Rachel Cope is so well known around OKC she barely needs an introduction, yet I still run into people who don’t know much about her or the company she founded, 84 Hospitality, in 2016. Normally, she’s associated with Empire Slice House (founded 2013), but she’s also created one of OKC’s best new restaurants this year, Elisabetta, and she still has Burger Punk and Goro as well, and she discusses new moves at the latter in this episode. Elisabetta represents a change in the company’s direction in some ways, but in others, she’s still opening new slice houses — more on that in the episode, too. She’s an Ada, Oklahoma native, who grew up in Tulsa, and then landed at Oklahoma City University — after Pittsburgh State — to win a softball national championship as shortstop. She just stayed with OKC after that, and we first met when she was bartending several years before she won a contest to put a pizza joint in Plaza District.

Two years ago, when deciding whether or not to do this podcast, the first name that came to mind for proof of concept was Rachel. We’d had dozens or hundreds of ADHD-fueled conversations over the years, and she’s always interesting, energetic, engaging, and savvy. I’ve learned much about the hospitality business from her, so I knew that she’d make a great first guest. She did, and that first episode was reassurance that this idea could work. We brought her back this week for a catch-up, and to hear what’s in store for 84 Hospitality in 2026. As with all our conversations, this one is a bit frenetic. Thanks as always to James Frazier for his patience in production, and this time he actually uses words — mainly because we were discussing his current favorite slice of pizza. Chlamydia gets a nod too, as it often does when I’m in charge of the conversation.