he views his job with an integrated approached to both arts and business.

If we don't put on great programing that serves as the engine to the whole machine "then we're not doing the job the right way." With that, he's always looking at the organization's resources, where revenue is coming from as well as expenses.

You can hear more in the full interview in the player above or where ever you get podcasts.

Access Louisville is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. You can follow it on popular podcast services including Apple Podcasts and Spotify, which are linked above. You can also listen in the player above.

Join us live: KY Inno's annual Startups to Watch Awards highlights early-stage companies that are poised to make big moves in the coming year. Join us 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 27 at the Ice House, 226 E Washington St. Tickets for the event are available here.

A plan for the future of the Mid City Mall site seems to be taking shape. But is it good enough?

We talk about it on this week's Access Louisville podcast.

The plan hasn't been fully revealed but there is plenty of information out there. Most recently, LBF Senior Reporter Joel Stinnett reported that The Metts family, which owns the property at 1250 Bardstown Road, is partnering in a joint venture with Atlanta-based Branch Properties to redevelop the site, according to the agenda for an upcoming Highland Commerce Guild meeting. Branch Properties develops, operates and invests in grocery-focused retail properties, according to its website. The majority of its portfolio, which spans eight states in the Southeast, consists of Publix-anchored properties, including a planned shopping center in Richwood, Kentucky, near Cincinnati.

In July, Stinnett also reported that a zoning certification filing made with Louisville Metro Planning and Design called for the construction of a grocery store and six standalone retail buildings on the property.

We're not throwing shade at the prospect of a new Publix or new retail. Lord knows there's a need for more grocery stores inside the Watterson Expressway.

But this is a huge site in the middle of a vibrant urban neighborhood. Where's the 10-story tower? The parking garage? Is there a movie theater and a library branch in the plan — because we had that at the old site and everyone seemed to like it. LBF Editor-in-Chief Shea Van Hoy recently penned an opinion column saying he'd like to see high-density residential redevelopment mixed with ground-level retail/commercial.

You can hear our thoughts on what's been revealed on the show. It could be that this plan would just be the easiest thing to develop.

After the Mid City Mall talk, we also chat about recovery efforts following the Nov. 4 crash of UPS Flight 2976. Reporter Michael L. Jones and Digital Editor Zak Owens recently took a tour of the restricted site, which is just south of Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport, and they tell us about what they saw and the latest with the cleanup effort.

Finally, we wrap up this week's show with sponsored content featuring LBF President & Publisher Lisa Benson, who has an interview with Ross Mayfield, private wealth manager at Baird. Baird is the sponsor of the Access Louisville podcast.

Access Louisville is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. You can follow it on popular podcast services including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Access Louisville: Heart of the City: Our next live podcast is 4 p.m. Feb. 5. Join us as we talk about development within Louisville's urban core with Lee Weyland, of Core Real Estate, Hank Hillebrand, of the Poe Cos., and Rebecca Fleischaker, of the Louisville Downtown Partnership. Details and registration here.

We've unplugged our crystal ball, waited five minutes, then plugged it back in.

Surely, now, we'll be able to see the future.

As we have the last few years, we start another year of the Access Louisville podcast by making predictions for what we think will happen in the area over the next 12 months.

We tackle a large range of topics in our predictions — construction, sports, business trends, bourbon and more. You'll have to listen in on your favorite podcast streaming app to hear all of them but here are just a few to give you a taste:

• Greater Louisville Inc. will change its name. It's role and collaboration with Louisville Economic Development Authority is being reconsidered, after all.
• We'll see 10 or more homes sold at greater than $2 million. They have been steadily climbing, including with one coming in around $7 million recently.
• AC/DC will headline Louder than Life this year? We're all hoping that one is true for the major music festival.
• A deal will be struct to move JBS Swift out of Butchertown. The neighborhood has changed and developed a lot in the last decade.
• We've even got a few political predictions. (A gubernatorial bid for Sen. Robert Stivers, perhaps?)
• Also, more bankruptcies in the bourbon industry? There have been a few in recent years after all.

Keep in mind these are just predictions based on familiarity with trends and stories in the area.

The predictions show is a favorite Access Louisville tradition. On this week's show we also look back at the predictions we made around this time last year to see what we got right and what we got wrong.

Access Louisville is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. It's available on popular podcast services, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.